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Life can change in an instant. Are you prepared for it?
I know I wasn't. On Friday, July 13th, I found out that I was going to be a grandmother for the first time. It was a shock for many reasons. First and foremost because my dear daughter, Ash, is only 17 and this was very unexpected.
Once the initial shock wore off, I was excited. I warmed up to the idea of becoming a "Nonna". We were only 6 weeks into this pregnancy but a baby is definitely a blessing. As time went on we began buying little things (but only in yellow) and awaiting the day that we would finally be able to buy for a boy or a girl.
Ash went to her doctor's appointments and we had our first ultrasound. The sight of the baby moving and wiggling brought tears to my eyes. I was seeing my grandchild. The baby was still too young to determine the sex so a second ultrasound was scheduled and again we would have to wait. Our excitement grew.
During a regular doctor's visit Ash was required to have a quad screen done. It's purpose is to check the mother's blood for possible defects in the baby. We thought nothing of it until we received a call stating that Ash's had come back positive for a possible fetal chromosomal disorder. An appointment was scheduled for an in-depth ultrasound with a perinatalogist. Our concern grew, but we were sure that it was nothing.
On Wednesday, October 17th, Ash was 19 weeks and 3 day as we headed to see the specialist and genetic counselor. We (Me, Ash, Ty Ash's fiance and Ty's mother) all prepared to see our healthy baby, find out the sex and head out shopping after we were done.
After meeting with the genetic counselor, watching a scary video about chromosomal defects and having to wait, we all became a little nervous about what was next. The ultrasound room was nice and Ash was laid out on the table with goo on her belly when the sight of our little girl popped up on the screen. She was beautiful and still wiggling around when we received the bad news that rocked our world.
Aside from the great news that the baby was a girl, was the view of her cystic hygroma, which was 7 cm, and hydrops. She had fluid in her abdomen, around her heart and lungs and under her skin. An amniocentesis was done immediately and confirmed our worst fears. Our baby girl, lovingly name Breighlyn, had Turner syndrome. We were told that her chances of surviving to term were small and that she wouldn't make it to week 24 if the swelling didn't stop. Devastation sunk in. We called all of our family and a select amount of friends and told them of the bad news. We got online and didn't research only to find out that the situation was grim. Ash was given the option to terminate or wait. Both Ash and Ty agreed to give their little girl a chance, even though it was only 5% that she might make it. They left it up to God and Breighlyn.
Now, after many prayers and well wishes, Ash is a mere 2 days away from 24 weeks. Weekly visits to the doctor for fetal tones has shown a strong heartbeat. Breighlyn is constantly moving and kicking proving that she is a fighter. Please pray that our little butterfly keeps strong in her fight to survive.
For more information on Turner syndrome visit http://turnersyndrome.org.
