Thursday Justin celebrated his 18-month "birthday". It's so hard to believe he is a year and a half old already. Time has a tendency to go so fast, while so slow at the same time. We started the day with his 18-month check-up at the pediatrician. Within the first week of Justin's life, we found a pediatrician at the practice we just fell in love with. She is a wonderful doctor and has such an incredible comforting nature. She will tell you if you need to worry about something without sugar-coating it, but will deliver the news in a reassuring way. She really gets to know each child, and the family as well. He had a great visit! He's developmentally ahead of the game in many areas, and is in the 20th percentile for weight and 90th for height. Never saw myself having a tall, skinny kid! (They're not worried about his weight- he is a great eater and if you've seen him, you know how insanely active and busy he is all the time. He has a wicked metabolism. Who did he get that from and can I have some of it?!?)
It's usually pretty easy to tell I'm pregnant, but you never want to offend a non-pregnant woman. I've had some pretty creative ways of people asking lately. "So, have you thought about having another child?" while glancing at my stomach- or in the words of our pediatrician, "any exciting things going on in your life?" When I told her I was pregnant, I also quickly explained our baby's diagnosis. She told me she actually has experience with this rare condition and in her years has worked with three families. I asked her how long each lived and if they were boys or girls. As I expected, they were all girls. For whatever reason, 80% of Trisomy 18 babies are girls, and boys have a more serious prognosis. One little girl lived for a couple weeks, another for a couple months, and another for about eight months.
That may sound pretty dismal to most of you, but it's the unfortunate reality that Matt and I accepted when we chose to carry this baby. We actually took that as GREAT news. We know that there is a very good chance (at least two-thirds) that this baby may not make it through pregnancy or childbirth and our baby will be born sleeping. Finally hearing a doctor with whom we've built a great relationship with and trusted has experience with LIVING children is such an amazing thing. Since the strong majority of babies diagnosed with Trisomy 18 live abbreviated lives, doctors have a tendency to view them only as a diagnosis of "not compatible with life" and not as the children they are.
Knowing our pediatrician will look at our baby as any other child and not push us to the back burner, is the most amazing thing to hear. I really can't put it into words.
The next thing that our doctor said brought me to the verge of tears. She told me that our family is on a journey with many stops along the way. Some not quite where we thought we'd end up, but she is on the bus with us and we'll go through the journey together. She gave us all big hugs before she left, and we know we have found so much more in a pediatrician than just her incredible medical background.
Keep praying for us and keep us in your thoughts as we get closer to the anxiously anticipated appointment at our specialist this Friday (3/14) where we will learn more about exactly what is wrong with our baby boy without just the open ended diagnosis.