We
did not know before Anderson was born that he had syndactyly. We found out on
September 30, 2010, his birthday.
I had a c-section
because he was breech.
 |
| only a few minutes old. (you can see part of his syndactlyl...) |
I got to see Anderson
briefly and then he was taken with his daddy to get cleaned up and measured
while I was being sewn up. After I was sewn up I was brought to our room where
Anderson and his daddy were waiting. I was excited to hold my new baby. The
pediatrition had beat me to the room and was examining Anderson when I got
there. She brought him over to me so that I could hold him for the first time.
It was then she told me about Andersons fingers being webbed. I started crying
a little bit and she asked me why I was crying. I just said that it made me sad
and I was worried about him. I then was able to hold my baby for the first
time. He was so perfect every little thing about him! He made me so happy. I
could not even worry about his hand or even think about it for a while.
 |
| sweet times! holding the baby you have waited for, for so long! |
Later I was slightly
mad that I had not even gotten to hold my baby and here was this woman telling
me something was wrong with him. But the more I think about it, it is better
then the alternitive of me looking over my brand new baby and finding his hand
on my own.
Over the next few days
of being in the hospital I carefully examined his hand many times. I would
sometimes cry when I did, just thinking of all he might have to go through in
his life just because his hand was a bit different.
I knew that babies
could be born with problems I just had never aloud myself to think of my baby
having any. I did not want to worry about any of that during my pregnancy.
 |
| Excited about being new parents! What a tiny little burrito! |
As I was thinking about
Andersons hand I was thankful he had just a cosmetic problem. I knew that some
babies are born with heart problems or other issues and have to be sent
straight to surgery. So I thanked God that although we were sad about his hand
Anderson was really very healthy. And although he had a problem other children might not have, God chose him (and us as parents) for this path because he knew we could handle it. God created Anderson with a specific plan in mind. The more i get to know my son, I see personality traits that will undoubtedly help him through this. He is definitely a fighter, nothing is going to hold him back. He is a huge people person, so friendly and caring. I hope that this experience will only help him become more caring of others with differences!
What a beautiful boy! When Joey was born on September 30, 2011, we expected him to be just as healthy and normal as our older son and daughter were! I was induced and had an epidural and when I finally pushed him out, they placed him on my chest, my sweet baby boy! I was the one who noticed right away - I saw his hand RIGHT AWAY and I saw that two of his fingers were fused together. I said immediately to the nurse, or my hubby, "His fingers are stuck together!" The nurse wasn't paying attention, she just said, "Don't worry, we will clean him off, he's just sticky." I knew exactly what I was talking about, of course. I was very surprised. We had so many ultrasounds, including 3D, and nobody ever saw this, but now looking back, I do have one 3D image where it is obvious that he fingers are together, but just looking at the picture, you wouldn't think that was the case. Anyway, I felt so bad having to tell my DH that our baby wasn't "perfect." I showed him Joey's fingers and we were both sad and surprised. But I was still happy to have my baby. You're right, there are so many bad things babies can be born with. I got on my phone that very night in the hospital and started researching what Joey had. I learned all about syndactyly and it helped me to know there was a surgery he could have. At first, DH and I thought this was something that could be fixed before we left the hospital. We were really naive! As time went on, we didn't really want our little boy to have surgery! But that was our birth story. In the beginning I was a little embarrassed to tell people or show them his fingers. I don't know why! I felt like I would be blamed... and I felt like people would wonder what I did wrong during my pregnancy to cause this to happen to Joey. But I will never know exactly "why" this happened so eventually I gave up analyzing everything and just accepted that it was the way it was! We are 3 weeks post-surgery now.
ReplyDeleteJoey was born on September 20th, not the 30th. I haven't had enough coffee!
ReplyDeleteAmy, congrats on the new blog, I'm so happy you decided to do this! Will be following your story and best of luck with everything!
ReplyDelete