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Being pregnant with Tristan was wonderful & uneventful. We had one sonogram at 18 weeks which showed that he was growing just fine. |
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Labor was a different story. It lasted twice as long as my labor with Brady. In hindsight we know it was because his head was larger than average. |
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Daddy gave me the strength I needed! |
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Tristan looked absolutely beautiful when he arrived. He was normal length & weight. We noticed several things about him that were very distinct, things that we would later learn were evident signs of his condition, his "starfish fingers", his beautiful broad forehead, his little nose & narrow nasal passageways, the lump in his lower back, the rolls on his arms & legs..... but no one noticed them like we did. He is perfect head to toe! |
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Then Tristan arrived at 1:28am. This snapshot is how I remember the first time I ever saw my beautiful little boy. Nana Fancher & Aunt Amy were there to take lots of pictures! |
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Tristan's Diagnosis |
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Tristan was a perfectly normal newborn, he nursed well, he gained weight, he was alert and active, but when Mommy took him for his 2 month checkup on January 9th, he had not grown for 8 weeks. Our pediatrician was absolutely wonderful. With every well child checkup, she'd come in and say "Well, this kid looks great on paper, let's take a look at him" But this time she didn't say that. In my heart I knew something was wrong. She spent a lot of time looking at him especially his legs and hands. I still remember exactly what she told me. "I'm seeing some rhizomelic shortening of the upper portion of his arms & legs. This is often seen in dwarfism" "Dwarfism? But Jamie and I don't have any history." That's all I thought, defensively denying it to myself. My son is not a dwarf. Without having to ask, she answered, "Children with dwarfism are most often born to average-sized parents." I didn't want to hear anything else. Had I ever seen an old person with dwarfism? I scanned my brain to no avail, no I hadn't. Would he die before me? How would I tell Jamie? Would Tristan suffer from retardation? He was too perfect to be a dwarf.......all thoughts of an ignorant person who now knows better. So I asked her "What will his lifespan be?" "Completely normal" she reassured me. "What about his intelligence?" "Absolutely normal" she reassured again. At that point I was so thankful to have that reassurance that I would not be losing my son, that I sat there and cried. I didn't care about anything else. And she cried with me. But now I had to go home and tell Jamie. |
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Next |
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Go to Godparents' page |
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