"To Go Beyond" We were so thrilled when we found out I was pregnant with Tessa. Everything seemed to be like any other normal pregnancy. The morning sickness that never seemed to stop & the spontaneous cravings for pizza in the middle of the night. We wanted our children to be 2 years apart and this baby was due July 15th 1999 only a month away from our son, Ethan's 2 year birthday. When I was 19 weeks pregnant I had an Alpha Fetal Protein test. (AFP) It ended up coming back elevated. We scheduled an ultrasound that day and got in a week later. It was the longest week of my life. The Perinatologist found a build up of fluid in the baby's head. (Hydrocephalus) Then he found a lemon shape on the baby's head. We then got to the spine and found the lesion.It was L-2. My baby had Spina Bifida. My heart fell to the floor. Words like wheel chair, handicapped and abortion were thrown at us. We never considered an abortion so my only question to the doctor was, "What are we having? A little boy or girl?" We were having a baby girl that we soon would name Tessa which means, "Beloved by God." And she was. We went home that day and for the next 2 days looked up any information we could find on Spina Bifida. We stumbled upon an experimental Fetal Surgery done at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Nathan and I were on the phone the next week finding out information on this Fetal Surgery that the doctors there said could prevent further damage to my daughter's spinal cord. The main risk of doing the surgery was premature delivery. The decision to do the surgery was thought out, discussed and prayed about constantly. We felt in our hearts that this was the right thing to do for our baby so we called Vanderbilt and scheduled the surgery date for March 28th 1999. Next Jordan | Ethan | TessaOur BabyOur Photo Album
We were so thrilled when we found out I was pregnant with Tessa. Everything seemed to be like any other normal pregnancy. The morning sickness that never seemed to stop & the spontaneous cravings for pizza in the middle of the night. We wanted our children to be 2 years apart and this baby was due July 15th 1999 only a month away from our son, Ethan's 2 year birthday.
When I was 19 weeks pregnant I had an Alpha Fetal Protein test. (AFP) It ended up coming back elevated. We scheduled an ultrasound that day and got in a week later. It was the longest week of my life.
The Perinatologist found a build up of fluid in the baby's head. (Hydrocephalus) Then he found a lemon shape on the baby's head. We then got to the spine and found the lesion.It was L-2. My baby had Spina Bifida.
My heart fell to the floor. Words like wheel chair, handicapped and abortion were thrown at us. We never considered an abortion so my only question to the doctor was, "What are we having? A little boy or girl?" We were having a baby girl that we soon would name Tessa which means, "Beloved by God." And she was.
We went home that day and for the next 2 days looked up any information we could find on Spina Bifida. We stumbled upon an experimental Fetal Surgery done at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Nathan and I were on the phone the next week finding out information on this Fetal Surgery that the doctors there said could prevent further damage to my daughter's spinal cord.
The main risk of doing the surgery was premature delivery. The decision to do the surgery was thought out, discussed and prayed about constantly. We felt in our hearts that this was the right thing to do for our baby so we called Vanderbilt and scheduled the surgery date for March 28th 1999.
Next
Jordan | Ethan | TessaOur BabyOur Photo Album
