Those of you who know me well know that this is not something that I would ever assign to my English students. Yet this cliche seems fitting given what Miles, our family, and I have been though over the past few months. You see, my summer "vacation" began on May 7th...the day of our anatomy scan. Adam and I were thrilled to find that we were having a little boy. The tech said he was perfect! Just one more little measurement and we could go celebrate our baby boy with a nice dinner out and a new baby blue charm for my Pandora bracelet.
But that measurement was never taken. We were informed our baby boy's cerebellum was not visible on the ultrasound. Our world came crashing down around us. We didn't know what to think or do. The next couple of days were an absolute blur. Thankfully, our specialist in Pittsburgh had a cancellation and got us in within two days time. We met with a geneticist. Then we had our ultrasound. Within two minutes of the tech scanning my belly she stated, "Oh, there's a little one." Adam and I looked expectantly at her and said "A little what???" in perfect unison.
Her answer was, "A little Spina Bifida". It turns out that the misplaced cerebellum in our initial ultrasound is a very common condition in little ones with Spina Bifida called Chiari. Though this answer was a much better scenario than some that had played through our heads, I kept thinking it couldn't be. I had very faithfully taken prenatal vitamins for over a year before we conceived, I had switched over to all organic cleaning and hygiene products, I had even tried to eat more whole and organic foods. We had done everything "right".
The doctor then came in and explained that Spina Bifida often just happens. Though everything we had done could have prevented a diagnosis of Spina Bifida, it wasn't fool proof. She then went on to say the words that would drastically change our lives. "There's an in-utero surgery for this", she said. "You'd have to go to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia to have it. And there are risks involved...including premature labor, but I think you'd be great candidates. It's not a cure, but it could greatly help Miles' condition." Adam and I decided we were going to have a consult for the surgery before she finished her sentence. Any of you mothers and fathers out there know the lengths a parent will go to for their child. In my case, it meant allowing doctors to go through me to patch the lesion in our little boy's spine. The surgery could help both his Chiari and mobility, both of which would give him a much better quality of life.
We were in Philadelphia less than two weeks later. But that's another story for another day. Don't worry folks, I have a feeling this story is going to have a very happy ending.
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