Born Mighty - Celebrating Special Babies
I don’t know about you, but I was scared to celebrate my pregnancy. I didn’t buy much.
We found out about Abel’s Omphalocele at 12 weeks gestation and besides not being able to pronounce it, everything on Google scared the daylights out of me. My MFM doctor strongly encouraged me to “reduce”.
With some effort, I found other Omphalocele moms through a Facebook page and I started feeling encouraged, but the twin’s pregnancy was full of scary moments. We continued to find more clues with Abel, but it wasn’t until I had to get poly removed at 35 weeks that we found out about Trisomy 18.
After that, no one had anything positive to say. NO ONE. After being handed funeral paperwork, while still pregnant, I literally could not speak for days and the doctors scheduled my C-section only 5 days later. I was in shock and trying hard to remain positive.
I posted my pregnancy announcement on Facebook and we held our breath because the doctors told us we could have minutes with Abel.
Some of you have seen me post about my family, so I wanted to share more details, not to shame them but to understand how alone we feel as medical parents.
The time Abel spent in the NICU was some of the loneliest times in my life. My family chose not to recognize or have a relationship with Abel. My husband and I split our days with Abel in the hospital and our other children at home, spending only brief moments together during passing. Only a few times were we able to have our entire family together with Abel… It isn’t lost on me that some families never got that moment.
We share all these personal details because sadly, I know that I am not the only one who lost friends and family with the arrival of a medically complex child. I am willing to bet that most of you can relate to my story to some degree… that is why we decided that we, at Born Abel, need to celebrate these precious medically complex babies.
Through our Born Mighty program, we will post baby announcements and send special gifts to families of complex medical babies. If you know anyone with a complex medical baby born within the current month, please help us celebrate them!
Help us celebrate these babies and show parents that they are NOT ALONE!
-Jessie (Abel's mom)
Theses are a few of Born Abel’s baby announcements
