Janie Beth Karr's Story
November 16, 2009
Our Trip to UAB: November 19, 2009
Her Birthday: December 29, 2009
Her Heavenly Birthday: December 30, 2009
Our Final Day: December 31, 2009
To read the story from the beginning go here:The Beginning of the Blog
If you are just beginning a journey similar to mine, then I would invite you to begin in January 2010. I was very open about how I was feeling in those days and the things that God was teaching me.
This is where I first started telling Janie Beth's story. You are welcome to start here and then follow the links above.
We found out in June of 2009 that we were expecting a surprise. I was shocked!!! I took the test in the middle of the day and it was positive before I was done with it. I emailed Joey a picture of the test. Everything went great, although I had a lot of trouble getting excited. Something felt different this time, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
We made it to 22 wks and went in for our big ultrasound. We found out that our newest addition would be a girl. Katie Jo and Abby both came with us. Everything looked good except her legs were measuring 15 wks. We figured she was just short since Joey and I are under tall. :) Dr. F offered to send us to UAB, but on that day we didn't see a reason why we needed to go, so we made our next appointment 4 wks later. Her legs were constantly on my mind over those next 4 wks and I prayed a lot that God would continue to help her grow and develop according to His will. At our next appointment we decided to ask for another ultrasound to see if her legs had grown any, if not or were further behind then we wanted to go to UAB. Well, we saw the nurse practitioner and she can't do that, so she set up our next appointment with Dr. F and had on the chart to have an u/s. Dr. F called me in the next week and said that it would be best to go ahead and schedule to go to UAB because it takes a bit to get in. So, that appointment was scheduled for November 19, 2009.
We went to see Dr. F on November 16 and he did another ultrasound. Her legs had not grown at all according to his machine. I was shocked, as was the doctor I believe. I knew something was off, and I prayed all the more for the next few days. We were completely ok with having a baby that had dwarfism. November 19, 2009 came and I dropped the kids off at the grandparents. I went back to the house to get Joey and take one more trip to the bathroom. When I came out, Joey was standing in the living room looking at our framed picture that we made for our 2 miscarriaged babies. I immediately asked him why he was looking at that picture! He said that he had looked at the other one in the room that has the 3 kiddos on it too. Do you know what is above the 3 kids pictures, a picture of Jesus holding a baby with the verse from Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." God is good!!
We prayed before we left and chatted on the drive down. We were early so we went to a thrift store before going to the appointment. Sitting in the waiting room I was pretty silent. I didn't read or anything. There was just something off in my heart. We were finally called back and had a lady give us an ultrasound. She said that Janie Beth had the classic dwarfism profile. She was a cute little girl!! She measured every single bone in Janie Beth's legs and arms. Then, she told us that the main measurement that was a concern is the chest cavity. You see, it has to be a certain size for the lungs to develop and the ribs to be strong. She didn't have the percentiles in her ultrasound room, but they would in the next room where we would meet with the doctors and have another ultrasound.
We had to sit for a bit before we got to go in and see the doctor. That was the hardest wait!! We were put in a tiny room that was full of boxes and had a table with a couple chairs. We were finally called in and they started another ultrasound. The ultrasound tech from the other room came in and she checked the percentile for the chest. She said Janie's was in the 2.5%. Everyone was pretty silent through the ultrasound except for the resident talking to the doctor making sure she was doing everything right. Then, the doctor sat down the measure things too.
When he was done, he turned to us and said that he was sorry, but he believed that Janie Beth had a fatal form of dwarfism called Thanataphoric Dwarfism. My heart broke and tears streamed down my face. That room will forever be imprinted in my mind, as well as their faces. The ultrasound technician from the other room cried a little too. The resident got me the box of kleenex. The doctor asked us if we had any questions. What questions do you ask when someone tells you that your baby is going to die. I had no idea what to ask. I don't remember if Joey asked anything or not. That was the end of our visit. We slowly walked out of the room and down the hall to check out.
Before we left I, of course, went to the bathroom. In there I told God that I didn't understand what He was doing, but I prayed that He would be glorified through this journey. The drive home was really long, and I had multiple phone calls to make on the way. It is hard to call people and tell them that your baby is going to die baring a miracle from God. Which I completely believe that God could have done here on earth if He felt that was best for His Kingdom.
to be continued...
