Flashback: The First Battle Won, April 12, 2017

"When you're a mom of a One in Fifty Thousand you fight.  Some doctors are afraid of the fight. Our first battle: Find one who is not."

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If you ever find yourself (and I pray you don't) with a sick infant or child in your life, this is where you go.  Their slogan, "Hope lives here", could not be more accurate.  This hospital offered us a lifeline when we were drowning in a sea of fear and sorrow. 

CHOP was the third hospital we went to after getting One in Fifty Thousand's diagnosis.  It is about a 2 hour drive from our home.  We would make this drive many times in the months to come.  On April 12, 2017 we made the 2 hour drive for the first time.  

The Fetal Diagnosis Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs like a well oiled machine.  Upon check-in you are given a print-out of your schedule for the day (yes day..it is an all day affair). After checking in, you can munch on complementary bagels, muffins, fruit, and coffee while you wait for your first consult.  

As I ate my chocolate chip muffin (I am 4 months pregnant after all) on the morning of April 12,  I could feel the heaviness of the room.  All around me it was filled with young expecting couples.  These couples should be setting up their nursery, picking out baby names or enjoying their last few months of freedom.  But instead, here they sat.   In a hospital waiting room.  Waiting to hear the fate of their family.  You would think that being around other women who are going through a similar situation would make you feel better.  Less alone.  But it doesn't. It just makes you sad.  No one should have a pregnancy like this.

The rest of the day is filled with consults, procedures, and tests. I will tell you more about these in another post.  And waiting.  Lots of waiting.  The nurses won't tell you if what they are seeing is good or bad.  You have to wait.  At the very end of the day they took us into a little room with one of the doctors.  "Oh no, not the little room", I thought to myself. Here the doctor told us that baby boy's heart looked good, his omphalocele was large, and it was too soon to tell about his lungs.  This was the best little room we had been in yet.  I told you, hope lives here and these doctors aren't afraid to fight.

On April 12, 2017 we found our hospital, our doctors, our surgeon, our team.  First battle won.