As we sat in the waiting room for our ultrasound, I felt like something may have been wrong. Something just didn't feel right to me. Then I told myself.. I'm worrying for nothing, there is nothing wrong. I seem to worry about everything. I'm a big worry wort!
Finally after 30 mins in the waiting room it was finally our turn. The tech begin looking at our baby. She showed us the head, her heart, her hands...etc... then she finished the rest of the measurements that she needed before determining the sex of the baby.
After about 10 mins, she finally told us we are having a girl!! It was very exciting considering we already have a 2 yr old boy. She then began looking at the babys face, and printing pics for us. She asked me to roll on my side, so she could get a picture of her feet for us. As she began looking at her feet... she got quiet, I could tell on the expression on her face, that she was puzzled about something. She told me that she couldn't get a good picture of her feet for me. Overall the ultrasound took only 25 mins.
Then they sat us back in the waiting room to wait for the results from my doctor. I began worrying again. What did she mean she couldn't get a picture of her feet?
When we finally got in to talk to our doctor. He started right away reading the results. "Over all everything looked ok... her heart, brain, spine, arms, all of those seem to be developing normally.." I sat there waiting to hear the word "BUT" ...then I heard it. "BUT, there is something wrong with her right leg and foot" He began showing us the ultra images, and presented to us that she is missing the fibula bone in her right leg. He then began to tell me, he didn't think it was anything to worry about. I knew he was just saying that to keep us calm. He told us he was going to send us to a level 2 ultrasound, because in all his practice he has never seen this before.
After leaving the doctors, I pulled out my phone and began searching the web for "missing fibula bone". I found out there was this condition called fibular hemimelia, that some babies were born with. Most of the cases resulted in amputation of the leg for a prothesis.
The ride home was quiet, My husband and I hardly spoke. We were both in shock. As soon as I got home, I walked thru the door, and broke down. I cried, and cried. My husband held me, and told me everything was going to be okay and whatever it was, it wasn't my fault. There are really no words to describe how I felt that day. Why us? One thing I knew for sure was I wasn't in this alone. I have a very supportive husband, who is always there.
After our results from our 1st ultrasound our doctor scheduled a level 2 ultrasound with a specialist that could better determind what was all wrong with our baby. The earliest appointment I could get was 2 weeks later because of the Christmas Holiday... The worst part was, I had to wait after Christmas before I could get more answers..
It was a rough 2 weeks, I cried everyday. I was constantly asking God, "why?"..I found myself constantly on Google, trying to learn more about her condition. I found this support group on Facebook, called "Fibular hemimelia and Amputation Awareness." It was the most helpful for me. I got to talk to other parents that are going through, what I will be going through in the future. I seen lots of videos and pictures of their children. Just seeing their smiling faces, and how happy they are now, gave me hope. These kids are absoutley amazing, running, climbing, jumping, skiing, skating, etc. Nothing seems to slow them down. I then had a different outlook on the situation. But was still hopeful that at my next ultrasound I would get some good news.
It was finally time for my 2nd ultrasound. We found out that her left leg appears to be normal. But her right leg has a missing fibula bone, severly bowed tiba, and her foot is not fully formed. Other than that, she is appeared to be one healthy baby so far.
May 4th, 2012 I was scheduled for an induction at 6am. Kaylin already weighed a whopping 8lbs! My husband and I didn't sleep at all the night before because Kaylin decided to come early!! I went into labor at 1am, just 5 before my scheduled induction. Everything went so fast. By the time I got ready and got to the hospitial it was 4am, and I was already dialiated to 6! and contractions were less than 10 mins apart! Our sweet Kaylin was born 5 hours later.. My doctor placed her on my stomach as soon as she came out.. I looked down at her, and seen her beautiful face, then my doctor showed us her legs, to show us it was exactly what we expected.. but it wasn't. To our knowledge only one leg was affected, but both were. But that didn't stop us from enjoying our precious baby.
Reading your journey from the beginning felt like I was reading my own :) I, too, felt like something was wrong as we waited to have the ultrasound performed. I couldn't explain why I felt that way and tried to just push those feelings aside. It was a very long ultrasound and our tech never mentioned anything about Hannah's little feet. Our doc came into the exam room and started off with the good things about the report and then she said that word, "BUT" :) We, too, did not find out about Hannah's left leg until her birth. We have so many similarities in our journey. I pray yours continues just as beautifully as ours has :)
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