Stories of Lost Children
Noah---Our Angel
by Kristen, Hammonton, U.S.A.
We found out that we were expecting on New Year's Eve 1999 into 2000. What a terrific way to start the New Year!!!! Our families were almost as excited as we were. I had been sick (flu, strep throat, sinus infections, etc.) throughout the first 3 months of my pregnancy. No morning sickness though. When we went for our first ultrasound at 20 weeks, we were told that there was not enough fluid around the baby to see everything that they had to see. The doctors sent us for a Level 2 ultrasound the following day and we were told the horrifying news!!! Our baby was not going to live. He was already in cardiac arrest, did not have lungs, his kidneys were not functioning, he had club foot, cleft lip and palette, and was filled on the inside with the amniotic fluid. I was induced the following week and after 27 hours of labor I delivered our son Noah, who was stillborn. We were able to hold him and look him all over. We took pictures with him and had him baptized. We chose to cremate his remains so he would always be with us and we will have his remains buried with us when we pass. We found out afterwards that he had DeGeorge Syndrome which is a deletion of part of the 22nd chromosome. We were relieved to hear that we did not carry the gene for this and the likelihood that this would occur again is very low. We are trying again but the past couple of months especially have been hard with the holidays. I think I was so strong after Noah was born on April 27,2000, that I forgot to grieve then, and now it is all catching up with me. I am very fortunate that I have such a wonderful and supportive husband who takes very good care of me. We will never forget our son and he will always live in our hearts, minds, and our souls.
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