Today, March 18, is Trisomy 18 Awareness Day! I would like to share our story. Trisomy 18 is a very rare chromosomal abnormality, it happens in only 1 in 5000 live births. While a lot of pregnancies with trisomy 18 end with termination, we chose life. At our 12 week ultrasound Finnleigh had high Nuchal translucency. Because of Covid restrictions my husband Jordan wasn’t able to be with me. But I immediately knew something was wrong just by the way the ultrasound tech was looking and the questions he started asking me. By that evening my dr called to let me know she was concerned and wanted me to meet with her. The following day we met with her and did the NIPT test which came back trisomy 18. We then went to a high risk dr in Vegas and they did a CVS which is like an amniocentesis but because I was so early they take from the placenta instead of the amniotic fluid. Again that test came back and confirmed trisomy 18.
We continued to see the high risk dr and later found out that she had a hernia in her diaphragm, heart defects and small lungs. It was the hardest thing to hear from drs your baby is going to die,you will not bring her home from the hospital. We of course hoped and prayed that they were wrong. Towards the end of our pregnancy I wanted to go back to our vegas dr and of course got bad news. We made an apt at another high risk dr in Phoenix. I needed to know that We did anything and everything possible for our girl. I couldn’t decide where I wanted to deliver and kept praying to God to please put me where we needed to be and He did! At 37 weeks we ended up at a high risk dr In Scottsdale where she basically told me what the Vegas dr had said. My blood pressure was so high that she said I needed to be induced that day. We got sent straight to Banner Desert, they were beyond amazing. Finnleigh was breach so they had to flip her. I went in Thursday and started the process of being induced. I met with several doctors and amazing nurses that helped guide us through this terrifying event. My water broke on it’s own on Friday night and I ended up delivering late Saturday. She passed away during birth, she was born sleeping. I am confident that Jesus was there to welcome our baby girl with open arms. God had bigger plans for our angel.