My husband and I were delighted to find out we were pregnant with our third baby a few weeks before Christmas. We had two very normal pregnancy’s prior to Maggie’s pregnancy, and just expected this to be the same. Our first ultrasound, Maggie was measuring small and by the anatomy scan she was still measuring very small, and we could see a cleft lip. We were referred to maternal fetal medicine for the remainder of our pregnancy, where we had weekly ultrasounds and an amniocentesis at 26 weeks to confirm her diagnosis of full trisomy 18. Every week we had an ultrasound, we seemed to get more news about Maggie. She wasn’t growing well, had a cyst in her brain, a large VSD in her heart and I had a lot of extra amniotic fluid. Between 25 weeks and 30 weeks my husband and I shifted expectations to focus on getting any and as much time with Maggie that we could. We were very lucky to make it to 36 weeks when I started having small contractions and Maggie was delivered via C-section. We weren’t sure if Maggie would breathe, as she never did on the ultrasounds; and yet with a little oxygen, she did really well. We were pleasantly surprised and elated to have 37 beautiful hours with Maggie score she stopped breathing. She was held by many family members and never suffered, she was always calm. Maggie’s esophagus never formed and we worried she would starve, but luckily God made her exit as quiet and peaceful as her entrance to this life. We are forever grateful for Maggie, and wouldn’t change anything about her or the care for her.
Maggie Jean
