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Week by Week

Blake Allen Beckham

2 lbs 12 oz
12 inches long

I became pregnant about 3 months after I married my husband, Richard. It was quite a surprise (the pregancy, not the marriage!), but we were happy anyway. The pregnancy was relatively easy, however by 20 weeks I had not felt any fetal movement. I have a sister-in-law that is a radiology technician, and she performed an ultrasound at 10 weeks and pronounced the baby healthy (without any consultation from a radiologist). I had her do another ultrasound at 20 weeks. I had my mom go with me to the hospital. This was all done secretly so my sister-in-law wouldn't get in trouble at work.

She began the ultrasound, and I wanted to know the sex of the baby. Nanette (my sister-in-law) kept telling me that the baby wasn't in a good position to see the sex. She kept having me lie on my side, or move around to get the baby to turn. She finished by telling me that she wanted me to come back in a day or two to see if the baby had turned.

I came back a few days later (by myself). She proceeded to do the ultrasound, then she froze the picture on the screen. She said "Do you see that?". I thought she was pointing out the sex of the baby. She wasn't. She was pointing out a large mass on top of the baby's abdomen. She said she hadn't ever seen anything like that before. She finished the ultrasound by printing off several pictures for me to take to my OB. In the main radiology office, she handed me a book called "Ultrasound Diagnosis of Fetal Abnomalities". She had me look through the book at the different pictures and see if I could match any with what my baby's picture looked like. This was probably the most devistating the I had ever done. I think she was extremely insensitive to me. There were pictures of babies with horrible birth defects. I proceeded to leave the hospital and go home and cry for several hours.

I guess I was in denial about something being wrong. By 24 week I had still not felt any fetal movement. I took the ultrasound picutres to by OB. He was probably 65 years old, and very rude to me. He seemed more concerned with my weight than with what I had thought I discovered about my baby. He did schedule a "routine" ultrasound at the local hospital. I went in without telling the technician anything about my previous secret ultrasound. The technician's face said it all. She called in the radiologist to scan me. He wouldn't say anything. He said I could call my doctor that afternoon to get the results of the ultrasound. I did just that. Basically my OB said that the radiologist could not locate either of the baby's legs, and that he wanted me to go downtown (Houston Medical Center) to have a high-resolution ultrasound. The next ultrasound was two weeks later. The technician began the scan, then called in the radiologist. He was an older English man, very kind and sensitive. He concluded the ultrasound by telling me that my baby has "Limb-body wall disorder, or body-stalk disorder". Basically what this meant is that up until 10-11 weeks the baby's internal organs form outside the body. After that, the skin grows around the organs, protecting them. My baby's organs did not do that. All the baby's organs were outside it's body. It's spine was curved backward (as if it was doing a back-bend) and it's legs were in the middle of its back. All that was caused by the pressure of the organs on the outside.

Needless to say, my husband and I were devistated. However, through all the misery, a wonderful thing did happen. The radiologist referred me to a maternal-fetal specialist with the University of Texas Medical Center in Houston. Dr. Wilkins was probably the most wonderful doctor I could have possible had. She explained everything to us in detail. I would be admitted to the hospital that night and have Cervadil applied to soften my cervix. The next morning I would have Pitocin started.

I had a wonderful nurse my first day on Pitocin. She really helped me deal with the birth. I had wanted to be as incoherent as possible. We said that we didn't want to see the baby. I was really scared about what it would look like. I went all the first day an only dialated to 1cm. They stopped the Pitocin that night and applied Cervadil again. My baby was born at 10pm that evening. The birth was very easy. I only pushed twice and the baby was born. They quickly rushed the baby to the warming table. It still had a heartbeat. They did something very unexpected. They wrapped the baby up and handed it to my husband. I'll never forget the look on his face. All I say was this little head (that looked perfect - small, but perfect). My husband handed the baby back to the nurse, and started to cry. They were unable to tell us the sex of the baby because the deformities were so severe. The proceeded to take the baby to the ICU nursery until the heartbeat stopped. We had to name the baby because it was born after 26 weeks gestation. Because the sex was unknown, we chose Katherine Blake (a girl and a boy name).

They transferred me to the gynocological floor (non-pregnant women). In the middle of the night, I had a nurse from the ICU nursery bring me a box. It is was about 10 pictures of my baby dressed in a little white dress with pink ribbons. She included the dress with the box. My baby was beautiful. It was very blue, but had perfect facial features and lots of hair.

I was released the next morning to go home.

After about 6 weeks, I received a phone call from the doctor's office telling me that the genetic testing the conducted on the baby revealed there were no chromosonal defects. And that we had a son. I couldn't stop shaking. I had given birth to Blake Allen Beckham, who had no genetic disorders. They couldn't attribute the deformity to anything. I am convinced it was because I became pregnant while on the birth control pill.

Needless to say, one year later I became pregnant and delivered a VERY healthy 9 lb 11.5 oz boy named Christopher Dean Beckham (via cesearean). Two years after that I gave birth (vaginally) to a VERY health 8 lb 4 oz girl named Hayley Nicole. I have been blessed with my children, even my first baby. I don't think I could be the parent I am today without Blake touching my life.

I'd like to hear from you if you have had a similar experience as mine.

God Bless

alison_beckham@classic.msn.com