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I’m going through pictures of The Hazel Story, finding birth photos and gassy smiles but I also have many of me pregnant with her. I remember each one rather painfully. I had a stroke (TIA) while in Texas for work at 11 weeks caused by a hole in my heart, which would need surgery to correct. Nine weeks later they told me she had Trisomy 18. I took thrice daily blood thinning shots into the stomach to keep me and her alive for the rest of my pregnancy. The anesthesiologist was kind when she said those shots were incompatible with an epidural. Au natural it is then.  Confusing Trisomy 18 with Down Syndrome, I worried not at all. I had way too many other things to worry about like my overly stressful job and my first two children.  The kind genetics counselor called me and explained what Trisomy 18 really was and I cried. And Darwin cried. And we were pretty quiet about it. After a week we decided to pretend we didn’t know. I took care of myself. Took the shots, took the meds, met with the perinatologist weekly and prayed. In the end, my beautiful girl had an Apgar score of 8. The pediatrician waltzed in, took a peek and gave a thumbs up. The delivering doctor had nothing interesting to note and after being prepped and put out for my surgery, I woke up to my husband trying to explain that the pre-surgery EEG showed a perfectly intact heart

886337_10200928058228212_414954413_oI know this is long but this will forever be my life story. Hazel Jo gave us a few scares while in utero but she hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped. They were wrong about her. She is beautiful and healthy and one big bundle of energy. I love you, Hazel Cake. And I love you too, Darwin, for being there during all of that. I couldn’t do anything with my rock to lean on.