Around this time of year, everyone stops to take some time
to think about what they are thankful for. Like most mothers, at the top of my
list is the health of my children. We are so blessed to have three
rambunctious, healthy children and I try not to take that for granted. When Daniel
was born he had a birth defect called Hypospadias. In very non-technical terms,
it is a (pain free) defect of the placement of the urinary tract. Having two
previously healthy kids and never learning anything during my prenatal exams
with Daniel, we never expected anything to be wrong with him. We were informed
of it immediately at his birth (literally, my feet were still in stirrups), we
later saw a urologist, and at six months old (when he could go under general
anesthesia) he had surgery to correct it. On the day of his surgery, we sat in the
waiting area with dozens of other parents. It was a very humbling experience since
a lot of the parents had children who were in all day surgeries or were in for
their second, third, or fourth procedures. Three hours passed and our Daniel
came through like a champ. I was never as happy as when I got to hold him in
the recovery area although the way he looked (groggy, dazed, hooked to
machines, etc.) is a vision I will never be able to get out of my head. We
eventually left the hospital so very thankful that a “simple” birth defect was
all that he had. After a few weeks, Daniel recovered fine even after pulling
out his own catheter prematurely during a diaper change (ugh). I am grateful
that if all goes according to plan we will never have to go through something
like that again. I recently was given the opportunity to participate in a birth
defect study for the Department of Health. I hope that the research that they
are doing will help people in the future from having to go through what so many
parents have had to face. If nothing else though, at least the woman who
conducted my phone interview could get a chuckle out of the amount of peanut
butter I eat per week. Mmmm…peanut butter.
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| This was our happy little guy only a few days post op! |
