Dear Charli,
On January 24, 2012, I took your Mommy to her first appointment in San Antonio where she met Dr. Huff. Dr. Huff would continue to see you every other week through ultrasounds where he would measure you, measure the amount of fluid in your Mommy's womb, monitor your heartbeats, and see if your "double bubble" changed...all through ultrasounds. It was so awesome to see you move and develop on those monitors. Dr. Huff laughed at the term "double bubble" and said it's not really a bubble at all, and that it doesn't contain any air. He confirmed the duodenal atresia diagnosis and explained that a portion of your intestines had not developed or was blocked and that you could not digest food because nothing from your stomach could pass through until your intestines could be repaired. He explained surgery after you were born would be necessary.
Your Mommy and Dr. Huff:
We learned that because you had duodenal atresia that you would also have a 30% chance of having Downs Syndrome. Your mommy began to research Downs Syndrome as well as the duodenal atresia. Dr. Huff never saw any signs of Downs in any further ultrasounds through the rest of your Mommy's pregnancy.
We continued to watch you grow through the ultrasounds and grew to love you more and more. Your Mommy would let me feel when you would kick her tummy and it was so cool to be able to feel you move around.
Dr. Huff introduced Mommy to Dr. Parker who she would begin to see in San Antonio every other week when she would go see Dr. Huff too. Now Mommy had a team of 3 doctors she saw for the rest of her pregnancy. They all took such great care of her and of you.
Your Mommy and Dr. Parker:
And the doctor who cared for Mommy from the beginning, Dr. Kirchner:
From the beginning, you have had the best care!
Love,
Grammy
Dear Charli,
I attended your 29th week ultrasound with your Mommy on January 12, 2012. Your ultrasound tech at the time was so patient it seemed, taking many many measurements and printing lots of photos to share. The sweetest and my favorite of all was printed that day:
Looking at you that day we never imagined anything could be wrong. You appeared chubby and healthy and so perfect. After viewing many images we were sent into another room to wait for the doctor. Dr. Kirchner wanted to see us before we left. We were later glad we didn't know ahead of time that Thursdays are not a day she is in the office or we might have been concerned. We didn't realize it was unusual for her to be called in after an ultrasound. So your mom and I waited, not worried or concerned, just at the time wishing we could leave and get back to work. Little did we know Dr. Kirchner was arriving with the news that something was not right according to the ultrasound images.
Dr. Kirchner arrived carrying some photos from the ultrasound. She shared with your Mommy that she would need a level 2 ultrasound to look more closely at your stomach and intestines. A "double bubble" seemed to be evident from the ultrasound. She said the words "duodenal atresia" as well as another term but it wouldn't be until much later and after hearing those words a few more times that we remembered what the words were or what they meant. I remember trying hard not to cry, and failing, and trying to understand all she said.
Your mommy and I began to google "double bubble" because those were the only words Dr. Kirchner said that day we could remember. The results of those internet searches raised many questions that your Mommy wrote down and asked Dr. Kirchner, who so patiently answered all of them.
We spent the next week googling, praying, writing down questions and waiting for the next ultrasound that we hoped would reveal all was well.
Love,
Grammy
