My husband Adam and I met at a LPA convention in Milwaukee in 2006. I lived in Minnesota and Adam was living in New Jersey. When the convention was over, I seriously didnt think things would work out between us. I thought long distance relationships usually dont work. But when he sent me roses to my house a week after I got home, I thought oh yes this will work. Why wouldnt it? I was 27, he was 32 we were old enough to know what we wanted, to make this work. So I traveled to New Jersey over Labor Day weekend and I realized how much I was really in love him. Being that he had a good paying job, I decided that it would be much easier for me to leave my family and all I knew to be with him in New Jersey. It would be alot easier for me to find a job in New Jersey then for him to find a job in his profession in Minnesota. So I moved to New Jersey in November of 2006. People probably thought it was way to fast to move to the other side of the United States, but I was at the age where I knew this was it, this was the love of my life. So I had to do what I felt was right. Adam proposed to me in January 2007, bought a house out there in May 2007 and started our life. May 2008 we got married in Minnesota because I come from a large family and he didnt have much family in New Jersey, his dad lived in Minnesota (which I thought was weird), so we just thought it would be easier and cheaper to do it in Minnesota. I got pregnant right away which is what I wanted. We had our first baby in March of 2009. When I was pregnant with Brody our ultrasound showed that he was going to be a little person, then later on the ultrasound showed he had shorter limbs then a baby with achondroplasia had and a smaller size trunk. So Adam and I had blood tests done, that showed Adam was Hypochondroplasia (we were very suprised with this outcome, I never heard of hypochondroplasia and I always thought Adam was achondroplasia) and I had achondroplasia (which I already knew, because I have a sister that also has achondroplasia. So I had a Amniocentesis done and found out our baby had both genes. The genetics at the hospital told me on the phone, well not really sure the outcome of the baby, he could die, he could mentally challenged, but I am not really sure. I thought to myself why would you tell me this if you didnt know for sure. So we met with someone that actually knew what they were talking about. She had told us that we were going to have a tough year but everything would be ok. Months later I had found another genetics doctor that was close to us that worked with dwarfism. So I contacted him (Dr Bober) and he told me what to look for when Brody was born, if he wasnt improving or doing good that we should have him transferred to AI Dupont Childrens Hospital of Delaware. We had Brody March 9, 2009. He came out screaming which the doctors were very suprised. He was at Cooper University Hospital for 2 weeks, he was off and on oxygen, was eating and wasnt. We then had him transferred to AI. He was there off and on for 8 months. When he wasnt improving we decided to do a trach and then decided with him having a trach it would be beneficial to move back to Minnesota as we would need the support and help. He was transferred to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on November 1, 2009. He was declining fast once we got there, he survived 14 hours after being in Minnesota. It was the worst day of my life. Adam was in New Jersey and wasnt planning on coming for a couple of weeks, I was there at the hospital ALL alone and had to see my son decline so fast by myself. I didnt know what to do. My parents came down to be there with me (an hour and a half drive), after about an hour after they got there, he passed from a cardiac arrest.
This is Brody a couple of days before he passed away
Eight months later we decided to try for another baby. When we found out I was pregnant we had set up an appointment to have a CVS test done to make sure the baby didnt have both genes. At 12 weeks I had the CVS test done, a couple of days after the CVS was done, we found out we were having another boy. I knew that having another boy, he wasnt going to have both genes. We found out the results of the test I believe it was close to 4 weeks (longest 2-4 weeks of my life) later that he only had the Achondroplasia gene. I was so happy, words couldnt describe how happy, excited I was to finally have a healthy baby. Mason was born April 4, 2011.
Mason moments after birth
Mason within an hour of being home
