Oahu Family Photographer | Choosing life against the odds
Have you ever wondered what you would do to be in a situation where you had to decide on life or death? Would you choose life? Would you do whatever it takes to give this young life a chance? Most of us have never been in this kind of situation before and will never be during our lives. However, a few weeks ago we received an email from a mom interested in finding out a little more information about the organization, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. There are usually only 2 reasons you want to find out information about us.
1. You want to volunteer your time as a photographer or
2. You have a baby that has passed away, or about to pass away.
Unfortunately, Tina was the latter.
Mosaic Trisomy 13
At 15 weeks gestation, Tina and Jayson found out their little boy was diagnosed with Mosaic Trisomy 13, a diagnoses not compatible with life. At 33 weeks, she contacted us to see if it would be possible for her birth to be photographed while at her final ultrasound of Finn. The doctors at Tripler were very welcoming and allowed us to be in the room for the ultrasound before her scheduled c-section. Although the genetic testing blood work had come back showing that Finn had Mosaic Trisomy 13, every ultrasound, and other test Tina had done, did not show any abnormality and the doctors couldn’t find anything else wrong with him. However, Tina and Jayson were told they would not know anything definitively until after Finn was born, thinking he may still have a neurological defect.
The doctors were not able to say if Finn would live a day, a week, a month….
It was such a pleasure photographing Tina as she watched little Finn up on the screen. The room was dark and small. Tears flowed from the corner of Tina’s eyes periodically throughout the ultra sound. Not knowing the outcome of Finn’s future weighed heavily on her. She was so calm and collected, treasuring every little glimpse she got of his precious life up on the screen. Tina and Jayson knew that no matter what the future held, they would chose life for their little boy. They would hold him, kiss him, love on him and when and if the time came, they would let him go.
On baby’s schedule.
As we all know, babies have their own time table. They never abide by the calendar we’ve set for them. Even though Finn was scheduled to be delivered on July 15th, doctors put Tina into hospital on July 7th, and scheduled Finn’s c-section for the following morning. I was on Maui, working with a client and was unable to get back for the delivery. Here in lies the amazing thing about working within a professional network of other photographers. I was able to contact several birth photographers here on Oahu, who stepped up and volunteered to photograph the birth, even though they had never worked with NILMDTS before. It is now that I would now like to welcome you to head on over to Lydia Stemke’s blog, to read about Finn’s birth and the amazing story that follows.
To see more posts on Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, click here
