Life with the Brandts
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6
I am Samantha and my husband is Joel. I am a teacher and Joel is a firefighter. We started dating in June 2006, and got married in July 2010. Over the past three years we have been on a crazy journey of trying to become parents. I have been told to start a blog or journal about our journey many, many times, and now that we have been on this journey for a while I finally decided it was time. We are blessed to have had the support of all our family and friends who have remained by our sides throughout this emotional journey.
In May of 2013, we decided that we wanted to become parents and that it would be a good time to start trying to get pregnant. Without any issues we found out we were pregnant in June. We were both so excited and grateful to have gotten pregnant so quickly. We slowly started telling our family and friends, who were all very excited for us. We went to our regular check ups and made it through the first trimester. We felt so relieved to have made it through the first trimester, since the risk of miscarriage dropped significantly. Things seemed to be going great and we were getting more excited, buying little things here and there.
A few weeks later, we went in for the anatomy ultrasound, when I was about 19 weeks along; almost half way there! For some reason Joel was not allowed to come back with me until the initial ultrasound was finished. The technician who was completing the ultrasound kept going back to the baby's heart and scanning it. I could see the look on his face and immediately knew something was wrong. I could see beads of sweat forming around his face and it seemed as though something were very wrong. Based on the parts of the screen I was able to see I knew there was something wrong with the way our baby's heart was developing.
Joel came back to the room and the technician showed us all the baby's fingers and toes and the precious profile. As we left I told Joel the concerns I had based on what I had seen, but we had to wait until the next day to meet with the doctor. The next day we met with the doctor to go over the ultrasound results and she informed us that the valves and chambers in the baby's heart and not properly formed and that we would need to do further tests to get a specific diagnosis. This is where our journey of heartbreak and seeing doctor after doctor began.
Initially we thought our baby would have a heart condition which would require delivering at a special hospital with a team of doctors ready to do immediate surgery. After meeting with a genetic specialist and some prenatal specialists we decided that I needed to have an amnio, which would give us definitive answers. (This was the one test I was terrified of. A long needle through your stomach into the amniotic sac to pull fluid; no thank you.) As much as I dreaded this test I knew it needed to be done. The results of the amnio were worse than we had initially thought. We were told our baby had Trisomy 18, a fatal chromosomal defect. The doctors told us we could and likely would loose the baby before my due date. At this point we were both scared and heartbroken by the news, but had no choice but to keep walking through each day. We had to go to weekly doctors appointments to monitor the baby, which were emotionally draining. Up to this point we had not found out the gender and decided we wanted to know now. The doctor let us know that we would be having a little girl. We continued through our pregnancy dealing with awkward and emotional encounters as my belly grew and people asked about our expecting baby.
On February 17, 2014, we went to the doctors for one of our weekly appointments, just two weeks before my due date, and were told that our little girls heart had stopped beating. We were told to go home pack an overnight bag and come back to be induced. I was terrified! On our drive back to the hospital we called our parents to let them know what was going on. They met us at the hospital and sat with us as we waited for the doctors to come in and tell us what our plan would be. We knew the baby was breech and that it would cause some complications, but the doctor who was on shift was comfortable with delivering a breeched baby. When we arrived at the hospital my resting heart rate was 140, and they didn't want to start anything until it slowed some. I told the nurse that it wasn't going to settle, so they started to work on getting the IV started. After 3 failed IV attempts (which was awful and painful!) they finally got the 4th IV in and we were able to get somewhat settled, not that you can really be settled in this situation. I was given some small pills to help prepare my body for delivery. I would take the oral medication for a couple hours then they would give me IV meds to start contractions.
Thanks to all the prayers my body was able to go into labor on its own, without ever having to start the pitocin! We realized things we getting close and called all of our family to come back. We were so grateful that all of our family was able to be there for us, even though some of them were coming from out of town. Reagan Faith Brandt was born on February 18, 2014 @ 1:04 am weighing 2 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 13.5 inches long. We were so blessed to have the hospital organize a professional photographer to come take professional pictures of Reagan for free. It is a blessing to have those pictures of her and be able to constantly look back at her!
In May of 2013, we decided that we wanted to become parents and that it would be a good time to start trying to get pregnant. Without any issues we found out we were pregnant in June. We were both so excited and grateful to have gotten pregnant so quickly. We slowly started telling our family and friends, who were all very excited for us. We went to our regular check ups and made it through the first trimester. We felt so relieved to have made it through the first trimester, since the risk of miscarriage dropped significantly. Things seemed to be going great and we were getting more excited, buying little things here and there.
A few weeks later, we went in for the anatomy ultrasound, when I was about 19 weeks along; almost half way there! For some reason Joel was not allowed to come back with me until the initial ultrasound was finished. The technician who was completing the ultrasound kept going back to the baby's heart and scanning it. I could see the look on his face and immediately knew something was wrong. I could see beads of sweat forming around his face and it seemed as though something were very wrong. Based on the parts of the screen I was able to see I knew there was something wrong with the way our baby's heart was developing.
Joel came back to the room and the technician showed us all the baby's fingers and toes and the precious profile. As we left I told Joel the concerns I had based on what I had seen, but we had to wait until the next day to meet with the doctor. The next day we met with the doctor to go over the ultrasound results and she informed us that the valves and chambers in the baby's heart and not properly formed and that we would need to do further tests to get a specific diagnosis. This is where our journey of heartbreak and seeing doctor after doctor began.
Initially we thought our baby would have a heart condition which would require delivering at a special hospital with a team of doctors ready to do immediate surgery. After meeting with a genetic specialist and some prenatal specialists we decided that I needed to have an amnio, which would give us definitive answers. (This was the one test I was terrified of. A long needle through your stomach into the amniotic sac to pull fluid; no thank you.) As much as I dreaded this test I knew it needed to be done. The results of the amnio were worse than we had initially thought. We were told our baby had Trisomy 18, a fatal chromosomal defect. The doctors told us we could and likely would loose the baby before my due date. At this point we were both scared and heartbroken by the news, but had no choice but to keep walking through each day. We had to go to weekly doctors appointments to monitor the baby, which were emotionally draining. Up to this point we had not found out the gender and decided we wanted to know now. The doctor let us know that we would be having a little girl. We continued through our pregnancy dealing with awkward and emotional encounters as my belly grew and people asked about our expecting baby.
On February 17, 2014, we went to the doctors for one of our weekly appointments, just two weeks before my due date, and were told that our little girls heart had stopped beating. We were told to go home pack an overnight bag and come back to be induced. I was terrified! On our drive back to the hospital we called our parents to let them know what was going on. They met us at the hospital and sat with us as we waited for the doctors to come in and tell us what our plan would be. We knew the baby was breech and that it would cause some complications, but the doctor who was on shift was comfortable with delivering a breeched baby. When we arrived at the hospital my resting heart rate was 140, and they didn't want to start anything until it slowed some. I told the nurse that it wasn't going to settle, so they started to work on getting the IV started. After 3 failed IV attempts (which was awful and painful!) they finally got the 4th IV in and we were able to get somewhat settled, not that you can really be settled in this situation. I was given some small pills to help prepare my body for delivery. I would take the oral medication for a couple hours then they would give me IV meds to start contractions.
Thanks to all the prayers my body was able to go into labor on its own, without ever having to start the pitocin! We realized things we getting close and called all of our family to come back. We were so grateful that all of our family was able to be there for us, even though some of them were coming from out of town. Reagan Faith Brandt was born on February 18, 2014 @ 1:04 am weighing 2 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 13.5 inches long. We were so blessed to have the hospital organize a professional photographer to come take professional pictures of Reagan for free. It is a blessing to have those pictures of her and be able to constantly look back at her!