Michael Christopher Mohr

April 19, 2007

4-25-07
Our warrior, Michael Christopher Mohr, was born on Thursday, April 19, 2007. He was 6 pounds 5 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. He had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He was born at 6:04 p.m. and passed at 7:40 p.m.

He was surrounded by his mommy, daddy, big sister, Gracie, his grandparents, aunts and uncles and was held and loved his entire life here on earth. We sang Happy Birthday to him as loud as we could to be sure he knew we were all there in celebration of his life.

We were all so proud of him for living as long as he did, and when he did pass away, he was surrounded by his family. It was incredibly peaceful for him and for us.

On Tuesday, April 24th, we had a private viewing and burial service which was wonderful. Michael looked so peaceful. He was again surrounded by his family to say one final goodbye.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support over these last months. I just do not know what I would have done without this website or the stories shared. Everyone has been so incredibly helpful with their own stories and I have found great strength in them.

I know that Michael is looking down on us and he is so proud of his mommy and daddy for giving him the chance to have a life. It is an incredible feeling knowing that Joe and I are the mommy and daddy of an angel.

michelemohr710@comcast.net

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Today (April 2, 2007) my husband and I met with the perinatologist to have another ultrasound of baby Michael. Unfortunately nothing has really changed since the last one conducted at 22 weeks (I am now 34 weeks). Michael still has the heart issue as well as spina bifida. In addition we were told that his kidneys were enlarged (which was not an issue at the last ultrasound). But they said the stomach looked good and the last ultrasound we were told it was small and underdeveloped.

The good news is he now weighs 4 1/2 pounds and is quite active. So, he is still growing right on target.

We are just keeping hope that baby Michael will be born alive so we can finally meet him and see his sweet face. I am getting anxious for the birth. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.

Michele Mohr
michelemohr710@comcast.net

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3-12-07
My name is Michele Mohr. My husband Joseph and I live in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. We have a three year old daughter, Grace, and are expecting a boy, Michael Christopher, on May 10, 2007.

At 22 weeks I went for a routine ultrasound with a radiologist and after about 30 minutes of no talking, I knew something was wrong. Instead of being told there was a possible problem, my husband, daughter and I were dismissed because "there were difficulties" in reading the ultrasound and we were told to get in touch with our doctor who would put us in touch with a perinatologist. That was on a Saturday.

It was not until Monday afternoon that we heard from our doctor with the worst news. I was told that Michael had an abnormal shaped head, heart abnormalities and a hernia in the abdominal wall. I was scheduled to see a perinatologist the following day (Tuesday) and scheduled for a "termination" on (Wednesday). We were heartbroken. Our world was turned upside down in a matter of minutes and I was then faced with terminating the pregnancy. Of course, little did I know that after meeting with the perinatologist that termination was absolutely up to us and not the doctors, which was a complete relief.

We saw the perinatologist on Tuesday evening and he did a thorough ultrasound followed by an amnio. He told us that the ultrasound showed all the signs of Trisomy 18, but it was not until we received the amnio results days later that Full Trisomy 13 was confirmed. We were told that Michael had an undeveloped heart and lungs, small stomach, small esophogus and spina bifida. We were told that his fingers are criss-crossed and he has clubbed feet. We were told that we could do three things. We could do nothing at all and let nature take its course, we could follow up with more testing (amnio) or we could terminate. My husband and I looked at each other and knew immediately that we would definitely NOT terminate our pregnancy and end the life of our little baby. Michael was already moving around and kicking and had been for weeks at that point. We were so relieved that we could choose to continue the pregnancy. We did however follow up with the amnio just to confirm what the perinatologist was telling us. We were told that when Michael is born, if he is born alive, he will only live for a matter of minutes because he will be unable to breathe on his own.

Since that time, 9 weeks have passed by. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for everyone involved. We are just in a state of limbo. I am enjoying every little kick and move Michael has given me. I do not know how long we will have together, but I thank God every day for giving us this much time. He is our little baby, our little angel sent to us. I don't think we will ever really know why God chose us to go through this, but I keep telling myself that he must think we are two very strong individuals to give us this task.

This past week we began telling our little Gracie that Michael will most likely not be coming home to live with us, but instead go onto heaven to be with Baby Jesus. She is starting to understand in her own little way what is going on. She is sad that she will not have her little brother home with her so she can help give him bottles and change his diapers and play with him. It just breaks my heart to see her little disappointed face.

We have a follow up doctor's appointment on March 26th at which time I am hoping the doctor will write me a script for a follow up ultrasound. At my last visit with another doctor in the practice I was told that there was no need for another ultrasound because it would not change the outcome. I have been reading stories about how some doctors treat their patients in this regard. I sometimes feel like my husband and I are being cast aside and forgotten. I just want another ultrasound so I can see my little Michael and to see if anything new has developed or gotten worse over time. It has been almost 10 weeks since the last ultrasound and I want to be as prepared as possible as I am nearing the end of the pregnancy. I actually had one of the doctors in the practice just come right out and ask why I just did not terminate the pregnancy when given the chance. The only thing I can think of is that a doctor looks at the situation from a medical standpoint and not a personal one? Why else would he ask such a question.

I have already reached out to several of the T-13 moms on this site who have already had their angels or are waiting for them to come. They have all been so helpful. This is an amazing site and I am so very grateful that it has been here for me these last months to give me comfort that I am not alone.

I will hopefully have an update after my next visit. Until that time, I will just wait until Michael is ready to greet us. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.

Michael's ultrasound picture taken back in January.

Michele Mohr
michelemohr710@comcast.net