Tanner Loveless

Born & Died Sunday July 1, 2007, living 2 1/2 hours

Owasso, Oklahoma (OK)

Update 7-12-07
I started having contractions and slight bleeding Saturday and went to the hospital. At this time, I was 30 weeks along. After sitting up there for about half the day they gave me some pills to stop the contractions and sent me home. At that time I was dilated to a two and was 80% effaced. The pills worked over night but once I awoke the next morning my contractions were starting over. They did not get real bad till about 9 o’clock that night.

Mike rushed me to the hospital, again, and when the doctor got done checking me I was completely effaced and dilated to a six. It was then definite that Tanner was going to be born that night. The contractions grew worse and I cried out of fear. The doctors broke my water once I was an 8-9 and then waited till I was completely dialated to actually do the delivery. Because I had come in at a six, they did not have time to prepare and give me an epidural. In the middle of the delivery, they had to cut because Tanner was stuck. He was finally born at 12:21 in the morning on Sunday, July 1st 2007.

He weighed 2.6 pounds and was 14.5 inches long. He had wavy blonde hair and dark blue eyes, though he never opened them himself. Though we never saw it in ultrasound, he had a extra little digit on his left hand. It was so cute and it was right next to his pinky. He had his daddy's big hands and feet but my long skinny fingers and toes. He was a little blue when he was fresh out, but slowly his color became more pinkish. He never cried, only made little noises and if you stroked his cheek or put your pinky on his lips he would start trying to suck. He was by far the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

We were able to get plenty of pictures, sounds recorded and video tapes. Also, like I had prayed for, he was able to meet all of his family and friends. Once he had played and had been held by everyone in the room several times, family and friends left so me and Mike would be able to give him a bath. We had the doctor taping this event for us, and we loved and cleaned him gently. He passed away during this time, which was round-a-bout 2 and a half hours after he was born. I’m glad that he was able to in the comfort of our arms.

It was a hard thing, it still very much is. We miss him everyday. We stayed the night that night, and even though he had passed we got to keep him in our room. Family came back in to hold him one last time, it was so sweet, my dad rocked him in his arms before they left. They took Tanner to the nursery to fix him up and then down to the morgue. That was so hard, we cried in our room for hours before they brought him back.

His funeral was July 5th, he is buried near home so that is very nice. Its not far to go visit him. All of our friends and family, even people we worked with, attended the funeral. It was a short funeral, not much to say on the preacher's part, but it was sweet and there was a lot of love surrounding Tanner that day.

Tanner was a blessing to us, and it was so sad to see him go so quickly. But, while he was here, I’m glad that he was able to see how loved he truly was. I want to thank everyone here for all the prayers and comfort that you all gave to us. It is truly appreciated.

~Ashley and Tanner~
 

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Update 6-10-07

Hello everyone. I first want to thank everyone who wrote me. I really appreciate it and it is always good to hear from all of you even though it does take me some time to respond. Ha ha. I hope all is well with all of you, and again, thank you very much for your prayers and emails for my family and especially for Tanner.

Next, for an update. Mike successfully completed and graduated high school. I find this nothing but a miracle. With all that we have been through and his long hours that he has been putting in at his job at McDonalds, I’m very surprised and happy that he did it.

Next, on Tanner. We had a emergency Ultrasound appointment on the 7th in Oklahoma City. That is a two hour drive from my home. I went along with Mike and my parents. A lady doctor performed the ultrasound and was kind enough to give us some pictures. She, herself, did not diagnose him with anything. After the ultrasound, we waited for a short time until the actual doctor came in. He was a very nice man, and he sat down and shared with us on what he saw in the ultrasound. Apparently, Tanner's brain has changed from the first diagnosis. He does have Holoprosencephaly, however, it is now semi-lobar. So, for some miraculous reason, his brain has changed for the better in that area. That was a bit of hope. However, his cerebellum is very much underdeveloped. The part that is underdeveloped is the part that controls body coordination and movement. They did confirm that he does have Hypoplastic Left Heart and because of all of the genetic defects in him the doctor said he would not be a candidate for surgery. That was very depressing. Along with these, the doctor said Tanner also has Rocker Bottom feet, Lip cleft, Face/Palate cleft and extra fluid in his left kidney. Fortunately, this doctor did not try to put pressure on us and was actually trying to give us some hope. I really recommend him. But, none the less, I left that hospital feeling very down. I understood that if I could not find someone to do heart surgery on my baby that Tanner would not live long or at all.

That doctor referred me back to the original doctor that had done the first ultrasound and suggested me sticking with her for the rest of my pregnancy. So, we will call that doctor soon and see what she thinks.

On the fifth of June, I was able to get a 3D ultrasound done of Tanner. And, to my surprise, the lady who did it let us do it for free! It was a blessing. My mother-in-law had made a call and the lady was so nice that she wanted to do us a favor. I really appreciated it because I have been wanting to do one but could not financially afford it. Tanner is such a beautiful boy, or in my eyes at least. He is my first child, so the shock of seeing what my child would look like fascinated me and made me so happy. I got to watch him practice sucking and trying to hid his face with his hand.

On a final note, I have an appointment next week with a genetic doctor who I had seen before and was the one who diagnosed Tanner with T13. He will be giving me and Mike our
test results back on our blood tests and probably making more appointments with doctors and genetic counselors. This appointment is one of the scariest appointments that could ever happen. I almost don't even want to know if this is a genetic case or not.

That is all for now, and once again, thank you to all my friends and family who have prayed and sent thoughts our way.
-Ashley and Tanner

5-16-07

Hello. My name is Ashley Garrett, I am 20 years old and 24 weeks pregnant with my son, Tanner Loveless. He is due on September 4th of 2007. His father, my fiancée, is Michael Loveless and he is 18 and about to graduate high school. We live in Owasso, Oklahoma in our own apartment near the high school.

At 5 months pregnant, we found out that through an ultrasound that Tanner has Hypoplastic Left Heart and Holoprosencephaly (Alobar- meaning he has no lobar, his brain did not divide into two halves) with facial deformities of a face and / or lip palate cleft and possibly no nose.

When I had and chromosome test done on Tanner, it came back saying he has Trisomy 13, where a third chromosome 13 attached itself to a 14. They told me and Mike that 80 percent of these babies do not make it full term and that I could miscarry him at anytime. They suggested to us abortion and early inducement. They told us if he was to make it to full term, he could not live more than a couple of weeks. We then had our blood drawn to see if Tanner got this from one of us. Since then, I have been staying home and put my job on hiatus.

I also have KTS (Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome) in my left leg which consists of multiple, irregular veins that clot easily. Since of this syndrome, I was classified as a high risk pregnancy and I have been taking daily shots of Lovenox (blood thinner).

The past month has been wearing Me and Mike down greatly, and we wait patiently on our blood results. We try to keep our hopes up and we pray daily for Tanner and his healing. If you wish to contact me at any time, feel free to. My email is theshippou@yahoo.com

-Ashley

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