Saint Joe’s Hospital in Tacoma, Washington (WA) - Trisomy Mosaic
 6-14-07
Hi, my wife and I had our son Joey Samuel Lawrence Jan 17 –07, this was a
great moment in our life as we have 2 other children Jardana age 11 and
Jackson age 2 and a half we were surprised and thrilled when we found out
that we were going to have one more as my wife was 40 and I'm 35 we didn't
think it was going to happen.
Agara my wife said she was going to get fixed so we wouldn't have another
child because of her age but 2 weeks before the appointment we found out we
were pregnant with our son Joey I was wanting a girl and was going to name
her Jillian but as the pregnancy progressed we found out that we were having
a boy so Agara got to name him also as the pregnancy progressed she was told
that our son had the chance of being a downs baby, this was not a big issue
as they told us that Jack was going to be a downs baby this test she was
given had to do with her age and had a low number of being right and as we
discussed it together we didn't care we felt that God gave us this last
chance to have Joey that we would endeavor it and all that was to lei in the
future as only God would of known what the future would have in store for us
and Joey.
I guess the news came when she was 7 months almost 8 months along that Joey
really had some kind of problem that was facing him and my wife and I as
they told us that Joey just had a cleft lip we thought well that's not to
bad a few surgery's and he would be as good as new Agara and I never had any
thoughts about it we just felt lucky that we were having him and God
wouldn't give us a baby that had lots of problems.By this time our doctor
was asking us to come in for check ups 3-4 times a week this is when we
started to get nervous Agara gained more water then a normal pregnant woman
would of gained which made things even more complicated for us and the
doctors.
For us Agara couldn't get out of bed or get up of the floor or even get
out of a chair it was also hard for her to drive as she looked like a water
buffalo ready to burst.
For the doctors they couldn't see if anything else could be wrong with
Joey because there was just too much water in the bag for them to get good
pictures or sonograms and as this started to worry the doctors Agara started
to have complications such as high blood pressure and vary bad swelling in
the ankles and her feet it seemed that she started to spend a lot of time in
the hospital this also started to stress her and the baby out and we almost
lost both mother and child.
December came along and Agara was 7 month along with Joey when I wrecked my
truck and lost a cargo load up on the mountain I wound up unemployed and un
able to work this stressed Agara out so much that it almost killed her and
Joey because we had no money in savings and didn't know how we would make it
as I have no other skills but truck driving I had no clue what we would do.
while she was in the hospital, that time they convinced her to do the
amniocentesis which is when we found out that Joey was a trisomy13 baby.
Agara and I had no clue what that was to mean until they started to bring in
experts and we found this site that is when my heart fell this is when
things started to go ways we never anticipated.
As this new started to trickle down though our friends and family it
seemed the weight of the world was crashing down around us Agara and I had
no idea of what we would be in stored for us and our family because things
just kept looking worse and worse, they told us around the 9th of January
that they was going to induce labor and that Agara had to stay in the
hospital until then.
 I got scared and started to ask every one I knew that was religious to
pray for us I asked our church and members of other churches to keep us in
their prayers I can't remember much between the 9th and the 17th because it
seemed like all I did was cry and being a guy I cried a lot even at the mere
mentions of baby's or of faith God Joey or Agara these all seemed to trigger
my crying, to the point that I started to blame God and myself for this
problem we were facing.
I just couldn't understand why God would give a baby that had so manyi
problems to parents like us parents who didn't do drugs, parents who never
sold drugs or abused our children in any way or had ever or even thought of
committing a sexual act with a child for in my mind those are the bastards
that should have children with problems like ours and I started to feel
alone in this time of need this was the time that my wife the woman I love
and cherished needed the support that I didn't know if I had it or not.
I stopped going to church and felt that God had abandoned me or us at
this time I wasn't sure what it was. Then the day came that Joey was
coming into the world weather we were ready or not they induced labor and it
wasn't long after things started to turn. Half our congregation from church
was there as my sister and a friend of the family, that's when I found out
just how lucky we were.
Joey started to come out when the cord got pinched and our doctor gave us
the option of having him alive or dead because if she kept going natural
birth he would die and the doctor wasn't sure that if he gave Agara a
c-section if Joey would live any ways he told us that typically these baby's
don't live long after birth and it would be hard to tell, my wife and I
locked eye's I started crying and begged her to have the c-section telling
her that I didn't care if I only got 5 minutes with Joey then Id be ok with
it As Agara had felt the same she was wished off to an emergency word for
the c-section.
I started to pray to God asking him for an exchange an exchange that in my
mind was fair I asked God to let our son Joey to live and in Exchange if I
could spend five more minutes holding all my children to tell them all how
much I loved them that God could have my life instead of taking Joey's our
pasture said it didn't work like that as I sat there in tears not knowing if
I would even get to hold Joey or not.
My pastor and the rest of our church started to pray as I sat there deep
in my own thought wondering the future and what was to be in stored and
feeling angry that this was happening to us loving parents who would lay
down their life for their children when there was those other people that
didn't deserve healthy children and then it came to me as I see it divine
intervention slapping me in the face.
Our pastore Bob had come over to where I was crying and feeling sorry for
myself and said Stan God only give special children to parent who would love
and care for them parents that no matter the time or cost would love and
adore and do for them that parents like the drug user or child abuser cold
not love or take as of good care as me and Agara could with Joey that God
only gives special baby's to special parents and that we were to be blessed
with the arrival of Joey.
I can't say that I always agree with Bob but I know that God only gives
us as much as we can handle or so they say I some times question that too as
I feel my knee's are buckling and don't know how much more I can take.
I still haven't gone back to work yet as I was fired from the last
trucking company I worked for and I'm still under an investigation for the
truck wreck by the D.O.T. and this is the May but I hope to be working soon
because we have gone though all the money we had received from a sale of a
house that was willed to me and unfortunately the house we now live in and
own is falling in around it's self we have only one burner to cook on and
our oven went out because we used it to heat the house and come this winter
I just don't think we will make it too long with the mobile home we live in
no heat no even and it's starting to fall in on it's self but I can say this
at least we own it out right and we don't have to pay for anything but taxes
on it.
We tried to go out and buy another mobile home a new one or have a house
built for us but our credit is so bad from outstanding hospital bills and
other things that we can't get a loan besides that I had to go out and buy
my wife a new van so she could get back and forth from the doctors
appointments that she has with Joey that it now show's we're paying for a
25,000 dollar van on our credit that makes things tuff for us but I'm sure
we will make it I hope to be back to driving truck soon.
Joey goes to the Doctors 2-3 times a week he has a new feeding tube in
his stomach and is doing fine he has gained 10 pounds and were waiting to
see if their going to do the lip surgery and they say when he is 2-4 they'll
do the cleft pallet surgery our hopes and prayers are with him that he see's
life that long and longer as they keep reminding us that these baby's are
special and some time don't make it that long but we have the faith of God
and a whole lot of prayers going for us they say that Joey is deaf but has
his sight and that maybe when he is older they can do something for his
hearing as he has water or liquid in one of his ears they might be able to
save that when he's a little older.
We'll I hope this is what this is for that we were to tell our story and
that they would put it in a document for others to read and that I didn't
just waste a lot of time typing because this is our story and I felt I
needed to tell it to let people know that their is hope and that God does
care and takes care of his own thank you and God bless
The Lawrence Family
Stnuctew3@aol.com |
Ironman
for Kids - The Living with Trisomy 13 Community thanks Michael
Hennessey for helping to raise awareness for Trisomy 13 and other
related disorders. 
to help update the medical literature and to improve the quality and
availability of medical care. Tracking Rare
Incidence Syndromes (TRIS)
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