"Our Little Tiger"
Our precious baby boy Trevin Patrick LaBeth was born May 28th 2005 at the Navel Medical Center Portsmouth. He weighed 5 pounds 6.4 ounces and measured 19  inches long. Twelve fingers and ten toes, he was perfect in our eyes. We found out the Trevin had trisomy 13 when we were 21 weeks pregnant. We were devastated by the grim prognosis that we were given by all of the doctors and geneticists. They had tried to get us to terminate the pregnancy, but that was unacceptable in our eyes. So, we started researching and looking for support in educating ourselves about Trevin's condition. We prepared ourselves the best we could and hoped and prayed for the best. After 19 hours of labor, he was finally here. Beginning the battle of his life in a world he had only begun to know.

Trevin had gorgeous reddish blonde hair, and looked exactly like his daddy. He had the most amazing personality. Before Trevin was even born he knew who his daddy was. Every time my husband Allen would talk, Trevin would twist and turn always going to the spot on my tummy where daddy was talking. We had always joked about how Trevin would react to daddy's voice after he was born, and it was an amazing moment. Trevin, as soon as he heard daddy's voice turned his little head to the sound and instantly stopped crying, it was like he knew he was going to be okay.

Trevin went into the NICU immediately after delivery. This is where he was given his nickname "Tiger". The reason we all called him tiger was for his cry. He had the cutest cry but unlike most babies, he used to growl and roar like a little Tiger. I loved that sound. Trevin was a fighter always beating the odds and showing the doctors that he had different plans. Nine days after Trevin was born, we finally were able to take him home. One day when Jill came to our house for a visit she brought Trevin a little Tiger beanie baby. That night we looked down at him in his bouncer and there he was hugging that little tiger. It fast became his favorite toy. We would always laugh when we would find him sucking on his tigers nose. There was never a place we went where that tiger didn't go.

We were really lucky when we found that Trevin was able to suck and swallow. Through a lot of the research we did, we found that a lot of trisomy 13 babies did not have a suck swallow reflex. But two days into life Trevin finished his first of many bottles. He always loved to eat, and would always let us know if we were even five minutes late for a feeding. It was wonderful making bonds with him through feedings, especially since we had never expected to be able to do that with him.

Trevin taught us many things though his short time with us. Trevin became an angel on August 2nd 2005. In his time with us he showed us just how precious life is. There will never be a day where we are not thankful for the time we had with him. Though we miss him immensely, we know that we will be together again one day. We were given an angel to love and cherish forever. He has shown us to be grateful for all the small things in life and to always let our loved ones know just how thankful we are to have each of them in our lives.

Mommy, Daddy, and Schylar love you Trevin Patrick
thomas.labeth@us.army.mil