Hannah was born June 14th 2000 she weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces. Everyone was so happy to see her come into the world. She had 1 sister and 2 brothers that were waiting to finally meet her. Hannah was a very happy baby and did not cry much. All things were going as we thought well other than she wasn't showing much effort on eating very much. She was born with a full head of hair that was such a gorgeous brown and the prettiest blue eyes you could ever see.
At Hannah's 2 month chech-up is when we found out that our daughter was actually not developing right. Her doctor ordered us to take her to another doctor 2 hours away that would run some tests. They did not tell us what test that they wre going to do so we were lost in what was happening. On September 12th 2000 is the day that we found out Hannah was going to die and the doctors could only give her a maxium of living to about 2 years old. We were told she had a condition called SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY a condition where all the muscles in her body would slowly deteriorate and she would die. We were lost we didn't know what to do. What do you do when you are told your child was going to die within the next year or two.
We took lots and lots of pictures practically a roll every day. We spent all our time holding her and rocking her and deticated our full time to her.
Every day seemed to be ups and downs for Hannah somedays she was really happy and some days there was no comforting her. It was not that long before the doctors decided to put her under the care of Comfort Care and Hospice services thats when you know that they only have about 6 months left we were getting really scared. Hannah was also placed on oxygen 24 hours a day. time to us was running short for her. We started physical therapy with her through the birth to 3 program to keep her muscles from deteriorating to fast and also speech and language therapy to keep a watch on her muscles for eating and swallowing. Hannah also had a volunteer nurse come and give her her baths every other day for just alone her baths were a real task since she was unable to sit or keep her head up. You needed about 4 hands just for the baths.
The days were getting shorter for her and all we could do was sit back and help her be comfortable. She was on Morphine every hour on the hour it was really hard to see her that way. nurses coming every other day the therapists coming every other day. On December 8, 2000 Hannah was going through a down day and for some feeling I had I knew it was her Last Day on Earth with us. My sister in Law came over and a Teacher who also is a really great friend came and they spent the day with me and Hannah. Hannah spent the day in the arms of the people that loved her all day but would not look at any one of us she was looking over her shoulder into space the whole day that night at 7:05 pm Hannah passed away.still in the arms looking in the distance. I believe Hannah was watching the angels come to get her and she had a smile on her face. I rocked her for 2 hours after she died. I will never forget that day. The day she became an angel in Heaven. |
