A Little Background Information

I've been debating whether I should or shouldn't start writing a blog to keep track of our journey. Every angle that I look at it from the Pros always outweigh the Cons. The main reason I chose to start a blog about our journey is perhaps I could bring awareness not only for children with special needs but also to the parents of special needs children and their siblings. Everyday is not only a constant struggle for the child but for the entire family.

Many of you know the beginning of our story, but for those who don't this is just a little background information so that you will have a better understanding on how we got to where we are today.

My name is Michelle and I have 2 of the most beautiful sons in the world. They are truly my heart, soul and the air that I breathe. Their names are Zan and Haygen. I was 2 semesters away from graduating college with a degree in accounting when I was pregnant with Zan. I went to my classes and I worked as long as I could before the doctor put me on COMPLETE bed rest. I have high blood pressure (even before I was pregnant) and keeping it under control wasn't easy even during my 1st and 2nd trimester. The doctor had no choice but to put me on complete bed rest before I was 6 months far along. He also had me to check in the hospital 3 days a week from 8am-?? so I could be monitored just to be on the safe side. It was not fun and after 2 1/2 weeks of doing so they could not get my blood pressure to go down for nothing. It didn't matter if I laid on my left side or right side it didn't help. I was even given magnesium sulfate and to no avail. On February 12, 2002 my nurse called my doctor while in my room and she said its 221/178 (yep that was my blood pressure) she hung up the phone and before I knew it I was being wheeled into surgery for an emergency C-Section. I was 7 1/2 months. It wasn't much longer after that at exactly 4:48PM Zan Ashton Amos made his appearance into this world. I wasn't quite sure what was going on but I overheard my doctor say "The cord is around his neck.....OH no we have a triple" (it was wrapped around his neck 3 times) I kept asking if Zan was ok cause I couldn't hear him or see him, NOTHING. While I was asking all of that Zan had already been taken out of the room because both of his lungs had collapsed.

He was taken by ambulance to a different hospital with neo-natal and FINALLY after 7 very LONG days I was released and able to go see my baby. I never got to see him before he was rushed to neo-natal. That was tough. He did really good while in neo-natal and was released after a month and a half. One thing the doctors couldn't tell me was if he had brain damage because they did not know how long his oxygen had been cut off from the cord. Praise The LORD, 11 years later, he has NO brain damage!!! In fact, you would never believe he was the one who stayed on the oxygen and in neo-natal the longest. I thank God everyday that my doctor made me check in the hospital 2-3 times a week for more than 8 hours a day or I would not have my Zan Man today!!! After everything got back to normal, I returned to college and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.

At 4:31PM on July 11, 2006, Haygen Lee Walthall made his way into mine and Zans life. I had blood pressure problems during my pregnancy but this time I knew what to expect and I was able to carry him until 36 weeks. I had to be rushed into surgery again because they were unable to get my BP down and we did not want another scare like we did with Zan. Haygen was born completely normal and was doing great but just for a precaution and with my history he went to another hospital and stayed in the neo-natal for a week. 

 

I couldn't have been happier. I had 2 precious boys wild but precious!! They would run around the house playing hide n seek. Haygen would go holler "Ann" because he couldn't say "Zan" and he would always find Zan in a cabinet!! :)

Then on February 23, 2008, our lives as we knew it changed FOREVER!! Our journey began............