For unto us a child is born

As we sit and hold little Robbie in my arms my thoughts turn to his birth. How grateful we are that our son is here at last after many prayers. On this Christmas day we reflect upon the birth of our Savior and think of His great mission and how we too are faced with our own missions in life.

Robert Andrew Gardner was born December 18th at 10:58pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was a little over 20 inches tall. We are so happy to have him here safe and sound for Christmas! As some of you know, the pregnancy was full of surprises.

The delivery was fraught with peril as Robbie's heart rate dropped to emergency levels four separate times during labor. We were less than two minutes from emergency C-section on more than one of those occasions. The doctors were great to work with for the most part and we put our confidence in their abilities and in the hand of the Lord that things would work out for the best.

At our first ultrasound the doctors found that the right kidney was smaller than the left and they also wanted a closer look at the heart. At the next ultrasound Robbie was diagnosed with atrio-ventricular septal defect (AVSD), which is basically a big hole between the left and right chambers of the heart and some of the valves are also missing. The smaller kidney wasn't really a concern at that point since the focus was on the heart.

We learned Robbie would require surgery to fix the AVSD. Under ideal conditions the surgery would take place after 3-6 months of age. This would allow for him to recover better from the surgery and also make his heart larger. It will be open heart surgery, but there is an 85% chance of it working on the first try, and the risk of death is very small with this type of surgery. Fortunately, he was born healthy enough that this seems to be the timeline we are on.

With AVSD we were told there is a high probability of having Down syndrome. Down syndrome (correctly spoken as "Down syndrome" rather than "Down's syndrome" or "Down's") usually takes place when an individual has an extra 21st chromosome. This likelihood was overwhelming for us. Now that he is here it has been confirmed he has Down syndrome.

Other medical conditions will require attention. The heart defect can cause pulmonary hypertension as too much blood goes to the lungs. In a normal heart each side has different pressures which controls the flow to different parts of the body. Two of his fingers didn't fully separate on his right hand, a condition called syndactoly (sp?). His eyelids will need some attention as they do not naturally close completely, making it so we are constantly lubricating his eyes to keep them from drying out. At birth they found he only has one kidney. And his ears did not pass the hearing test the first time (needs to be retested before anything conclusive is known).

Other than that, he's perfectly healthy. We have the perfect new addition to our family and we wouldn't want him any other way. The way we see it, only a few of the thousands of body parts aren't quite functioning up to par for life. And the issues with health that he has can for the most part be fixed.

We should address the issue of Down syndrome. Before Robbie came to our family, both Melodie and I had the idea that we should feel sorry for families who have to deal with a family member with Down syndrome. Our perspective has completely shifted with this new baby. Down syndrome means that Robbie will be doing things differently and at different rates than other children. What seems so ironic is that doing things differently and at different rates than others is the one thing we all have in common.

We know Robbie is a child of our Heavenly Father, created in His image. It has been confirmed to us there is divine purpose to him being born with the challenges he has. He is an individual with as much potential as any of God's children. He is an incredibly calming influence on those around him. And his life has brought a greater depth of understanding of Christ's atonement for us. He will learn and grow, succeed and fail, struggle and excel. Our responsibility is to give him the opportunities he needs to reach his true potential and fulfill his mission on the earth. We just need to make sure we don't get in the way of his true expression of life.

So we will take things one day at a time. We do not know what the future has in store for us or for our children. For now we are enjoying every precious moment we have with each of our children and each other. We value our relationships so much more after the prospect of losing one of our family was there.

We also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped and will help us through the challenge of a newborn baby. The thoughts, prayers, meals, notes, cards, presents, advice, love, and concern are overwhelming to us. We know we have been blessed with the best of friends, family, and neighbors to help us through the challenges of parenting 5 children ages 6 and younger.