"You need to learn to keep your mouth shut."
Cori forced a smile and choked the words out through her tears. She was right, of course. Less than an hour earlier, on the way to the hospital, I had tried to calm her nerves by saying, "They've already given us the worst news possible... They can't possibly give us any surprise bad news at this point."
I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
There isn't really a good way to ease into this, so I guess I'll just come out and say it. Sophia is a boy. Yes, really. Now if you're like me, you're wondering how this could happen. You see, it turns out that when an ultrasound technician says "It's a girl", what she really means is "My current viewing angle does not allow me to observe any working boy parts". It's a subtle difference, I know.
So why is this bad news? Well, first, the measurable stuff. Boys with Trisomy 18 live half as long as girls, statistically speaking. One of the few "bright sides" we had been clinging to was the fact our child was a girl, and therefore had twice the life expectancy of a boy with a similar diagnosis. In a sense, our unborn child's life has just been cut in half, which is a major bummer.
Now for the less quantitative stuff. Cori and I have already fallen hopelessly in love with a little girl named Sophia Grace. We have already fired up a prayer chain that has inexplicably wrapped around the entire planet, and hundreds of people have expressed their gratitude for being able to pray for Sophia by name. If you're viewing this post on the old blog, you'll notice that the URL of the blog was selected based on that name. The two of us (and many of you) have become emotionally attached to our daughter, and now it sorta feels like she has died and we've been told that we're expecting a son... who has Trisomy 18.
I know that all seems very dramatic, but I'm working on being more honest and vulnerable, remember? Anyway, Cori and I have spent the last several hours trying to come up with a new name, and after much discussion, we've settled on Aiden Maxwell May. And just like that, the little girl you've all been praying for is actually a boy. I suspect that God knew he was a boy all along. As always, those prayers are greatly appreciated, and with Aiden's life expectancy now being roughly half of what we had previously hoped for, those prayers are also greatly needed.
Cori forced a smile and choked the words out through her tears. She was right, of course. Less than an hour earlier, on the way to the hospital, I had tried to calm her nerves by saying, "They've already given us the worst news possible... They can't possibly give us any surprise bad news at this point."
I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
There isn't really a good way to ease into this, so I guess I'll just come out and say it. Sophia is a boy. Yes, really. Now if you're like me, you're wondering how this could happen. You see, it turns out that when an ultrasound technician says "It's a girl", what she really means is "My current viewing angle does not allow me to observe any working boy parts". It's a subtle difference, I know.
So why is this bad news? Well, first, the measurable stuff. Boys with Trisomy 18 live half as long as girls, statistically speaking. One of the few "bright sides" we had been clinging to was the fact our child was a girl, and therefore had twice the life expectancy of a boy with a similar diagnosis. In a sense, our unborn child's life has just been cut in half, which is a major bummer.
Now for the less quantitative stuff. Cori and I have already fallen hopelessly in love with a little girl named Sophia Grace. We have already fired up a prayer chain that has inexplicably wrapped around the entire planet, and hundreds of people have expressed their gratitude for being able to pray for Sophia by name. If you're viewing this post on the old blog, you'll notice that the URL of the blog was selected based on that name. The two of us (and many of you) have become emotionally attached to our daughter, and now it sorta feels like she has died and we've been told that we're expecting a son... who has Trisomy 18.
I know that all seems very dramatic, but I'm working on being more honest and vulnerable, remember? Anyway, Cori and I have spent the last several hours trying to come up with a new name, and after much discussion, we've settled on Aiden Maxwell May. And just like that, the little girl you've all been praying for is actually a boy. I suspect that God knew he was a boy all along. As always, those prayers are greatly appreciated, and with Aiden's life expectancy now being roughly half of what we had previously hoped for, those prayers are also greatly needed.
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