A day in the life at the Gleason Zoo

On February 16th, 2012, my life was changed forever.  Not only because I added a new son to my life, but because I added a new phrase to my vocabulary:  Down's Syndrome. Hunter arrived to this world with a few pretty severe issues.  Hunter had PPH (Primary Pulmonary Hypertension).  He was not breathing effectively, and because of this, it was determined that he needed to be admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Wausau. Not only was Hunter not breathing effectively, he was also arching his back.  While no one actually said it out loud to us, they were very concerned that aside from the probable Down's diagnosis, that he may have something wrong neurologically as well. I remember being in a fog.  They allowed me to see him, but I could only hold him for a short time, because he needed to be ready once the transport arrived to take him to Wausau.  It was the last time I had the opportunity to hold him for over a week.  When I held...

As promised...here is Hunter's complete birth story!  At 39 weeks and 1 day, Ken and I headed to the hospital for the induction. Dr. McFadden had off this day, however, was willing to stop in and place the first Cytotec (this is a tiny little pill they place on your cervix to help it ripen) to get my labor moving. He did work the next day, and felt that I would not be in a good labor pattern until the next morning. My last two pregnancies ended with terrible inductions that took over 18 hours each. They were miserable and horrible, and I expected nothing less from this one.  Dr. McFadden showed up around dinner time and placed the first pill on my cervix. This could be done once every four hours, at least four times. Ken and I sat and talked and wondered what our little man was going to look like. We were both incredibly excited. At around 10 p.m., the nurse placed the second Cytotec. My cervix was doing very well, and had dilated another centimeter. We were prog...