Original Email - Nov. 16

Dear family and friends,

We wanted to share with you that Julie delivered our second child on Monday, Nov. 14 at 5:10 pm. Our first born, Jackson, now has a beautiful, younger brother -- Jonathan Hall. We’ll call him Jonathan. 7 pounds, 6 ounces;19.5 inches long; delivered the “normal” way (no C-section).

Jonathan’s due date was December 1—he was 2.5 weeks early. Along with the unexpected early arrival have come some other unexpected challenges with him.This email is rather long, so I’ll try to give you the quick facts up front. If you like, you can read the details below (for example, how I almost missed being there for his birth). Also, please feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested.

Immediately after his birth, we noticed that Jonathan was sluggish. We also noticed that he had some physical features that weren’t quite normal. While in the nursery early Tuesday morning, he quit breathing and required oxygen. This indicated that there might be some cardiac problems. He was immediately put into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and is still there today. All these signs and the initial exam from his pediatrician indicated that he might have Down Syndrome. While the chromosome studies will confirm the diagnosis,we’re 99.9% sure that he has this condition.

Quick facts about Down Syndrome:
For those of you who don’t know, Down Syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that occurs in 1 out of 700 – 800 births. This is no known cause and can happen to anyone. It’s a genetic mistake that happens when cells start to divide at conception. Children with it experience some level of mental retardation, greater physical challenges and risks for disease. Their typical life span is shorter than normal. Their faces are slightly more round, eyes are closer together, and have other indicating features.

How we are feeling:
In a word, we are devastated. All the hopes and dreams for him having a normal life are shattered. We have experienced shock, anger, grief, and the deepest sadness we’ve ever felt. All of the questions and long term implications have flooded our minds. Our lives will be forever changed, and we’ll have to learn new ways of parenting, adjusting, and raising him and Jackson. The hardest thing is that this is permanent. We are experiencing this as more painful than a death. The good news is that we actually slept last night, and we ate this morning. These basic things make a difference. We're feeling hope for the first time today.

All of you:
I received about 40 calls to my cell phone yesterday. I haven’t returned manyof them Julie received about half that, and the phone here in the room is ringing constantly. I can’t thank those of you who have called enough. I’m sorry we’ve been detached, but this situation has been the toughest thing we’ve ever had to deal with. I appreciate all of the encouraging words, scriptures, and prayers. We haven’t mentioned the Down Syndrome until we were sure. Sorry if we’ve seemed vague or evasive. Thank you for your patience as we’ve slowly given everyone details of Jonathan’s condition.

Jonathan’s heart:
One of the main challenges with Downs children is the congenital heart defects. Jonathan has an Atrioventricular Canal Defect. This means he has a hole in the center wall that separates the two halves of his heart. Two valves also aren’t functioning properly. This allows low and high oxygen blood to mix and it puts undo pressure on his lungs and blood vessels in them. This must be fixed. Our goal is to have this open heart surgery in the next 30 to 45 days. If successful, this should be the only heart surgery. We’ve got to keep him healthy so he’ll be ready.

Support:
There has been an overwhelming outpouring of support. It seems we’ve joined an elite club of parents with a special needs child. There are early intervention programs of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. We’ll start these programs as early as next week. We’ve had nurses and case workers who have Downs kids come by to let us know that they’ve been there. We have more cell and home phone numbers of helping people than we could call.

What we need right now:
So many people want to be helpful by being positive. We appreciate the intent, but canned answers do more harm than good. We know that eventually we’ll see that this experience will be a blessing and open doors that we wouldn’t otherwise have. However, we don’t feel that way right now. We want to be real about our hurt. It’s therapeutic for us to be real. So, telling us that “special kids are matched with special parents,” “God’s in control,” or “you need to give it to the Lord” – while true – isn’t something we need to hear.What we do need is your prayers. We need you to let us be real with you. I’ll probably be able to respond to email quicker than calls. You can call if youlike, just please be patient with us getting back with you if we miss your call. We’d love to hear from you.

Jonathan’s name:
His first name means “gift of God.” We selected this name ahead of time as oneof four possible names. After having him, it seemed especially appropriate.“Hall” is a family name from Julie’s side of the family.

Monday, November 14:
I had scheduled my last business trip before Jonathan’s due date for this day. We were 2.5 weeks away, so I thought it would be fine. It was a one day tripto Nashville. I got a call from Julie at 1:30 pm telling me that she and Jackson were at the hospital and she was dilated to 5cm. I immediately left the meeting and began to drive home—setting a land speed record. I talked on my cell the entire way back to make plans. One of our neighbors went to our house filling up a bag of things. Julie had been having contractions for several hours, but didn’t really feel all that intense. Once she knew she was in labor she was immediately admitted. I talked to family, and my Dad came tothe hospital and took Jackson to their house. I arrived at the hospital at4:20 pm (in time for Julie to start pushing). Jonathan was born at 5:10 pm.

Next steps:
We’re going home today. Julie’s recovery has been much easier than with Jackson. She’s feeling very good physically. Jonathan will come home as early as tomorrow or maybe several days from now. It all depends on his ability t obreathe normally, keep a stable temperature, and make sure he doesn’t have any infections. Jonathan has been off his oxygen since last night. That’s good. He fed this morning and got off his glucose drip. That’s good, too. We’ve been able to hold him a few times since he’s been in the NICU. We’ll go to feed him again this afternoon at 3pm. For the next several days we’ll be uphere most of the time that the NICU is open. Once we get him home, his care will be much like a normal baby. We’ll just have special things to look out for. Jackson has spent the last 2 days with my parents and is very proud of his little brother. He’s been up here to see him some. It will be good to be back at our home with him tonight.
Thanksgiving will be very special next week when all four of us will hopefully be home together. Julie’s family is coming into town over the next week.

This is an unexpected set of challenges that in time we’ll grow to accept.While we’ll never know the reasons for this (this side of heaven), we’ll do the best to provide a safe, nurturing home where our kids can thrive. We are Christians, and know that God has purpose for this. He also has every bit of strength we'll need for it, too. Someday in eternity, the four of us will be together as complete, perfect people in the midst of Jesus. I’m so blessed to have Julie as my partner along this path. And, I love my sons… my 2 beautiful sons who will emerge more and more special in their own unique ways.

Our families and friends are so wonderfully loving and supportive. Knowing we’ve had so many people praying and caring for us has been a comfort. I will never be able to express my gratitude for your love.

I hope to return to work on Monday of next week. Attached is a picture of Julie and Jonathan shortly after his birth.

Jamie