This is just the start

I'm starting this blog to inform all my friends and family of what my son and us are going to be facing. First off for the people who don't know me or my family...I"m Candice and my husband is Rob Beal. I also have a son named Ty he is 3. Ty is actually from a previous marriage but Rob and I do all the caretaker and Rob loves him as his own. I was so lucky to find Rob when i did. Rob and i found out that we were expecting a baby the day after his birthday (november 27th). We were so excited and couldn't wait to tell all our friends and family, but i have lost a child before and we wanted to wait until I was three months along. Of course Rob couldn't hold out any longer and told his whole family when we were just 8 weeks along. I was nervous and didn't tell anybody until i was about 4 months. Then i thought we were pretty much in the clear. Everything was going so great and we were both so happy. Rob just kept saying he wanted to see the sonogram of the baby to make sure it was real! lol....We went in for my sonogram at 18 weeks and the doctor told us it was a boy. Rob was so excited! I was happy that he was healthy but so thought i was going to have a girl for sure this time. The doctor said the baby had all his limbs and looked really good. Rob had to travel for work that night, so i went back home alone and was just so happy that everything was ok. I got back and picked up Ty right away and told him he had a baby brother! I had never seen him act so happy about anything before in his life. He wanted to call daddy rob and tell him. So I let him and when he found out that rob had gone with me he was mad!....He thought he was the first to know! Two weeks later I became really sick. I was vomiting non stop and had horrible diarrhea. I hadn't ever been that sick before. So two days went by and i wasn't getting any better. I had no energy and couldn't even drink a sip of water. I finally went to the doctor which is over an hour away they did different test and came back and told me that they needed to admit me into the hospital. I so didn't want to go. In a couple of days i was feeling 90% better. They came in and did a sonogram the first day i was there to make sure the baby was ok. The lady told me he looked great. Rob left to get back to work thinking everything was ok. As i was getting ready to leave my doctor came in and told me that he had found a diaphragmatic hernia on the baby. He said he wasn't going to diagnose him with this until i saw a specialist. He acted like it wasn't a big deal. He just told me that after the baby was born he would need surgery to fix the hernia. I thought well that can't be to bad. i got all my stuff together and called rob. I actually forgot the name of the hernia when i called him and told him the news. I then told rob that i wanted to find out the name of this hernia so i could look it up when i got home and that i would ask the nurses. Before i got a chance to ask the nurses rob called me back and said "it's not a diaphragmatic hernia is it"...As soon as he said it i remembered and was like yes i believe that's what he said. Rob then told me how horrible it was. Rob had got on some site that told him there was only a 20% chance of our baby surviving after he was born. I hung up and just couldn't stop crying. One nurse came in there and told me not to get online and that it probably wasn't that bad. I kept asking around until finally one man told me the severity of it. On the drive back home i remembered that the baby wasn't yet diagnosed with this and it gave me a little peace. We went to the specialist at 21 weeks and found out it was a diaphragmatic hernia- aka cdh. It has been hard ever since.
It is a rare defect that occurs in approx. 1 out of every 2,500 births. This is a condition in which the diaphragm does not form properly and has a "hole", or hernia, Thur which the abdominal organs, typically the stomach, intestines, spleen, liver, and kidneys- can herniate into the chest cavity taking up vital space needed for the lungs to develop. So far our baby just has his stomach up in the chest and his heart is pushed over to the right side rather then being on his left side. Rob and I are traveling to ft. worth for treatment and delivery. We will be at Cooks Children's hospital. I have to go for a checkup once a week to make sure i don't go into labor and the baby is doing good. I am now 27 weeks and the baby and i are doing really well. At 38 weeks i will deliver. So not to much longer. I sometimes find myself wanting to stay pregnant forever just because i know he's healthy as long as he's in the womb. Don't get me wrong i hate being pregnant.....I'm not a good pregnant person. I get fat and moody and just want my due date to be here! By the way the 20% chance of survival was wrong. They believe it is more like 50%. Every little bit helps. So please keep us in your prayers. We need it now more then ever and prayer works!