This is the beginning of an interesting story. It’s a story of a husband and wife who married late in life and had two wonderful children. Then, they decided to have a third child and were given some devastating news. Here is the story:

Mark and I married when we were 30 years old. We had dated some in college and he wanted to marry back then, but I had dreams of being a famous singer and wanted to finish my music degree. So, he moved on to seminary for a Master’s degree and I stayed at my college to finish my music studies. We both dated other people in the interium, but amazingly, after probably six years he moved back to the area and we started dating again. Within a few months, we were engaged and married on May 4, 2002.

We had our first little girl on July 8, 2005, and then a second little girl on January 10, 2007. We decided to try for a third little bambino and found out we were pregnant with her in July of 2007. YES … we have had three babies in a little under three years! We are crazy!

When I was eleven weeks pregnant (September 16, 2007), I went to my OBGYN for a free ultrasound with a new machine she had gotten. Her tech was training on it at the time and they just wanted a few pregnant ladies to come in so she could get more experience. I was the second lady she used the machine on. During my ultrasound, the tech saw some extra nuchal translucency fluid around my baby’s neck. Originally, they diagnosed this as Cystic Hygroma, which I was horrified about once I saw information on the internet about the condition. I was sent to a specialist and was assured that this was not Cystic Hygroma, but that there was probably some genetic issue underlying.

During the week of my emotional ultrasound, my husband was out of town speaking at another church. It was so difficult to go through this experience with him being so far away, although we talked on the phone so much about what was going on. While at his speaking engagement, he met a couple and the wife’s name was Victoria. The Lord kept bringing this name to Mark’s mind and we decided that week for our baby’s name to be Victoria (which means “victorious”) if she were indeed a girl. We began looking at middle names and settled on Jayne, which was our pastor’s wife’s name (she had passed away recently in a tragic car accident). Jayne means “victory.” So, our little girl’s name was to be Victoria Jayne (victorious victory). We were surely praying that over her little life!

Around November 2007, my specialist began seeing heart problems with the baby, which we now KNEW was a baby girl. We were sent to a pediatric cardiologist for a heart echo. Their echo confirmed the heart issues the specialist saw.

The rest of my pregnancy included going to my OBGYN for biophysical profiles weekly, my specialist and experiencing many emotional rollercoasters. I had, up until this point in my life, never cried so much and felt so many different things in my heart. My brain was on overload and if left with too much time to ponder, my thoughts went way into the future to all the “what if’s”. So, thankfully, with having two other little girls to care for, I was able to stay in the present to be what they needed their momma to be.

On March 10, 2007, I went to my specialist for my 4 week appointment. Taking no bags with me, I assumed this would be my regular visit with no surprises. I also assumed we would begin talking about a possible induction or what I needed to do if I did go into labor on my own. My due date was April 3, 2007, so the time was drawing nigh. At my visit, my specialist told me that my fluid was looking a little low. Before I knew it, I was being sent to the hospital to be induced. My husband and I were in a state of shock because we knew we were about to be face to face with this little girl, who might have problems at birth. How were we going to handle this? I was feeling like I was about to break apart at the seams but tried to hold myself together.

I was induced at noon that day and little Victoria Jayne was born at 7:15pm. I pushed three times and she was thrust into the world and into our lives. I touched her little hand right after she was born before even being cleaned up. She had a blue look to her and had the fattest cheeks and neck. I could tell by looking at her that she probably had Downs. I prayed that she didn’t, but I could hear the nurses talking about her features (thick nuchal fold, crease in the hands, etc.). When they wrapped her up for me to hold her, I