When You Least Expect It

At the end of April we lost our 3rd angel. We sent the tissue to be tested and were told it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get results back. So 6 weeks passed by and I began calling my OB's office weekly to see if results were back. I did this all the way up to hitting 18 weeks. Yes, that is 4 months. And nada, nothing, zip had returned. They assured me that they kept calling the lab, and that my doc had even personally gone to the lab at the hospital a few times to check up in person. But nothing ever came back. We all assumed that it either didn't work or that they lost the info and didn't want to admit it. To be honest at this point I had almost forgotten about it and put it out of my mind figuring we'd never know what the issue was.

So today imagine my surprise when my OB calls me and tells me the results are finally back and to give him a call - 6 MONTHS LATER!! I return his call...he returns mine and tells me he received a letter from the lab dated October 25th. It basically said that the test was completed in a timely manner and that they lost the results for a while...without actually admitting that they had any fault in the matter. He apologized all over the place, but of course it wasn't his fault - he did all he could to get the info back. He proceeded to tell me that the reason our little one didn't make it was that it had trisomy 16 - which means he or she had an extra 16th chromosome. I guess this is the most common chromosomal disorder and most common reason for miscarriages. He said that this is only something that we should be worried about recurring if either of us had tested postive as a carrier for this in our karyotype testing....which neither of us did.

I'm trying not to let the weight of this newfound knowledge overshadow my joy over yesterdays ultrasound. Part of me is concerned for Lefty a little more now...but I'm trying to stay at peace and not let this worry me. It's amazing how things like this come when you least expect it...and I sure wasn't expecting this today....or ever actually.

My doc also said that he had one other letter came in with ours for another couple with a loss at the same time as ours and that their testing came back with "significant" abnormalities. I am thankful that we are not that couple. That we didn't wait all this time to learn something truly awful. That Lefty isn't at higher risk for leaving us. So tonight I will pray for this couple, whomever they are, and hope that they are in a good place to receive their news and be able to overcome the problem, whatever it may be.