That which changed our Life Before. Part 5

The Marine Corps rarely allowed families to go on deployments, and at the time my husband was active duty, the shortest accompanied tour was 18 months. Shortly after we found out we were expecting Scooter, The Hubster found out his military unit would be deploying for 6 months. He would leave in March and return in October, be home for 2 weeks and leave on an 18 month unaccompanied tour.

Although I hadn't had the amnio yet, we knew that there was a chance that Scooter would have the genetic problem Hopper had, so The Hubster told his commanding officer that he would be leaving active duty. To be home for only 2 weeks in a 2 year period was too much for our family, and when the results from the amniocentesis came in a few short weeks later, we were very thankful he'd made the decision to get out. 


I can't describe how thankful I've been over the years. It's been so very difficult at times for us to go through what we've gone through together. I can't imagine having to have done it alone.


Scooter was born on my birthday that July. She was and is the best birthday gift I could have ever hoped for. She was absolutely gorgeous! She was a healthy 8 pounds 1 oz and had thick dark hair  that stuck to her head in swirls. She looked like she'd had a professional finger wave done before making her grand entrance into the world by c-section.


I was a bit preoccupied with things like a pesky surgery, so The Hubster had the privilege of cutting her umbilical cord and accompanying her to have her vitals checked and to be looked over by a doctor. Like most babies, she was crying. It sounded more like a young kitten mewing than a cry, though. We found out later that it was due to tracheomalacia, a condition similar to her sister's laryngomalacia. 


And while the weak cry that our youngest had was a bit distracting to The Hubster, it wasn't the situation that had his attention. For when she opened her little mouth all the way when crying, he noticed that she had a little hole above the uvula in the back of her throat. He said it looked slightly off, but it also looked somewhat normal. 

Still. It took him off guard enough that he couldn't remember, if he had a hole above his own uvula. So while the nurses were busy with Scooter, and he was washing up in order to hold her, he looked in the chrome paper towel dispenser above the sink with his mouth wide open. There was no hole in his throat. 


Scooter had a cleft of her soft palate, and we needed to head back up to Norfolk to have it evaluated. 

So just a week or so after having Scooter by c-section, we were back on the road to Virginia.