A Young Man Turns 9

It is so hard to believe that my oldest boy

turned 9 on Dec 30th. 9 years!

Wow. We began our journey

with little Larry at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.

My 17 week ultrasound had shown that I was

carrying twins in which 1 twin had died just the week before.

It was such devastating news. I remember lying there

thinking do such things happen.

The poor OB cried along with us.

He honestly was not sure what the outcome would be

for the living twin because it appeared the 2 babies

shared a sac. Not only did they share a sac, but it also

appeared the 2 might even be conjoined at the abdomen.

Of course I went to a specialist who was able to determine the

"syndrome." I really HATE that word. But my baby

had what is known as OEIS Syndrome.

Oomphalocoele, Exstrophy, Imperforate Anus,

Spina Bifida. Wow. What is this and do such things

really exist? Well, the specialist really only wanted to help us

out in 1 way, abortion. He felt this child would never live a normal life.

And yet he had never actually delivered a child with this. I still remember

getting the results from my amnio at 24 weeks showing

normal genetics and the doctor giving me addresses to 2 fairly

local clinics that did late term abortions. Can you believe that?

Well, we never saw him again!...JERK....

And thankfully, Larry has 7 sisters

who can be quite involved when they want to be.

I will always be grateful for JoJuan finding Dr. Gearhart

and his team at Johns Hopkins!

The day we found out what syndrome we were up against,

JoJuan was able to find 1 of 2 specialists in the world and had him call me.

Can you imagine a busy surgeon taking the time to call

a mom to be and explaining to her the ins and outs of Cloacal

Extstrophy? I sure can't, but that is just what Dr. Gearhart did.

He went even further to mail me lots of information pertaining to the defect

and had a mother who already experienced all of this phone me.

What a blessing all of this was.

So, on friday Dec 29, 2000, I was just 3 and a half weeks

from my impending due date of Jan 25 (Xander's exact due

date just 1 year later). It was going to be a long weekend and Larry

Denzil was catching the flu so he decided to stay in Ashland.

Ha ha ha. Should of known better huh?

I had an appointment that morning and had been feeling some

pangs in my side. So I get the weekly stress test

at which time she tells me it is nothing to worry about, you're just

having good ol' braxton hicks.

At 8PM that evening, it is feeling a lot more serious than

just false labor so I call and wake Larry up who is more than 8 hours

away from me. Like he can be of any service.

I did all the silly things that you do before trekking to the hospital

like enjoying a warm bath, drinking lots of water, lying on my side painting my toe nails.

Nothing is working so I call Larry again at 9:30

& tell him I am walking to the hospital.

By 10:30 I am semi checked in, I am in a room, but they have

to kick a poor woman out of her delivery room

because I need the largest room there.

I remember them wheeling my huge bed out of the room I am in

and down the hallway. On my way there, a poor father steps out of his

delivery room to throw up. The nurses and I are just laughing.

Poor guy.

It is now after 11PM & I am quite anxious for that stupid

epidural. Savannah was a painful labor and

I had assumed Larry would be quite the same.

Not to mention I am alone and terrified.

Well, by 12:30AM, the anesthesiologist is

attempting to place my epidural.

Did I mention she was a student and her

teacher was sitting in the chair next to my bed reading

a newspaper. Not sure what he was thinking!?

I am in tears because she has hit my nerves in

my spinal column not once, nor twice but

three excruciating times.

The Dr. is walking around looking for her latex gloves not

at all concerned about me.

I am feeling extreme pressure and tell my nurse

that he is coming. She grabs the OB on the floor

and at 12:46 AM on saturday Dec. 30, 2000

Larry Denzil Roberts III is born.

I think my epidural was pushed in about that time.

What an experience!

I did not get to actually see and touch my baby till about 3:30

that morning. I had to wait for that darn epidural to wear off.

Little Larry had 3 surgeries by the time he was 3 months old.

He had his bladder suturing and colostomy.

Then he had a laproscopic exploratory procedure done

on his scrotum because of some fluid in there.

And finally he had an ileostomy / colostomy revision

surgery. Larry had so much scar tissue on his colon, that

his colostomy was not working. During that time, I was unable

to feed him and literally just sat with him

as doctors performed test after test to see what could be wrong.

At 6 weeks, his pediatric surgeon who had done the colostomy

decided another procedure not ever done on children

needed to be done. He had a friend at another facility send him

these tiny microscopic balls that he was going to

place in Larry's digestive track to follow via xray.

It was very interesting. Every couple days, we would go downstairs to

the xray and take a film of Larry's belly.

After a week or so, the surgeon was able to determine that Larry's colon

was not functioning and now that Larry was 8 weeks old, he was old

enough for another surgery. They were going to

revise his colon and give him

an ileostomy.

While the surgeon was in, he said there was no way

Larry's colon could work with all that scar tissue.

At 10 weeks old, Larry was finally able to come home.

I had been away from Larry, Savannah & my home for

4 very long months.

Sorry for the poor images. I was too lazy to scan and just

took pictures of our pictures.

The above picture is 3 generations of Roberts men

not to mention 3 generations of Larry.

Little Larry was bald because his grandma

Roberts rubbed him bald when we left him with her for a week.

Just kidding. He had bad cradle cap and his nurse

told her to lightly rub it with baby oil.

I think maybe she rubbed too hard or too much because

the poor little man lost his hair.

He was the only bald baby I ever had.

This is my absolute favorite picture.

When Larry was 11 months old, he had to

have surgeries # 4 and 5 his bladder closure

and osteotomy.

I was 8 months pregnant with Christian Alexander.

I was able to stay with Larry till

the day before his 1st birthday.

I had been having false labor

and everyone was worried I would deliver

another baby at Hopkins especially me.

My mother in law sat with Larry

for 3 months till he was able to come home.

I remember her and Tammie Ashley

dropping Larry off. Xander was lying in the floor and Larry could

not take his eyes off of him.

Wouldn't it be interesting to know what a 1 year old was thinking?

I should mention that Savannah was thrilled to

have "baby" back home. Also, little Larry had been in traction

for 8 weeks so he literally could not crawl or roll over.

His Therapist worked with him I think twice a week

to get him all caught up.

I sure miss Barb. She was awesome and

really did wonders for Larry developmentally.

Back when they were cute and sweet.

Now it is nothing but bickering and "mom, she is bothering

me." I wouldn't change it for the world.

My 3 boys in front of the DC temple. This was after

surgery #6. Larry had a hernia that had to be repaired.

Isn't he adorable? He was in so much pain and discomfort

but still sat and posed for his mommy.

I remember after this surgery, we took him

back to the children's house and he climbed and played all over the

place. Once the pain meds that the hospital gave wore off,

he was not a happy little fellow.

Summer t ball with his brothers.

9 years ago we did not know what our child

would be able to

accomplish.

Well, I can honestly say, he can accomplish

anything his heart desires.

Not sure how Ruby got into Larry's birthday picture.

She is always thrilled to death at

the thought of blowing out candles.

Thank you to everyone who has been in our lives.

We could not have made it this far without you.

Larry has just finished his 20th or more surgery. We

lost count a few surgeries ago.

Anyways, I am pleased to announce that his

ureter is functioning and Gearhart will be

pulling the tubes out tomorrow.