RE: Second pregnancy-Struggling with moral issues./ Block

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

I just read your post. I think of

you often and of your beautiful Aspyn playing with Samya in heaven. I think of

Gentry a lot too, and was exstatic when I saw the picture you sent from the

doctor visit. She is also beautiful. You sure do make beautiful babies. You

are in my prayers. Upon reading your post, I started crying, something I have

not done enough of lately. I got a bif lump in my throat. That story of your

pregnancy with Gentry is so amazing and gave me more faith than I had. What an

amazing experience. I miss Samya so much. Her 10th birthday is

coming up on St. Patty’s day. I know I will survive it, but yet I am so

apprehensive. The school/church Leanna goes to is going to dedicate their

chapel (which happens to be on her birthday) in memory of Samya. All of the offering

from that day will be sent to the UMDF. I thought that was a great way to

celebrate Samya’s life, and Leanna’s living with mito. I really did not know what else to do

on her birthday. Anyways, I just had to tell you thank you so much for sharing

such an important and personal experience with us. May God bless you all.

Love,

Suhad Haddad -- Mom to Samya (Died 12-10-02 of Leigh's Synd.) &

Leanna with same disease.

Samya's Memorial Site: www.Samya.org

Email:

Suhad1970@...

Alt Email:

Suhad@...

AiM Chat: Suhad1970

From: Block

Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004

11:40 AM

To: Mito

Subject: Re: Second pregnancy-Struggling with moral

issues.

Dear ,

M y Name is , I don't post often, but I am

always here reading,

thinking and praying for all of you.

My daughter Aspyn passed away July 15, 2002, she

was 8 months and 1 day old.

My husband and I always wanted to be parents, and

I think we were pretty

good parents to. We had a beautiful little

girl who changed our lives

forever. We miss her so much!! After

Aspyn passed away we knew our chances

of having another baby being affected by this

awful disease, we decided to

wait and we would consider adopting.

In January of last year I had a dream, and Aspyn

was in it. She told me

that it would be okay to have another baby, and

that everything would be

just fine. I woke up and didn't know what to

think. I went in for my

yearly and told the doctor we were considering

trying again, but I didn't

think it would be easy since my cycle had been so

screwed up (depression,

endometriosis) the doctor asked if she could give

me some medicine to

regulate me and then start me on fertility meds

(Aspyn was conceived on

fertility med) I told her no that if this was

going to happen, it was going

to happen on its own, no medicine. The next

day I got my period which I

hadn't had since before Aspyn was conceived.

We decided to start trying,

the next month came and I didnt get it, so I went

to the doctor and had a

pregnancy test, it came back negative, I waited

another week and again it

came back negative. I started having pain in

my lower right side and went

back to the doctor, they figured my endometriosis

was back and told us

either I go on fertility meds or I have a

laporoscopy. So they gave me some

medicine that was going to force my period, and I

needed to tell them by the

end of that week what our decision was. I

dropped the prescription off at

the pharmacy, and went to visit Aspyn at the

cemetery. I sat on her bench

and cried, I didn't know what to do, I didn't want

to have to make such a

big decision, we wanted God to make the decision

for us. As I was sitting

there I got a call to go show a house, so we went

and looked at least 10

houses, after that I was on my way to the pharmacy

to pick up my

prescription when I got a call that the people I

showed houses to wanted to

make an offer, so I turned around and headed

back. As I was driving I

looked up at Aspyn (her picture is on my visor)

and asked her what she

thought we should do, just then on the radio the

song " I Can only Imagine "

came on (we played this song at Aspyn's funeral)

and our family picture fell

off the visor and landed on my lap. I knew

what she was saying :-) By the

time I got home the pharmacy was closed and I

never got it picked up. The

next day I got a call from the clinic, they asked

me if I had taken the

medicine yet, I told them no, and they said thank

goodness, because your HCG

levels came back and you are pregnant!!

November 24, 2003 Gentry Hope was born 2 years and

10 days after the day her

big sister Aspyn was born. Gentry is growing

wonderful, she now weighs more

than Aspyn ever did, and so far all of her blood

work has come back normal.

We have been blessed twice with a wonderful

miracle, we pray that this

little miracle will stay with us much longer than

our first miracle did.

I guess what my long story is trying to say is, we

left it up to God, we

prayed so often, and asked others to pray for

us. Not all Mito

stories end

the same, we finally got a happy ending. The

decision you make is up to

you, if you decide to have the baby you will be

paranoid every waking

minute, but the end result (no matter if the baby

is healthy or not) you

will still have your one creation, a baby to love,

and hold. Sometimes God

does work in mysterious ways. I always

believed in God, but after my life

changed so much I went from questioning God

" why? " and now, I just believe

he has a plan, and no matter what I do, He really

still does have the upper

hand.

No matter what you decide, we will all stand by

you, I know it is not an

easy one. I will keep you in my

prayers. If you ever need to talk please

feel free to e-mail me.

Thoughts and Prayers,

Wayne and Block

Mommy and Daddy of

~Gentry Hope~ Healthy &

~Aspyn Remar~ Unknown Mitochondrial Disease,

Lactic Acidosis, and

Cardiomyopothy

November 14, 2001 to July 15, 2002

Please visit Aspyn at www.aspynblock.com or

http://www.amandabowden.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/aspyn.htm

Second pregnancy-Struggling with moral issues.

> Hi, I'm .

My 18month old son, Tarok has been recently diagnosed

> with Leigh's disease. After strugglung with

moral issues around this

> genetic disorder I decided to take

precautions against having any

> more children and look into adoption in the

future. On one of my hard

> to come by nights away from the hospital with

his father, we got very

> drunk and I'll leave the rest to imagination.

I went to see the

> doctor a couple days later (supposed to be

within 72 hours) for a

> morning after pill and future birth control

prescriptions. He said

> that I would get a period from the pill and I

didn't. Maybe I took it

> too late, maybe I didn't conceive to begin

with, I have a few more

> days at least before I can find out(I should

be due for a period next

> week). Tarok's father (we are not in a

monogamous relationship) is

> very supportive, but does not beleive he

could handle having an other

> sick child. I do not want to bring a child

into the world just to

> suffer, yet I do not regret having Tarok for

a second, and beleive

> that he enjoys life thouroughly even when he

is having a hard time.

> Tarok has done so much to change the lives of

those around him for

> the better. Because of him, I got off the

street and into school, I

> have gained in self confidence, I have

enjoyed such sacred

> experiences as pregnancy, breastfeeding, and

just holding and adoring

> my son. I have quit smoking, and so have his

father and grandmother.

> Because of Tarok's illness a long standing

feud in my family has been

> deminished, and my mother has been reunited

with her sisters. Am I

> just being selfish by wanting to have an other

child of my own? Of

> course I'm afraid of becoming single again

after being a mother. I

> can't imagine what it would be like. But I

also have to beleive that

> this child has a chance at a long, relatively

normal life. I have

> CFS, probably due to mito, but I would never go back and just not

be

> born, so how can I make this decision for an

infant? Please tell me

> if you've struggled with similar issues. I

know I'm not the only one

> who's considered it. I guess I just need to

know I'm not alone.

> Tarok's father doesn't even seem conflicted

about it. I've always

> been pro-choice, but never considered that my

choice might someday be

> abortion. I just don't know if I could go

through with it.

>

> Donovan (21, nursing student and single

mother of Tarok)

>

>

>

> Please contact mito-owner

with any problems or questions.

>