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Hannah Faith Moreland
Dec 01, 2002
Hannah Faith Moreland
When Hannah was 22 weeks in utero, we found out she had Down Syndrome, and a heart defect associated with Down's. Although we were scared, we took it all in stride.....NO PROBLEM. We'll treat her as the special blessing she is, we'll have the heart surgery done, and began to make financial arrangements so that we could assure that we could give her the best care possible.
At 36 weeks, I began dilating. We called our doctor in OKC. He said to pack a bag, we'll do an amnio, and if her lungs are ready, we'll get her here.
The next evening, we began inducing Hannah's birth. Born January 19, 2002, she was the most angelic, precious, innocent baby we had seen. She was perfect! Because Hannah was both DS and premature, she was not able to eat on her own. We tried to breastfeed, but she just couldn't do it yet. So I kept up a supply for her until she could nurse.
Then, in a whirlwind, Hannah got very sick, very quick. On her third day of life, surgeons met me at the door to get consent forms signed - Hannah's life was at stake. Her little tummy had distended, and they had to perform surgery to see what was going on. The next thing I knew, her surgeon, Dr. Foley at OU Children's, was telling my husband and I that Hannah had not responded to the antibiotics like they had hoped, and they were going to have to go back inside of her tummy to find out why. He simply stated to us that they would either find enough intestines left to salvage her life, or there would be nothing they could do. My world slammed around me. I went to the chaplain, and we got her dedicated to the Lord, and from that point forward, Hannah had a total of 7 surgeries, and each day, swelled from the fluid building up inside of her sweet, precious body.
The weekend of her third week of life came as we stood in the hallway with Dr. Foley, all of us feeling as though she was just about out of the woods, they had decided to begin really trying to get the fluid off. That Monday, her kidneys stopped functioning. Dr. Foley was so kind to us. For days, we just kept praying for God to spare her. Friday night, Hannah's vitals began dropping.
We had to make the decision that we couldn't be selfish any longer. The day before she passed, I got to give her a bath, and hold her. They thought Hannah would pass when they handed her to me, but instead, my baby Hannah girl's vitals and oxygen levels went higher! I thought I was going to see another miracle before my eyes as I held her for a whole hour. But then, Sunday night at 10:02 pm, her daddy and I held her hands, feet and head, as she lay there in her NICU bed, and handed her to God on February 17, 2002. I did experience miracles with Hannah. God gave us 28 days with Hannah. He allowed Hannah to live in my arms that hour instead of passing, which would have been especially difficult for me.
Letting Hannah go was the hardest thing I've ever done. But one thing I know for sure, Hannah is waiting on me. And I have a light shining for me every day to guide me. I believe God has a reason in all that He does.
My husband, my 11 year old daughter, and myself were baptized and joined a church this year.
Hannah, I love you more than I can ever say. I miss you, I am so proud of you, and some day, baby Hannah girl, we will all be together again. This life on earth is short, but our lives, once joined again, will never be separated again.
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