Ryland Cole Brown

Okay, before I start blogging about everything in my life from this moment on...I should recap the most important event in my life from last year. My son, Ryland Cole, was born on Feb 27 at 8:08AM. I was in labor for two days even though my doctor and all the staff at the hospital were convinced I wasn't! Imagine having the pain of contractions but thinking it's a bladder spasm...ouch! To make matters worse my contractions did not even show up on the monitor and my belly never got hard from them. Well, when the nurse finally checked me I was fully dilated and ready to push. I was so upset because I wanted pain medication but I toughed it out and had a fast natural birth...and felt every second of it (the contractions hurt worse than the actual delivering of the baby). Oh, and I should mention I had him two months premature. After the shock wore off that I just delivered my child two months early I realized all the doctors around Ryland. At that moment my worst fear became reality-my precious son was not healthy. The doctor's did not know exactly what was wrong with him but they sent him to another hospital. I ended up finding out that my baby boy had a genetic skin condition called Junctional Epidermis Bullosa with Pyloric Atresia. This is a rare disease that my hubby and I both carry and we have a 25 percent with each pregnancy to have this same thing happen again. I received a gene from one of my parents as did my hubby. The messed up part is just thinking about the chances of meeting someone with this same genetic defect! Ryland did not have skin on portions of his body and this disease is 100 percent lethal. After reviewing all of our options we decided we did not want Ryland to suffer anymore (He was doped up on pain medication 24 hrs a day) and took him off his ventilator. We gave our son to Christ and put his life in His hands. Ryland ended up passing away on March 6, 2008 in his daddy's arms. My hubby and I are so blessed to have had Ryland and to have gone through this situation. We both have a much deeper relationship with Christ than we would have ever had. We had to dig deep to make sure we did not blame God or keep wondering why us. We are content with where our lives are at currently and we are hoping and praying for a healthy baby this year..if I ever get pregnant which is another blog entirely!