Dear Mr. Sparks,
My name is April Conry and my husband is Steven and I have two son's. Cody was my first born and then came Tyler on 4/22/97. Well I thought I was having a normal pregnancy until about my 34th week. I was at my OB doctor visit when my doctor measured my belly and she told me that I was measuring too large for the amount of weeks I was. So she wanted to send me to the hospital for an ultrasound because with Cody I had to have a C-section because my pelvic bone was too narrow and he couldn't fit in the birth canal. So she said if Tyler was a big baby they would just do a C-section. I had a routine ultrasound at about 4 1/2 months that came out normal. So I went to Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, Michigan that is where I planned to have the baby. That is where I had Cody. They did the ultrasound and said the babies head was too big and that I had too much amniotic fluid so they sent me back a week later for this ultrasound again. This time his head was fine and there was still too much fluid but this time they told my husband and I that he had this condition called a Diaphragmatic Hernia. We had no clue, we've never heard of that before. During my pregnancy I was more worried about the sex of the baby because we wanted a girl. We thought about the health of the baby but not as much. Now I look back and wish I focused more on the baby's health. But I know I can't bring him back. So now my doctors told me they wanted to send me to Hutzel Hospital in Detroit for a second opinion. So I went and they did the ultrasound and they confirmed my worst fear. My baby had a CDH. We were hoping the previous ultrasounds were wrong. The doctors at Hutzel wanted me to do an amnio-cordo. So we did. They rushed the results and they came in a couple days later- my baby's chromosomes were fine. They asked me if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Somehow that didn't matter anymore but I told him yes. He said that he was a boy. I hung up the phone and looked at my son, Cody, and said you have a brother and I cried. The next few days were a nightmare. We had to go to Children's Hospital right down the street from Hutzel to talk to a surgeon about what to expect and what they would do for our baby when the surgeon told us the worst thing that could happen- that our baby could not make it. I cried. I didn't expect to hear that. It was then we knew that we were dealing with a big thing. Then that night we tried to deal with the fact that our son had a fight for his life ahead of him. It was about 2am the next morning I woke up to go the bathroom and had a bloody show and I started to get contractions. I waited for a while. Hoping that this was false and that I wanted my son to stay in me where he was safe forever. We left for the hospital. My doctors at Botsford Hospital transferred my care to Hutzel because they were close to Children's Hospital and they were a high risk hospital. I got there and they hooked me up to the monitor and a doctor checked me. She told me she was going to send me home. I went to put my clothes on and I got a big gush of blood. I went out to the hall where she was and told her. She checked me again and said they were going to keep me. Later that day my doctor, Dr. Treadwell, came in and told me they would do the C-section today. Tyler was breech. So they prepped me and took me back for a C-section. My husband was by my side. They took out Tyler and a nurse rushed past us and out the door. Then soon after they came and got my husband and said that they were trying to get Tyler's heart to start again and a nurse told them they got some heart rhythm. But the pediatric doctor said or asked my husband if they could stop working on him. They took an x-ray and said that he a bilateral hernia. She said it looked grave. So my husband came back to the operating room and he was in tears and he told me they wanted to know if they could let Tyler go. We made the decision to let him return to his Creator. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. They asked if they could do an autopsy and we wanted to find out why this happened to our baby and maybe it could help other CDH victims in the future. They put Tyler in my husband's arms, still warm, and he brought him to me in recovery. We had family all around us. I held him and looked him over to remember him and his feeling in my arms. I never thought I would watch one of my children die. They later told us that he had about 1% lung tissue. He had no chance and that he had a bilateral diaphragmatic hernia. We had a funeral for him and cremated him and put him in a marble angel urn. Now he is with us everyday. The last several months have been hard. I went to a genetic counselor at the Hutzel Hospital. Thank you for reading my story. Take care and we hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Tyler's mom, April Conry (Michigan)
My name is April Conry and my husband is Steven and I have two son's. Cody was my first born and then came Tyler on 4/22/97. Well I thought I was having a normal pregnancy until about my 34th week. I was at my OB doctor visit when my doctor measured my belly and she told me that I was measuring too large for the amount of weeks I was. So she wanted to send me to the hospital for an ultrasound because with Cody I had to have a C-section because my pelvic bone was too narrow and he couldn't fit in the birth canal. So she said if Tyler was a big baby they would just do a C-section. I had a routine ultrasound at about 4 1/2 months that came out normal. So I went to Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, Michigan that is where I planned to have the baby. That is where I had Cody. They did the ultrasound and said the babies head was too big and that I had too much amniotic fluid so they sent me back a week later for this ultrasound again. This time his head was fine and there was still too much fluid but this time they told my husband and I that he had this condition called a Diaphragmatic Hernia. We had no clue, we've never heard of that before. During my pregnancy I was more worried about the sex of the baby because we wanted a girl. We thought about the health of the baby but not as much. Now I look back and wish I focused more on the baby's health. But I know I can't bring him back. So now my doctors told me they wanted to send me to Hutzel Hospital in Detroit for a second opinion. So I went and they did the ultrasound and they confirmed my worst fear. My baby had a CDH. We were hoping the previous ultrasounds were wrong. The doctors at Hutzel wanted me to do an amnio-cordo. So we did. They rushed the results and they came in a couple days later- my baby's chromosomes were fine. They asked me if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Somehow that didn't matter anymore but I told him yes. He said that he was a boy. I hung up the phone and looked at my son, Cody, and said you have a brother and I cried. The next few days were a nightmare. We had to go to Children's Hospital right down the street from Hutzel to talk to a surgeon about what to expect and what they would do for our baby when the surgeon told us the worst thing that could happen- that our baby could not make it. I cried. I didn't expect to hear that. It was then we knew that we were dealing with a big thing. Then that night we tried to deal with the fact that our son had a fight for his life ahead of him. It was about 2am the next morning I woke up to go the bathroom and had a bloody show and I started to get contractions. I waited for a while. Hoping that this was false and that I wanted my son to stay in me where he was safe forever. We left for the hospital. My doctors at Botsford Hospital transferred my care to Hutzel because they were close to Children's Hospital and they were a high risk hospital. I got there and they hooked me up to the monitor and a doctor checked me. She told me she was going to send me home. I went to put my clothes on and I got a big gush of blood. I went out to the hall where she was and told her. She checked me again and said they were going to keep me. Later that day my doctor, Dr. Treadwell, came in and told me they would do the C-section today. Tyler was breech. So they prepped me and took me back for a C-section. My husband was by my side. They took out Tyler and a nurse rushed past us and out the door. Then soon after they came and got my husband and said that they were trying to get Tyler's heart to start again and a nurse told them they got some heart rhythm. But the pediatric doctor said or asked my husband if they could stop working on him. They took an x-ray and said that he a bilateral hernia. She said it looked grave. So my husband came back to the operating room and he was in tears and he told me they wanted to know if they could let Tyler go. We made the decision to let him return to his Creator. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. They asked if they could do an autopsy and we wanted to find out why this happened to our baby and maybe it could help other CDH victims in the future. They put Tyler in my husband's arms, still warm, and he brought him to me in recovery. We had family all around us. I held him and looked him over to remember him and his feeling in my arms. I never thought I would watch one of my children die. They later told us that he had about 1% lung tissue. He had no chance and that he had a bilateral diaphragmatic hernia. We had a funeral for him and cremated him and put him in a marble angel urn. Now he is with us everyday. The last several months have been hard. I went to a genetic counselor at the Hutzel Hospital. Thank you for reading my story. Take care and we hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Tyler's mom, April Conry (Michigan)
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