Baby Orin McRae Webb

At our 20 week ultrasound, we learned that our little man Orin McRae was even more extraordinary than we thought. His right leg, forearms, and hands were not visible on ultrasound. We were referred to the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit at UAB for a level 2 ultrasound, which took place two days later. That ultrasound confirmed our OB’s findings. It also diagnosed Orin with micrognathia, which is a very recessed chin and small jaw. The worry with that condition was that his tongue would be pushed into the back of his throat and inhibit his breathing at birth.

Orin McRae Webb was born on January 13, 2020 at 2:25am via emergency c-section. He really didn’t care for labor! His due date wasn’t until February 22, so he was six weeks early. Mom’s waters actually broke six days earlier on January 7, and UAB held off labor until 34 weeks gestation so Orin’s lungs could keep developing.

Based on this, we already knew he would have a NICU stay. We could not know how his micrognathia would affect him until he was born.

But at birth, Orin absolutely screamed his head off! It was the most beautiful sound Mom and Dad had ever heard. He has never needed oxygen support. He can breathe perfectly.

Mom was hospitalized for 10 days between early rupture of membranes and a c-section. Orin has been in the NICU since birth. He is working on gaining enough weight for a jaw distraction, which is the name of the surgery he needs to correct his micrognathia. Between getting up to surgery weight then recovery, we are expecting to be here for 8 to 10 weeks all together. Tucker and Rachel are both on leave from work until Orin is discharged. While there are a lot of babies who have been in the NICU for a much longer time with much more serious conditions, 10 weeks feels like an eternity and a jaw distraction is overwhelmingly stressful for a mom and dad who desperately want their whole family safe and sound under one roof. We’ve done a lot of traveling back and forth between Anniston and Birmingham while we care for both Alton and Orin. We are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham during this time and it really is an amazing place, but it’s not home.

Orin has Medicaid, but Medicaid has a limit and we have no idea yet if we have reached it or how close we are. We also know we have a long road ahead full of therapists, specialists, doctor visits and time apart as a family.

Orin and Rachel have received the best medical care that the state of Alabama, and indeed most of the Southeast, has to offer. We don’t know, however, what the financial impact of all this will be. Any and all help is taken with a grateful heart and a lot of love.

Anything leftover from this fundraiser will be split between Alton and Orin’s savings accounts at First Bank of Alabama in Oxford.

We thank you so much and appreciate all your support be it financial, emotional or in any other form.