This is a donation page set up for my very good friend Shannon and her family. They are dealing with the unknown prognosis of their 37 week old unborn baby who was diagnosed this past week with hydrocephalus, a condition that causes swelling in the brain. Shannon are her husband Phil are the type of people that would give you the shirts off their backs and that is why I felt the calling to set up this page for them. They already have two beautiful, young children and with so much unknown, having some of the financial burden relieved will help them to have more time to focus on their little boy who will be delivered this Friday at a specialized hospital. Doctors are saying he will need a surgery to place a shunt in his brain and spend 1-2 months in the NICU. They still have two children to look after and will be spending countless hours traveling from South Jersey to Philadelphia as well as piling medical bills, fuel, tolls, missed time at work, and other expenses that may pop up. It is only through God’s intervention and a mother’s intuition that has saved this unborn baby’s life and so I am asking for prayers of strength and healing and if it is in your heart to help financially, it would forever be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please, read on if you would like a more detailed account of Baby Frecon’s story and stay tuned for updates from the family.

Baby Frecon’s Story

On July 13th at 37 weeks pregnant, I went into L&D for decreased fetal movement. I just thought he was pretty mellow for some reason. There they said he looked great as per movement and heart rate but discovered his head circumference was abnormally large, and sent me to maternal fetal medicine, where the baby was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and referred to a specialty hospital. We had a gamete of tests and even our own personal coordinator/escort to tell us where we were going and organize everything for us. We started the day with a fetal mri (laying on your back, motionless, for an hour in a HOT tube, this pregnant with a 8lb baby on you, was pretty awful lol), a three hour comprehensive ultrasound to look at every single inch of him, a fetal echo cardiogram, and a meeting with a genetic counselor. It was a long morning of diagnostic tests. In the afternoon we met with the doctors who discussed his case and treatment.

All of these tests showed at some point after 20 week gestation, little man had a brain bleed. He had an intracranial hemorrhage which caused this little clot either in the Choroid Plexus or as a result of the Choroid Plexus producing red blood cells (can’t quite remember) and is now blocking the area needed for the cerebral spinal fluid to drain. This fluid has one way out and since there is a blockage there, it’s backing into his ventricles where this fluid is usually stored. Because the fluid is backed up, the fluid filled chambers have swollen to 3x the normal size. So, the good news is the MRI didn’t see any tissue damage or destruction to the surrounding areas of the brain. So this brain bleed was contained to this spot. His heart looks great and so does his other organs. The bad news is the swelling is pretty severe, a grade 3 out of 4. And what that means is he will need a brain surgery to insert a shunt into his head that drains the fluid from his brain to his stomach where it’s reabsorbed (it's a tube that runs under his skin from brain to stomach). The fluid always regenerates so they need a way to drain this fluid out of the brain so it doesn’t just get bigger and bigger since it can’t get out and always regenerates. But because these chambers are now big, even if they drain them, we can expect the chambers to stay the size they are. The shunts have come a long way but there is risk for mechanical failure and infection and of course risk from the surgery itself. This is a permanent device that will need to be replaced as he grows so he will have multiple surgeries over the course of his life. His prognosis development wise is ‘wait and see.’ We’re not sure if the fluid damaged his brain in the area of this swelling. We’re not sure if his brain tissue grew normally around the fluid, or the fluid prevented it from growing. The tissue doesn’t look damaged in any way, and we PRAISE God for that. After he is born he will be closely monitored for seizures which is a common with this swelling and to see what he can do without intervention (can he breathe, eat, suck, move normally etc). Before they do brain surgery they want to have a good understanding of what he is capable of, and if he is even stable enough for the surgery. I do see him suck on the ultrasound and I certainly feel this child move so I am optimistic he will do all of these things with ease. Long term, we should expect some speech delays and motor delays and the doctors essentially said with the severity of his swelling there is a guaranteed chance for that. However, what individual babies can tolerate is all subjective. They said some babies with a little swelling have major delays, some with a lot of swelling will have none. It’s wait and see..... And I think they are preparing us for the worst just in case.

What this does mean for us is an extended stay at the NICU, probably months. He has been given an opportunity at LIFE because of a mother’s intuition. Without this finding, a vaginal delivery with all the pressure to the skull with this amount of swelling and a disposition to brain bleeding and hemorrhages would have has a terrible outcome. Most likely a grave one. If he would have survived birth, he would have been flown or transferred to the specialty hospital and with a brain injury, and our distance from the hospital, the consequences would be severe if not fatal.

I FIRMLY stand on the TRUTH that this was a GOD GIVEN intervention. I went in on a hunch at 37 weeks pregnant. I was at Bible school no less where God is in the business of saving kids lives and just said “I feel like I need to go to the hospital. My gut tells me I should be at the hospital.” So I went. And this is where they found this. I am so thankful the doctor there found this because they weren’t looking for it! This finding gave him the BEST shot at life. Actually, this finding probably saved his life on Earthside. Because without this NO ONE knew about this. Everyone would have been surprised at birth including myself. I can't imagine processing this right after birth.

So whats the plan: I am scheduled for a C Section at the Special Delivery Unit where low risk Moms deliver high risk babies. Catching this earlier would not have given him a better prognosis. They can do nothing in utero except monitor. All I would have done was worry myself sick and given him more stress hormone than he would ever need. That, is another miracle!

As for WHY this happened: It usually is caused by SEVERE abdominal trauma (car crash) or exposure to cocaine which none of these have happened. There are a few genetic disorders where my cells sorta attack the baby and can cause bleeding issues but they said they would have probably seen this earlier with two term children if that was the case. They will do testing anyway to see if that was the case but it’s more for information only for future pregnancies. So it’s sorta a mystery until we get those tests back. Children do develop this out of utero too. It’s something doctors are always looking for at check ups. Sometimes, things just happen that are out of our control.

What we Do: In the meantime, we Pray. We ask Jesus and Jehovah Rapha to heal this hemorrhage. We ask that this clot dissipates (which the doc said wont happen) and the fluid drains. He will have another MRI and ultrasound before the brain surgery and we ask for COMPLETE healing and RESTORATION so he will not have to endure that. We THANK that my baby was saved. And He was given life. We pray for his brain. We pray for my recovery after the C section. I know God already saved him. I know we’re in good hands. I know everything will be fine because we’ve seen a miracle. I always felt unworthy of a miracle. Miracles happened to other people- not to me. But my child had this crazy intervention and unfolding of events and this is my miracle. This is my baby’s miracle… he’s a special one to have a miracle in utero. Jesus has already saved Him.