There IS somebody else out there!

For both of my babies births I had a midwife. I love how midwives get to know you and are there for you on an emotional level compared to doctors. It just seems, to me, more natural.

After Piper was born and diagnosed with hypotonia my midwife told me how she had never encountered a baby with hypotonia in all the years she practiced until recently. She had a birth two weeks before mine and the baby had hypotonia and now there was Piper with hypotonia. Odd for my midwife to have two women with hypotonic babies within two weeks, but even weirder is that this other baby has the same pediatrician as Piper. Wow, what are the odds?

So since there isn’t a “Parents with Hypotonic Babies” group that I could join (this would be similar to someone looking for a “Parents with Runny Nosed Babies” group) I asked my pediatrician if it would be okay to contact this other mom. She contacted the parents and passed along her phone number to me.

Ali and I chatted a couple of times and planned to meet once before. Unfortunately, due to some health concerns we had to delay our meeting. So finally just this past Thursday Piper and I met Ali and her daughter Gavriella.

It was so comforting to meet someone who was going through the same emotions as Bay and I. Although Piper and Gavriella have varying degrees of hypotonia and different health concerns the similarity they have is the lack of a diagnosis. We both still don’t know WHY. We chatted for a good hour or two and compared notes and experiences. I left feeling better about my situation because there was somebody else out there persevering for their daughter. Ali, and the strength she had, was just what I needed.