Baby Jane

 

Photography by Fotocrew Member, Bayleigh Malone

It has been such a blessing for me to have the opportunity to meet Jane and her sweet parents, Rachel and Charlie! Jane is so young, but her life has already been full of big miracles. It was an honor to be able to photograph this family whose story has touched so many throughout our community!

From Jane’s Mom:

“At 31 weeks into our pregnancy we went in for a regular ultrasound to see how big Jane was getting. It was then we learned there was a problem with her brain. We were informed we would need to see a high risk ob/gyn at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital. The doctor saw us at 33 weeks and knew immediately that Jane’s prognosis did not look good. After multiple ultrasounds and a fetal MRI, his concerns were confirmed. Jane was diagnosed with alobar holoprosencephaly (HPE), a brain malformation in which the brain does not divide and develop properly. We were told the most devastating news that parents can receive. The baby we had prayed for and wanted for so long might not survive. Most children with alobar HPE do not survive pregnancy much less birth and can be born with possible severe physical deformities. We were crushed but we chose to cling to our faith. The Bible says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed that you can move a mountain. We prayed to God and had all our family and friends praying with us. Jane’s story begin to reach not only our own families and friends but their families and friends and their families and friends and so on! People who did not know us began praying for our little girl.

Our niece had named her “Baby Jane” and so we started the Baby Jane’s Page on Facebook to keep everyone up to date. We had decided a c-section on September 17th would be the best way to deliver Jane. She would be able to go to 39 weeks gestation and a c-section would be less trauma for her. We went into the hospital for a routine checkup on September 3rd, Labor Day, to make sure we weren’t showing any signs of going into labor. We were fine and about to be released when they realized I was suddenly pre-eclamptic. They decided Baby Jane would have to be born that afternoon. When you have been told your baby may not survive birth you are both anxious and terrified about her actual birth. We knew that Jane was very strong inutero. Her kicks and movements seemed self controlled and we had already seen on earlier ultrasounds that she had a perfect little face with 2 eyes where they should be, a nose where it should be, and a perfect little mouth where it should be! But those moments as I lay on the operating table while my husband stroked my hair were excruciating. The wait was not long however. In a span of ten seconds, I heard the doctors say, “it’s started,” “baby’s out,” “it’s a girl,” then I heard the suctioning, and then, as my husband said, “the most beautiful verse of Amazing Grace ever sung.” Jane was out and crying! We had all sorts of doctors and nurses from the NICU in the delivery room ready to help her in any way imaginable. But praise God! She needed no help. She could breathe on her own, she was regulating body temperature on her own, and she was kicking and crying and raising up a fuss so loud our families could hear her outside the operating room. She wasn’t supposed to be able to do ANY of that! She needed a little help from a feeding tube her first night in the NICU but by the next morning she was able to feed from a bottle. She began her NICU stay that evening in the unit for the babies with the most severe needs and by the next afternoon she was moved to the unit for the babies with the least amount of needs. We spent 1 week in the NICU and were able to come home as a family.

Jane was welcomed home by over a hundred signs posted on our street welcoming home “Baby Jane!” She has touched so many lives because she is the proof that prayer works and God is still in the miracle business. She continues to baffle and confound all her doctors. She has no special needs that we are aware of at this time. They predict that she won’t walk but she is already pushing against us with her legs and can even stand on them. Doctors are wonderful and we are grateful for them all but in the end, the Great Physician is the one who decides how life will take place! We give God all the glory for her life!”