The Scientific Side of Things...Cody Style

What can a bachelor’s degree in biology provide? Well, not enough to make the scientific jargon over the past few weeks comprehensible. It is one thing to interpret the information myself, but relaying that information to my wife can at times be difficult. So for those who may be interested in seeing dwarfism from the scientific view, I attempt to explain it for everyone.

The Rundown

• Each of us has 46 chromosomes, which are actually set up in pairs of two. We receive 23 from mom and 23 from dad. Twenty-two of those pairs are known as autosomes (defined for being non-sex chromosomes, which will be important to know for later). The last pair determines just that, whether we will be a male or a female and are therefore named as such, sex chromosomes. If your confused, obtain two pieces of string, thread, etc. Lay them out and cross one of the other forming an X. Loop the string lying over the top under like your making a pretzel. At this point, repeat the same step with the two strings above the swirl you already have to form a knot. You should have created something with a large knot with four appendages stemming from that knot. This is generally what a chromosome looks like, below.
• Each chromosome contains DNA, which acts as our genetic blueprint. Each DNA molecule can be composed of 10,000 to 1,000,000,000 nucleotides. Now imagine that you were to take a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil and write a repeating code over the whole chromosome you just created. Our DNA works with four repeating nucleotides (C,G,A,T), so as you write your blueprint for your chromosome keep it to four letters as that will relay all of the necessary information for the body. But remember, it is just a blueprint.
• We need a way to take our blueprint and somehow make it functional. This is known as the central dogma. Suffice it to say, several components are involved in reading the blueprint to produce a messenger RNA, which carries the information to another processing center that reads that information and ultimately makes a protein. Translation…the DNA is read (similar to the Leapfrog Tag Reading System below) and that information is then placed into, let us say, an easy bake oven. The oven produces a protein which has functional capabilities to move throughout the body and do work.
• Now, if rewind a few paragraphs and become a little more specific with the information carried by the chromosome, segments of the repeating code can be called genes, because the have a specific destination or function as to what they will be. Just think back to the blueprint, we will contain specific information for each part of the building. Each gene carries blueprints with specific instructions for making proteins. Those proteins then act as the body’s building blocks. In our case, this specific protein called FGFR3 (Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3) has mutated by at least one nucleotide base. Translation…the four lettered code you put on your own homemade chromosome somehow becomes changed which means it will be read differently and ultimately will come out as something different from your easy bake oven.
• The FGFR3, from what scientists believe, becomes overactive leading to altered development of the long bones, which is what has happened in Baby W’s case.

So blessed and Welcome to Holland

We are so blessed to have family and friends who are supportive, loving, and full of faith. Today especially, I feel extremely grateful for all of you who have been fasting and praying both for us and for Baby W's health. I know that the faith and prayers of each of you will bring us countless blessings, and it means so much to us!

I wanted to share this story that Amanda, my sister, passed along to me. The authors' daughter has down syndrome, I believe. It really does capture how I am feeling right now, AND how I know I will feel in the future. What a blessing this little man is going to be in our lives; I know that we would not choose any other path than the one that we are now headed down.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987, all rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo, David. The gondolas of Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland."

"HOLLAND?!?” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place ... After you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around ... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills ... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away ... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things ... about Holland.

CELEBRATING HOLLAND - I'M HOME

Follow-up to the original Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley

By Cathy Anthony

I have been in Holland for over a decade now. It has become home. I have had time to catch my breath, to settle and adjust, to accept something different than I'd planned. I reflect back on those years of past when I had first landed in Holland.

I remember clearly my shock, my fear, my anger, the pain and uncertainty. In those first few years, I tried to get back to Italy as planned, but Holland was where I was to stay. Today, I can say how far I have come on this unexpected journey. I have learned so much more. But, this too has been a journey of time.

I worked hard. I bought new guidebooks. I learned a new language and I slowly found my way around this new land. I have met others whose plans had changed like mine, and who could share my experience. We supported one another and some have become very special friends.

Some of these fellow travelers had been in Holland longer than I and were seasoned guides, assisting me along the way. Many have encouraged me. Many have taught me to open my eyes to the wonder and gifts to behold in this new land. I have discovered a community of caring. Holland wasn't so bad.

I think that Holland is used to wayward travelers like me and grew to become a land of hospitality, reaching out to welcome, to assist and to support newcomers like me in this new land. Over the years, I've wondered what life would have been like if I'd landed in Italy as planned. Would life have been easier? Would it have been as rewarding? Would I have learned some of the important lessons I hold today?

Sure, this journey has been more challenging and at times I would (and still do) stomp my feet and cry out in frustration and protest. And, yes, Holland is slower paced than Italy and less flashy than Italy, but this too has been an unexpected gift. I have learned to slow down in ways too and look closer at things, with a new appreciation for the remarkable beauty of Holland with its tulips, windmills and Rembrandts.

I have come to love Holland and call it Home.

I have become a world traveler and discovered that it doesn't matter where you land. What's more important is what you make of your journey and how you see and enjoy the very special, the very lovely, things that Holland, or any land, has to offer.

Yes, over a decade ago I landed in a place I hadn't planned. Yet I am thankful, for this destination has been richer than I could have imagined!

Baby W

We are so excited to welcome Baby W into our lives. We are expecting him on June 23, 2010! That is just a little under 5 months, and it is our 3rd wedding anniversary. We learned last week that we have quite the journey ahead of us, and I am hoping to catch our journey here.

Going into our ultrasound on Monday January 25, 2009, we were both excited. I had an uneasy feeling for a couple weeks prior to the ultrasound, but was still anxious to find out what sex our baby was. So many feelings were going through my (and Cody's) brains sitting in the waiting room. I kept thinking, just like the previous couple of weeks, "I hope he/she is healthy". I know that all parents have this feeling, and as I asked my friends/family about this, they confirmed that they were a little nervous going to their first ultrasound as well. For some reason I felt like it was more that nerves, that something was not quite right. We got called back, and our sonographer began taking pictures of our little guy. She was rather unexperienced, and we could tell that it was taking here a bit longer than it should have to find different parts of the baby. She thought that she found Baby W's "boy parts" but wasn't sure, and after 40 minutes, she went and got another sonographer. The next lady was extremely quick, and was finding the skull, heart, arms, and legs and measuring them. At one point she measured the femur bone (leg) and on the bottom of the screen I saw that it measured at 12 weeks; and I was 19 weeks pregnant. I was a little nervous and asked her if that was accurate, (of course she can't tell us anything) and she just said, "Yeah, that is what I am looking at now" and continued on. After taking measurements for about 30 minutes the radiologist came into our room. She watched the sonographer for a couple of minutes, tried to confirm if Baby W was really a boy, but wasn't positive, and then asked if she could sit down and speak with us. I can't explain the feeling that I had. Mostly because it was strangely calm. I felt as though I had been being prepared for this for a few weeks, and both Cody and I silently listened to her. She told us that there were some concerning things in the ultrasound, and that Baby W's limbs were not quite growing like they should be. She was very comforting but could not tell us any more than that.

The next morning, Tuesday, I spoke with my OBGYN, Dr. W., and we made an appointment with a perinatologist first thing Wednesday morning. Tuesday was quite a long day. Both Cody and I tried not to think of all of the possibilities that could be wrong with our precious boy, but when your mind starts going it is hard to avoid. We did our best to stay positive. I, of course, had multiple mini-breakdowns, but was comforted by my faith in God and my wonderful husband. Needless to say, that evening of sleep definitely was not perfect. We were both anxious to meet with our Doctors in the morning.

Dr. W. met us at the perinatologist's office, which I was so pleased with. We are so fortunate to have some great doctors for Baby W. I got another ultrasound from a very good sonographer, she zipped around and told us Baby W was a boy for sure! Good news...I love boys! Then Dr. R. came in and began to go through another ultrasound with us. It really is fun to see our baby squirming around and his little heart beating away.

Dr. R. began with the cranium. Baby W's head looks great, so that is good news. It measured at 19 weeks, which is perfect. The first radiologist that reviewed our ultrasound thought that Baby W had fluid on his brain, or hydrocephalus. Dr. R. looked at this area closely and said that he cannot see any fluid on his brain. This is a huge relief and we pray that it stays this way. Next he talked to us about the sutures on the side of Baby W's head, or the soft spots that infants have in order to be born through the vaginal canal. Baby W's sutures are beginning to close, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just makes a vaginal delivery not an option. Baby W's head may be too big and not able to fit, so a c-section is most likely on the horizon for us. I don't mind this at all, I know the recovery for me is longer but I just want him here and don't care how that happens!

Next, Dr. R. looked at Baby W's heart chambers, spine, lungs, ribs and abdomen. He said that everything looks great! What a blessing! Unfortunately this can change so we will be monitoring the growth of Baby W's torso every two weeks for the rest of my pregnancy. If his ribs do not continue to expand with his organs, it can be life threatening. As I said, though, Dr. R. thinks that he is growing properly right now, so that is very comforting. All of our prayers will be focused on his torso continuing to grow as it should.

Next we were able to see Baby W's arms and legs. The picture above is a 3-D ultrasound, so it looks a little different. They are developed to 12 weeks, which is behind schedule. Due to the length of his limbs, he has been diagnosed with Skeletal Dysplasia, or the more common term, Dwarfism. We will be welcoming a little person into our world! We were both shocked, but actually pleasantly surprised by the fact that Baby W is healthy in every way, just short. His fingers have not opened yet, so we are hoping that he will start stretching those out soon. His feet look as though they are developing normally, but everything is hard to measure at this point. Dr. R. diagnosed Baby W with a type of skeletal dysplasia called Achondroplasia. This is simply a shortening of the arms and legs, but proper development of the rest of the body. This can change, however. A few tears were shed, but it was a surprisingly short cry fest followed by a ton of thankful prayers for his health and the fact that he is simply small, and something more serious was not diagnosed.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, as well as way too many things that could go wrong with our Baby W. We are still in shock, and I think that this shock will continue for quite a while. We are so happy that we were able to find out now so that we may be able to emotionally prepare for what lies ahead. We are so thankful for our faith and the blessing of knowing that although we may not have any power over this situation, our Heavenly Father does. We know that we have so many loved ones who will be praying for us and our Baby W, and want to encourage those prayers. We need all of the faith from those around us that we can get! We know that Baby W was meant to come into our family, and are so ready to have him here with us. We are not sorry for the situation that we are in, and we are still so anxious to meet our little boy! The next 20 weeks may be some of the longest of our lives, waiting and praying that our little man will come to us with a healthy torso and developed as well as he can be. I am hoping that this can be a good journal for us. There are some days that tears will be shed as I am writing the new challenges that have come our way. However, I know that there will be hundreds more days that I am speaking of the blessings that we are getting from Baby W coming to our family. I hope that you can laugh and cry with us through our joys and challenges, and we ask for your prayers on behalf of the new little man in our life, Baby W.