The day I received the call from the doctor that the test came back positive for DS, I was at work. It was one of the hardest days of my life, I couldn’t stop crying. My co-worker comforted me as much as she could, she prayed for me and then handed me a sealed envelope. 

 

I was sent home for the day to get myself together. My family planned to take me out when I got home. For some crazy reason, we ended up at the Casino. The entire ride there, I prayed to God and asked him to give me any sign to let me know that everything would be ok. When we entered the casino, I sat sadly thinking about the news I'd received (I don’t gamble). Then while going through my purse, I came across the envelope my co-worker gave me. Inside was 60 dollars and a letter she wrote, praying for me and my baby. So, sitting at the slot machine I put in one of the twenties from the envelope. As soon as I did, the machine began going off!  I won 1100 dollars! The money meant nothing at the time but since I had never won anything, I just knew it was the sign that I had prayed for. And from that day on we continued planning for our bundle of joy.

 

My pregnancy and labor was very hard on me. I was in the hospital for 6 days because of labor pains. I was 5cm dilated and very excited, thinking today is the day I'll meet my Zion. But the doctors stopped my labor because I was only 32 weeks and my baby was only 4 lbs. I left the hospital only to come back for a sonogram appointment at 35 weeks. There the doctors saw that my amniotic fluids were only 2cm and it should've been 5cm. I was rushed into labor and delivery, where I was induced. We waited and waited for me to dilate to 10cm; 24 hours passed and still no baby.  I had a midwife so a c section would be done only in an emergency. I remember hearing a weird beeping noise from the monitor followed by my midwife coming in my room (very calmly). I knew something was wrong. She began to speak: "Sierra a lot of people are going to come running in here but please stay calm". Before she could finish, in rushed a herd of nurses and doctors. They spoke to each other, never saying anything to me. All I remember is crying, praying and looking up at the ceiling lights as I was rushed down the hall. My baby’s heart rate dropped dangerously low… in the 80s!! I was rushed in for an emergency c section. Oh my god! It was the scariest thing in my life.. waking up to a room full of doctors not knowing what was going on! Travis, Zion's dad, walked in just in time (he had to dress in scrubs, took them a while to get them for him). I could hear him yelling in the hallway not too far away. He was there by my side giving me all the details of what was taking place. I could hear my baby crying as they cleaned him off.  8/20/2013, 7:26AM Zion was born!! No hole in his bottom (imperforate anus), a hole in his heart (congenital heart defect), and Down syndrome (trisomy 21)… all the things he was diagnosed with. He was transported to Children's Hospital 8 hours after birth. I only saw my baby for 10mins that day, but his dad stayed by his side the entire time. I had to stay in the hospital for 4 days before I could see him again. I was so depressed, I pumped my breast milk to get by mentally. The great thing was the hospitals were directly across from each other. Travis would come by to get the milk and show me videos and give me all the updates. Travis always made light of situations, he was the strong one. As soon as I was discharged, I went straight to Zion's side since I had to breastfeed him (through a tube in his nose). The heart surgery wasn’t needed right away like they had said before. Zion was doing great holding body temperature, breathing, moving and everything. He had his first surgery done at birth. Since he was born with an imperforate anus, he had his colon taken out so his bowel could go into an ostomy bag. He had an ostomy bag for the first 15 months of his life. It wasn’t until later that he had it removed once his bottom was repaired.

 

At 4 months old Zion stopped gaining weight due to the hole in his heart. And at his 4 month old checkup, his doctor was very concerned about his weight and Zion was admitted into Children's hospital. On December 13, 2013 at 7AM Zion was taken to in for his VSD surgery to repair his heart. Seeing my baby taken away for surgery was unbearable. The hospital gave us a small device where you receive detailed texts of the status of your child’s surgery. I received a text at 9AM that surgery had begun. I started to have really bad chest pains like a heart attack. A nurse who we knew very well called in a code blue and the next thing I remember was the hospital floor filled with doctors and other staff of the hospital. They were all there for me while my baby was having heart surgery. I ended up being taken away in an ambulance because what I thought was a heart attack was later diagnosed as a panic attack. I returned to my baby’s side after his 6 hour surgery. Zion had a VSD repair and two blood transfusions and was on pain medication. When I saw him I couldn't believe my eyes, he was very swollen and had so many IV's and cords connecting him to machines surrounding him. The doctors told me that he wouldn't wake up until a couple of hours after surgery but 2 hours after surgery my baby was moving and making a soft crying noise when he heard my voice. Seeing my baby laying there in pain killed me. I prayed over him every day. Zion stayed in the hospital for a month and we ended up spending his 1st Christmas there.