Grace Watry Sweet Lady Grace

Grace Emily Watry was born 11/2/16 with a rare  chromosome rearrangement. Prior to birth, we were told our baby had Trisomy 18 and would mostly likely be born asleep. Trisomy 18 is an error in cell division resulting in a third, or extra chromosome on number 18. Unlike Down syndrome, which also is caused by an extra chromosome, the developmental issues caused by Trisomy 18 are associated with more medical complications that are more potentially life-threatening in the early months and years of life.  In Grace's situation, instead of developing an extra chromosome, one of her chromosomes flipped, or rearranged, causing the doctors to give us little information about Grace's development or her life expectancy.  We are just at the beginning of her Partial Trisomy 18 and look forward to what Grace has to teach us.

Grace was born four weeks early and has spent over 2.5 months of her life in the hospital. Her first few months of life were spent in and out out the PICU fighting off virus after virus, requiring one to three week hospital stays with each virus.  Grace was born with born with three heart defects, two of which have corrected themselves, leaving a small hole which has spontaneously been getting smaller-a miracle from God! She also has a  seizure disorder.  Early learning delays are already being demonstrated. Grace doesn't know how to eat from a bottle, so a gastrostomy feeding tube (a g-tube) was surgically placed and her nutrition goes right into her tummy. We hope that she'll be able to eat by mouth one day, but for now she is growing and that's what is most important! We appreciate your prayers, support and words of hope and encouragement.. Grace has two big sisters at home that love their baby and have been there to encourage her every step of the way! Thank you for stopping by to check in on our sweet baby girl!