IT All Started in Aug. of 2000

I could have not asked for a easier pregnancy, delivery or child My Husband Jay and I met in the summer of 1996 though a mutual friend it was long until I knew that this was the man that God had sent for me. we started dating in June in October my grandmother was staying with us and had a massive heart attack if he would not have been their she would not have made it. She did but only lived a few short weeks. she passed away in November that year. I was getting my life back on track for a senior in high school I was preparing for my future. In April that year I lost my Father to a massive heart attack. see God knew what he was doing I struggle with this every day Trusting and following his plan for my life. So in May of 1998 my Mother decided to move I did not want to move so Jay and I began living together in October of 1998 our home was broken in to and i was attacked. In December of 1998 Jay and I was Married everything was going good. The following December 1999 a few short weeks before we had been married a year we found out we were going to be parents. very exciting news as i said I had a normal pregnancy everything was Great. On Aug. 6th 2000, my water broke 2 days before i was supposed to be induced and at 3:24 in the afternoon and what felt like the longest night of my life I had a beautiful 8lbs 4oz Girl I had ever seen her scores where very normal and everything was great. That evening a family member was visiting and noticed that her Thumbs seamed to be underdeveloped. The next morning when the Doctor came in we asked him what was wrong he said he wasn't sure that they had just stopped growing and that when she was 12 or 13 that we could take her to a plastic surgeon to see what needed to be done. That was it that was all he had no explanation no name. i started looking around on the Internet and could not find anything that i thought looked like anything she had. I called some doctors and got her in to one who had no explanation he sent us to a hand specialist here in Oklahoma City who had a name are child had been born with a condition called Hypo plastic Thumbs he wanted to do surgery and the sooner The better so that her brain did not forget how to use the thumb. I did not like what he said to us and thought he was crazy. so i went home and looked around some more we then decided to take her to the Shriner's Hospital. that was such a blessing to me to realize just how lucky we had been. The Doctors their had told us the same thing that the doctor in OKC had told us. So we came home and struggled with what decision to make would she want us to have the surgery or would she want to leave it alone? these were all hard choices. the other problem was what would it like would you be able to tell. I longed so deeply to find another mother with a older child who had the same conditions who could share in site with me and maybe one day are children could be friends. Monica had her first surgery in July before she turned 1 in Aug. it was only outpatient everything went well let me be the first to tell you that you can not Begin to image how lost you fill turning your child over to doctors and not knowing. I was their would have been someway to know how that was going to affect me. her next surgery was in November right after she had turned 1 this is the one where they took the old thumb off and replaced it with her index finger this is called pollization of the index finger. this time we had to stay over night and it was a little bit scary but not as much as the first one. she did have a small reaction to the medicine used to put her to sleep but was okay. Monica is now 7 will be 8 in Aug. she is just a normal as any other child she takes swim lessons vocal lessons plays basketball, soccer, and will start t-ball in a few weeks. she never meets a stranger and one of the first things she will point out to someone is her hand with only 4 fingers. most would not even notice if she did not tell them. she will be starting 3rd grade in the fall my how time flies so far her school years have been pretty stress free the first of the year is always hard and anytime they get a new student who doesn't know about her but she does very well handling this we have given her some tools as to what to say to people when they ask her she knows her whole story and knows that she is that away because that's how God made her. Live with Monica has been wonderful sometimes i worry about her and what medical conditions may happen later in life. it is very rare to find someone who only has hypo plastic thumbs it is often a side effect to different conditions. we recently found out that the two bones in her left hand are fused together part of the way down it is to large to do surgery so she will just have to live with that, also we just found out that she has a mild case of scoliosis which will need to be watched but as i said we are so blessed God had truly giving us a Angel. my goal with this blog is that maybe some mother will find it trying to find out information and i can be that support mom that i wished so badly for. Yesterday my best friend called me about something on TV and i was able to locate another mom here in the area who has a child with the same condition who is 2 we are going to get together soon and let the girls play. she has also written a book about her daughter. i will link it soon also i will put up some photos of Monica and her hands i will not blog here everday for that blog you can go to Oneal family news, but will update this with photos and Monica's growth and her struggles as she gets older if you are a mother with a child with hypo plastic thumbs please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks for your time i know it was a long post!