Sweet Sixteen J'aime

My baby girl is turning sixteen next week. Jaime is a special girl. I know everyone says that about their children, but Jaime truly is special. Since the day she was born I knew that something was different about her. Call it mothers intuition, but I knew that something was wrong. It would be 15 years later when test results would confirm my suspicians and answer years of questions. It all began in the hospital when the pediatrician announced that Jaime would need to wear a brace for the first 5-6 months of her life. She was born with hip dysplasia. Basically her hip was dislocated and she would need to wear a brace until her joints matured enought to keep the socket in place. Jaime was such a sweet baby. She slept through the night from day one. About the age of three I began to notice that Jaime wasn't meeting many of her milestones. She always seemed to be delayed in everything. As the months and days unfolded in her life, several other physical conditions presented themselves. I'll make a long story short by saying, two eye surgeries, bi-lateral hearing loss, floppy larynx, years of occupational and speech therapy, ASD heart surgery, mild retardation and one genetics test result later, we discover that Jaime is missing part of her chromosome 17. Its a teeny tiny part, but seemingly huge in the world of the human body. We didn't have Jaime tested until about a year ago. Most people would have had a genetics test much earlier with a child presenting so many issues. But, through divine providence, it was better for us to have waited. If we had tested her any earlier than a few years ago, we would not have been given the same results. Genetics testing has made great strides in the last few years with new technology. They do something now called DNA microarray, which basically means they can look deeper into the genes. Several years ago they would not have seen anything wrong with Jaime. Through the microarray, they were able to see deep into her genes and find the missing link. Though this may seem like good news, it really doesn't afford us much information. There are only three documented cases of this genetic deletion and all of them are adults. Jaime, as far as we know, is the only documented case at her age. Basically, this means that we don't have a lot of information to help her. It is trial and error. So you see, Jaime really is special in more ways than one. She is sweet, loving, kind, sensitive, and in most cases a very normal teenager. It has been a bumpy road to sweet sixteen. Many challenges along the way and the future is unclear. One thing is for sure, Jaime is a special gift from God to me. I've learned a lot about myself through Jaime. I've learned that life isn't perfect. I've learned that patience is truly a virtue. I've learned that love isn't always about what you receive but what you give. I named Jaime after the french word J'aime which means " I love." It fits her. Happy Sweet sixteen J'aime Laree Janecka!