Who is Aidan?

I guess I should introduce myself first and how I fit into this story of Aidan.

I am his mommy, Jessica. My husband, Keith, and I found out about Aidan’s trisomy 13 at a routine level 2 ultrasound. I was around 22 weeks pregnant. It was our first indication that anything was wrong.

Finding out that our son had a trisomy 13 was the hardest thing in our life. In our marriage. But we clung to each other and our faith in God to make it through our decision to continue to carry Aidan. A decision that we treasure and cherish.

So much happened in those weeks between finding out about his trisomy and his delivery. And while we believed in the supernatural for a miracle, we also knew we had to prepare for the natural.

To make it harder, Aidan is our first baby. So while we should have been having parties, and showers and excitement, we had questions, fear, and waiting. Instead of wondering what color to paint his nursery, we were wondering what measures we wanted to take after he was born.

Aidan was born 6 weeks early on December 27, 2002. He was 5 pounds 15 ounces. I can’t remember how long. I’ll have to look through his box of things at some point when I feel I can reopen the box of memories.

He was born early because I developed preclampsia –so much for a great first pregnancy huh! Aidan lived for about 4 ½ hours that night. And we cling to the memories of those 4 ½ hours. Every day of carrying him. Every moment of waiting. Every moment of facing the unknown was worth it for those very emotional and precious 4 ½ hours.

Even though that was almost 6 years ago, it is still very much of who we are. Since then, we have gone on to have 2 healthy (and very active) little boys who are now 4 ½ and 6 months old.

When Jodi and I talked about her running this marathon in Aidan’s honor, all I could do was sit and cry. I’ve been finding I’ve been sitting and crying a lot the last few months. Aidan has been on our minds so much lately. And to think that friends wanted to honor him this way was overwhelming.

We are so honored that Jodi and Bobby are running for Aidan. I thought today of the significance of the two of them running in this race. It takes a team to face the hard times.

I know training for this marathon will not be easy (we watched Bobby train for a marathon previously). But they will have each other. Going through our pregnancy, delivery, and death of Aidan was not easy. But Keith and I had each other. And I am so thankful for that. We were a team and depended on each other. We continue to be a team. Go Team Whitmore! :)

As the race comes closer, I know Jodi and Bobby will be sharing on this blog. And Keith and I will also be sharing. We have not been extremely open about Aidan previously. I mean, how do you exactly bring Aidan up in a conversation? It often doesn’t have a place to come into general conversation. And when it does, you often get “the look”.

I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be sharing, but I hope that you find some inspiration, courage, encouragement and hope from all of us. And please, feel free to comment or email with any questions. Sometimes talking about Aidan and our memories is very therapeutic for us.

So we’ll be here. Tissues nearby. Crying while we relive our memories. Crying while we share with others. Crying as Bobby and Jodi train for the marathon. Crying as we honor Aidan and all he has meant and continues to mean to us.