Ariana was born missing her left forearm down on March 20th, 2005 in Christiana, Delaware. When I went for the ultrasound to determine the sex I was so excited because I just knew they were going to tell me that she was a girl and they did, the man doing the ultrasound said that he had to measure her and make sure that everything was okay and that it would just be a few more minutes then what seemed like an eternity later he said I can’t find her other hand. He said that he had to go get a doctor and he would be right back, when they finally came back they both looked and could not find her hand and they tried to explain to me what had happened and how the bands had amputated her arm but I didn’t hear anything except she’s missing her arm.
I was so upset and angry I expected her to be just like every other baby and be the idea of perfect ten fingers and ten toes, I couldn’t understand why this happened to her. I cried for a month after I found out I just didn’t want to accept it, it had to be a mistake they just couldn’t see it because of the way she was laying, I guess I thought if I said that enough it would be true. My husband and the rest of my family helped me to accept it. My husband was upset I’m sure, although he didn’t show it, he was the strong one through all of it always telling me that she would be okay, and she was still going to be healthy and perfect and be able to do everything we could do.
On Sunday March, 19th I went into labor I had contractions the whole day and they were just getting stronger I was waiting for my water to break before I rushed to the hospital but at about 10:00 that night I decided to go ahead and go to the hospital at about 8:00 the next morning my water finally broke, she was finally coming. The nurses had me go ahead and start pushing because the doctor was not there yet, a few minutes later he showed up and realized that she was breech so then I had to have an emergency c-section.
It was not my doctor who delivered her and although I had told the nurses that I already knew about her arm no one had told the doctor so when she was born at 9:24am they would not let me see her, I had to wait until I was in recovery before I could see her or hold her. When I did finally get to see her she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and my husband was right even though she was missing an arm she was still perfect.
My biggest fear for her was that she was going to have such a hard time learning how to do everything and that there would be a lot of stuff that she couldn’t do and I was afraid that people would be mean to her. Well she has proved me wrong she can do EVERYTHING and she refuses to let anyone help her she is so independent and strong willed I think sometimes she can do more than I can. She is the most amazing child that I have ever met, she’s perfect and beautiful. She makes me smile and laugh all day. She has even made up her own story when other people ask her what happened to her arm, she always tells them that it was bitten off by an alligator.
I just wanted to add her story because when I found this website it helped me with a lot of the questions and concerns that I had. Ariana loves to hear the stories and look at all the pictures of other kids with “nubbies” just like hers. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read her story and if anyone ever wants to talk or has questions or comments I would love to hear them.
