As many of you may know, my sister and her husband are expecting their first child. We have all been super excited, however during their 20 week anatomy scan, they received heartbreaking news. Below is their story. While there is not anything I can do to take the hurt and pain away from them during this time, I would like to help lessen the financial burden. On top of the normal expenses for thr birth of a child, there are additional doctor bills for the many specialist, missed time from work for extra appointments, and the dreaded costs of funeral and burial services. All donations will go directly to them in order to cover expenses. Any additional amounts reaming after everything is paid will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charites.

This is definitely one of the hardest posts I have ever done: First I'd like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers, positive vibes and good thoughts the last couple of months. As some may know back in November we found out we were having a little girl, Payton Jolene. Unfortunately, that day we also received some of the worst news first time parents ever want to hear from a doctor. Our little girl was diagnosed with Anencephaly, a rare life threatening birth defect where the baby is missing their skull and parts of their brain. Out of the 40 years Rashidian has been practicing he said we were the 3rd case he has ever seen. So we were sent to specialists in Evansville to determine if this was the actual case or if our ultrasound was wrong. Unfortunately, our doctor there confirmed the same thing as Rashidian. We were give several options to go about this pregnancy which we turned down all but the one. We refused to abort due to when it came down to it she was still our daughter and we would love her no matter what and did not believe in it even if it seemed medically necessary. 2nd option was to be induced within the next couple of weeks, which we didnt want either. We were finally given the option to go as far as 34 weeks to allow her to grow since we had asked about organ donation. We felt like since she was not meant to be here with us that we wanted to help another baby that needed it. Dr. Kuper with Deaconess Womens Hospital called Indiana and Kentucky to see their guidelines on it due to her condition. That night he called us with some more news (good/bad). He stated that Indiana did not allow organ donation for this time of birth defect but however Kentucky did so we would go back to our regular OBGYN and be induced there at anywhere from 34 to 36 weeks depending on her health as well as mine. We were also informed then that after further review of Payton's ultrasound he had seen she had had club feet as well on her right foot. But, he would go over more of that with us in our next visit. At our 25 weeks ultrasound we received another round of bad news. Payton is not growing like she should and was only measuring few weeks behind and only being 1lb and 2oz which concerned the doctors. Little more evaluation they seen her left foot resembled a rocker foot which is associated with Trisomy 18. We were asked if we wanted to go ahead and do genetic testing then or wait until she was born to determine if this was the actual case. In order to keep stress off of Payton we opted for the genetic testing after she was born, we did not see any reason to put her through more than she was already dealing with. Luckily at our 27 week ultrasound little miss put on 8oz bringing her up to 1lb 10oz which pleased the doctors. They were still concerned since she refuses (stubborn like her daddy) to cooperate so they can finish her 20 week anatomy scan and her heart scan. We just hope and pray she continues to put on the needed weight before our next appointment on Tuesday and cooperates to finish the needed scans. The past couple of months have definitely been the hardest for us trying to take in exactly what is happening with our baby girl and why this happened. The doctors have told us numerous times it was nothing we done and nothing we could have prevented. Even if we done the genetic testing in the beginning because the Anencephaly would not show up. Everyday we are even more grateful that is she moving, thriving and growing (even if its slowly happening). I'm going to miss feeling her move, kick, punch and stand straight up and kick down every day. But, definitely not going to miss her being the picky eater that she is 😂🤦‍♀️. We ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we get closer to our goal date with Payton. Its definitely going to be the hardest part of it all. #wendysdarlingdesigns #fundraiser