On April 28, 1998 I gave birth to Baby Donald Eriq Drumm Sweener III. He weighed 6lbs and we had a flawless birth. I had spent my entire pregnancy knowing with that MOTHERS INSTINCT that something was not right. He was my third pregnancy and I knew how things should feel and I spent every day not feeling the right way. No one believed me. I became very large very fast. On Christmas eve I had my ultrasound. I was about 16 weeks. The tech told us it was a boy of normal size. She couldn't get all the head measurements because he was too wiggley, but we were assured that all was normal and Merry x-mas. 3 months later still feeling that something was not right I woke up to very serious contractions. I was still in excess of 2 months early. I went to be checked only to find out I was in pre-term labor. The next day another ulatrasound was planned. I knew we were in for trouble. I went to my ultrasound with my mom. About 30 minutes into the ultrasound as I watched the same tech as x-mas become flustered. My fears were confirmed. They wouldn't tell me what the diagnosis was and sent me back up to my obgyn. By this time my sister-in-law was there and my husband was on his way via a 911 page. They sat me down and told me that what they had found was a fetus that "was not compatible with life". I at that point became quite upset. They said the scan showed cleft lip and pallet and many other possible abnormalities. They were prepared to tranfer me now in labor due to stress to a more qualified hospital via ambulance 45 minutes away. They had hospitalized me at that point and started measures to stop my labor. We were transferred to Baystate medical that night. We were told to prepare for the worst. The next day we had a level 2 ultrasond and told the exact diagnosis. Holoprosencephaly with associated abnormalities. We were also given an amnio to check genetics. All genetic tests came back normal. We were assured that with the extent of the anomolies found by ultrasound that our baby may not even survive until birth. At this point we began a lot of research. We were induced on April 28th, 1998. We had our entire family there because we were unsure of just how much time we would have with our beautiful son. After a very short and easy labor we had our son. We had requested that no heroic measures be taken after the birth as to not cause Baby Donald any further trauma. He suffered from some seisure activity. We were having him tubefed, and he was on an IV. We spent the next day with ups and downs and he was doing quite well. I had visions of perhaps bringing him home at some point. That second night was not as smooth. At 6am on April 30th after a regular check in the nursery they came running with him down the hall to me. He was begining to have serious dips in heart rate. I immediately called and got the family there knowing my precious time may be coming to an end. With Baby Donald's parents and grandparents by his side and snuggling safely in his daddy's arms at a little after 11am he slipped away. Two days isnt a long time to spend with anyone. But my precious son gave me a gift. The greatest gift. Love.