On Friday, January 13th, 2012, our little angel was born sleeping. Sam "Small and Mighty" Booher Larson weighed in at under a pound and was just over ten inches long. We were able to hold Sam and know his tiny wonder while being comforted with the knowledge that he was already in heaven looking down on us. The doctor who delivered Sam tearfully told us that he had "already changed a lot of lives," and we know this to be true. In his short time, he taught us much about life, faith, and love. We are so grateful to be little Sam's parents, and though we miss him terribly, we are confident our little angel knows and feels our love.

We Love You, Little One
XOXO
Mommy and Daddy

If you would like to know Sam's story, please read below.

PLEASE SIGN THE GUESTBOOK BY CLICKING ON THE LINK NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEAVE A COMMENT IN HONOR OF SAM. Thank you--Drew & Brittany

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We first found out we were expecting a new addition to our family the day before school started in September of 2011. Thrilled beyond belief, we somehow managed to keep the news secret from our families until we had been to the doctor and confirmed that "Sprout" was indeed on the way. We surprised our families with the announcement after one of Drew's football games in October and began planning nursery decorations, name choices, and more for the littlest Larson.

In December, Britt started feeling extremely exhausted and under the weather, but we assumed that was part of the joys of expecting and simply looked forward to finding out whether Sprout was a boy or girl at our ultrasound appointment on December 23rd. We discussed how to pull off the Christmas Eve gender reveal to our families as we sat in the waiting room at the doctor's office and were excited to hear from the ultrasound technician that we should be "thinking pink"--a girl! When we met with the doctor after, however, we were shocked to find out that our little one was suddenly measuring more than two weeks smaller than normal and that a few other worrisome issues had shown up during the scan.

We spent the holidays in a fog, consumed with worry about our baby and undergoing more tests, scans, and doctor consultations. As the new year approached, we were relieved to find out that the first round of tests had come back negative for the most common problems, but our doctors were still puzzled at Sprout's continued growth lag. Britt had what we thought was an awful case of heartburn the night before New Year's Eve, but we attributed the flu-like symptoms to pregnancy and the extreme stress of our recent news.

When it came time to return to work from our winter vacation, we both headed back feeling tired and anxious. We received a call the evening of our first day back letting us know that the second round of tests (for a wider range of less common fetal issues) had again come back negative--great news! Oh, and surprise--the ultrasound tech's gender assessment had been wrong--Sprout was without a doubt a boy! We were both stunned, but happy with the test news and grateful we hadn't started decorating a girl nursery yet.

That same night, Britt became violently ill again and was up for hours with what we could only now guess was a nasty virus that wouldn't go away. When staying home the next day didn't help make many of the symptoms ease, we checked into the hospital at our doctor's suggestion. We thought we'd get a few IV fluids to rehydrate and head home to continue recovering. When we arrived, our doctor and nurses were concerned by Britt's coloring and frailty. They ran blood tests that brought back concerning results. So we were admitted for the night as they did more tests, ultrasounds, exams and consultations. After two days and nights of further observations, they concluded that since the lab results had more or less returned to normal, it was just an awful virus and told us to take it easy through the weekend.

Before getting into bed the night of hospital discharge day, Britt started feeling "funny" again and proceeded to get the most violently ill yet. Too sick to even get in the car to head to the hospital, we endured an awful night and talked to the doctors in the morning. They were highly puzzled but as the symptoms had subsided, put us under strict orders to report to the hospital at the sign of ANY future change. We both headed back to work that Monday, still worried about our little boy's growth lag and Britt's mysterious illness but determined to proceed with life as normal.

Unfortunately that evening brought a return of some of the early pain and symptoms of Britt's "virus" so we packed our bags for the hospital. We had no way to know that we wouldn't be coming home for almost a week and when we did, our lives would be changed forever. Because when we checked in, Britt's vital signs and lab results had the doctors extremely alarmed. We found out the following day that our already troubled pregnancy had turned into an extremely rare--almost unbelievable--case of a life-threatening form of preeclampsia called HELLP Syndrome. The disease was incredibly uncommon in general, but a case that presented this early in the pregnancy (our little boy was 22 weeks along at this point) was almost unheard of--anywhere.

The doctors explained that Britt was already in acute liver failure and was at extreme and immediate risk of kidney failure, stroke, seizure, or worse, and that the disease would continue to progress quickly. Their only option was to deliver our baby to save Britt's life. We spent an agonizing three days preparing to deliver our child who we knew could not survive.

Sam was born sleeping early in the morning on Friday, January 13th. He was tiny, but perfect, with ten fingers and toes, and a face that already resembled Drew. We were comforted to know that he did not suffer and believe he is happy and loved in heaven.

The cause of HELLP is not really known, and the extremely early manifestation in our case is especially puzzling. We do know that it was what had caused Sam's growth to slow, but other than that there are mostly questions that at this point the medical community cannot answer. Which is why we have asked that, if possible, the family and friends of our little Sam make contributions to a couple of charities to help his too-short life have still more meaning. More information on these charities can be found in the "Donations" section at the bottom of this page.


Preeclampsia Foundation -- please note "Sam Booher Larson Memorial Fund" to ensure that your tribute funds HELLP-specific research
www.preeclampsia.org

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep -- a non-profit network of volunteer photographers for stillborn tragedies
http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/


Thank you in advance for your loving tributes to our little Sam.

-Drew & Brittany Larson


PDF Printable Version