My daughter came home from her transient and drug/alcohol inflicted life for awhile when she was pregnant, but she did use drugs up to at least 6 montns gestation. I begged her to stop and gave her literature on the effects of Meth to the unborn fetus, but she just would't listen. I know she tried, but not hard enough. It wasn't until she started getting big that I think she equated this bump in her belly to actually being a life that she was affecting. I used to sit out on the steps by myself at night and cry, and beg God to please make sure my granddaughter would be ok. I was so very scared...
My daughter's placenta abrupted at 34 weeks gestation and there were many problems ahead. I remember when they took the baby by cesarian section, she looked like a little, white, rubber doll... completely lifeless looking and her Apgar Score was only 1. There were all these doctors and nurses surrounding her and my heart sank, silently praying for her to be ok. Then finally they said I could see her...
This is Evelynne a day or two after she was born.
This is Evelynne when she was doing "Well" at Children's Hospital when she was admitted three weeks after her birth when she took a grave turn for the worse. Before this she was on life support, blood and plasma transfusions, a mass in her lungs and some kind of illness that was killing her. It took three weeks to determine her illness which was complications from an underdeveloped gastro intestinal system which caused her to be allergic to cow protein and her formula put her into anaphaelectic shock.
I credit her foster mom, Norma for saving her life. The same day the pediatrician had told Norma that Evelynne was fine, but her instict that something wasn't right with the baby proved to have saved Evelynne's life beyond a doubt. Evelynne's temperature had dropped to 95 degrees, and her body was shutting down. She eventually began to bleed out all of her orifices. Had Norma not followed her insticts and brought Evelynne to the hospital death was certain. Even with medical care it was touch and go for a couple days before she became stabilized. Three weeks later she was released from the hospital, back into Norma's loving arms. This is truly a dedicated foster parent. She slept at the hospital and never left Evelynne's side except to eat and shower. Thank you Norma!
She Made It! Baby Evelynne's First Christmas Four Months After Her Birth
This is Evelynne now. She is still a little small for her age... almost three now, and she is a little delayed in her speech and reaching other milestones, but she is most certainly a very bright little girl! She is very aware of what is going on, and extremely observant. She has the most amazing personality and I can see where she got that fight from that saved her life. She is definitely her own person, with all kinds of facial expressions, gestures and tones to her voice. She is very animated and much opinionated, and a wonderful child that has blessed my life.
Evelynne was removed from my daughter's custody by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and immediately placed into foster care. I would jump through all the hoops, the continual meetings, court, home study, counselling, child protection consultation.... for 13 months before finally winning custody of Evelynne and taking her home with me. Unfortunately my daughter returned to drugs and her transient lifestyle and I don't even know where she is.
She really tried for awhile. She got off drugs, tested clean on her drug tests, she went back to school, but only one slip up with the drugs was enough for the Ministry to cut off all access to her baby. She couldn't stand the pain of having her baby taken away from her. She never had a chance to bond because the Ministry wouldn't even allow supervised access... in my opinion was harsh and extreme, and my child just couldn't cope with the loss of her baby. She said to me "Mom, I don't think it matters what I do, they hate me and they will never let me have my baby!", as she sobbed....
Her father turning his back on her yet again, also took it's toll. I remember when I took her for the 3D ultrasound and she found out she was having a girl, how proud she was. She phoned her dad excited to let him know he was going to have a granddaughter, and he said he was too busy to talk and hung up on her. They never spoke again. Even when my daughter went into emergency surgery he didn't care. When my daughter repeatedly phoned him from the hospital, he didn't care.... he has never in nearly three years now, met his grandchild. He abandoned his daughter when she was 4 and now he has abandoned his granddaughter too.
What Henning did to my daughter, the pain that he inflicted on her, completely destroyed her, and this is part of the reason I fight so hard for justice. What this man did to my child is something that has perpetuated through the years, and will now in turn affect the life of my grandchild when she learns the truth about who her mom really is and what happened to her. If I can stop one other family from suffering as we have from Henning's actions, or if I can bring some kind of peace to families of missing/murdered loved ones by bringing them some answers, then my journey will have proved valuable.
