"Hello, my name is Jennifer Stall and I’m a proud CMV mommy! My son Isaiah was born on December 28, 2001 (I was one month shy of my 21st birthday)..."

Unlike a lot of you, I was informed at an early part of my pregnancy what I was facing. It all seems like yesterday, I went in for my 1st ultrasound and the nurse spend quite a lot of time on my and kept going over the same things and scanning what she was seeing and taking lots of pictures. Being a first time mom I didn’t know that this isn’t was is suppose to be happening. Just like any other ultrasound I went into the Doctor’s office and waited and he came in and just sat down and said "I have some news for you, and there is something very wrong with your baby".

My mom, who was with me, instantly started crying and this Doctor who had been her Doctor for years and knew her gave her a hug and explained they would be sending me to Denver, a 4 hour drive, the next day and seeing a specialist. I should have asked more questions or had some kind of reaction, but I just sat there, numb not really thinking anything. I talked to the check out nurse, and shook my head and smiled and walked out.

We then went to my Dad’s office and then it all just hit me. I mean I was very young, on my own (Isaiah’s birth father had left when I got pregnant) and now I was thinking of all the horrible things that could be going on. I had low amniotic fluid, his liver and kidneys were enlarged and he had "black spots", as the doctor called them, on his brain. Quite a lot for a young woman who hadn’t really experienced much nor done much. I was going to school at the time so I went back to school acted like I was ok and informed the teachers I would be gone and didn’t know if I’d be back.

My parents, brother and I packed in the car and headed to Denver the next day. We meet Dr. Porreco, in some way a lifesaver, he did all the usual tests and gave me an amniocentesis and sent me home. He had given us the realm of things that it could be and CMV was the last on his list. He had believed it was a genetic disorder or a chromosome disorder. He called me about 2 days later and gave me the diagnosis of Congenital CMV. He said I was to come to Denver every 2 weeks and see my local doctor on the off weeks. I was instantly put as a high risk pregnancy. When I went back to Denver I saw a different doctor who read me all the things that were possible with CMV kiddos, then told me she would give me a name of a place who would do abortions, because my Colorado laws I was to far along. Never did that cross my mind. I was told he wouldn’t be able to talk, walk, see, hear, eat, or even know who I was. They gave me the worst possible things that could happen.

I was induced at 34 weeks and much to the doctor’s surprise Isaiah was healthy, a little under weight at 5 lbs 6 oz, 19 in long, but healthy no the less. He was perfect and ALIVE, which they told me it was a big possibility he would be still born. My brothers, sisters and parents were there to see and as my brother said "he was a peanut" and he was good. He stayed in the NICU for about a week (the whole time I was a bawling wreck). I remember sitting in his isolated room listening to one Neonatologist tell the nurses that I was getting my hopes up and not facing reality and she felt sorry for me having to keep this baby. I couldn’t believe someone would say that. How horrible of a doctor none the less to say that.

Today, Isaiah is the healthy, happy, giggly spark that keeps my going. He goes to a exclusive school for part of the time and is included in our local public school and is in 1st grade. He is a year behind, but doesn’t bother me because at least he is included and wanted in his class. He has great teachers, Para, and therapist who work with him. I’ve had to fight for all he has right now, but I’d do it again everyday of my life to get him where he is today. He has severe hearing loss in his left ear and tubes to prevent anymore hearing loss or infections. He had a feeding tube put in when he was 1 1/2, which I had to fight for with a local Doctor. He also has the Nissen Fundoplication to help with reflux, which he has found a way to throw up with it anyway, it’s more of a behavior for him than anything else. He does it because he doesn’t like what he has to do or wants something else (any suggestions to stop that would be nice. Ha-ha).

He has recently been fitted for glasses because of astigmatism and he was excited to try them on. He also has seizures which are controlled by medication. I used to pack him with therapists, Botox, and anything else that someone would tell me would improve him, but I’ve learned that nothing is going to change who he is and what he can do, nothing will give me back the child that I had hoped for when I found out I was pregnant. We took Isaiah to the Shriners Hospital (which is the more amazing thing I’ve ever done) and we spoke with a Doctor who gave me an insight I didn’t have before, he told me that nothing I did would make him "normal" and no appointment or surgery will make him walk, talk or eat, but I can love him, care for him and do the best for him with what he can do and make the best of it. He told me I was doing the best thing for him and that was to love him. I had never thought of it like that and when I got home all his therapists and teachers thought I was crazy, but this is what I’ve choose to do and he is happy, so happy sometimes I wish I could bottle it up and take it like a pill.

This may not be the solution for everyone, but it’s ours and I like many of the other CMV mommies have said, I wouldn’t be who I am today without him and wouldn’t change anything about him. He makes my life worth living and makes me want to be a better person and will continue to bring joy to everyone he smiles at or come in contact with. You know, I think Oprah’s always talking about her "simple joys" and Isaiah is my simple joy, the simpleness of his giggle, smile, eye rolls when I say something silly or dumb, or his determination. He is my simple joy and my greatest joy. Thanks for reading my CMV story!!

- Submitted by his mother, Jennifer