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STORY OF THE LIFE OF ASHFORD GIOVANNI VALENTINE FRANKS JR

A picture

The Mention of His Name

"The Mention of my Child's name May bring tears to my eyes, But never fails to bring Music to my ears. If you are really my Friend, Let me hear the beautiful Music of his Name. It soothes my broken heart And sings to my soul."

Author Unknown

In June 1999, we found out we were expecting our second child. Again, we were overjoyed. Other than a slightly difficult first trimester, my pregnancy appeared normal and uneventful. Needless to say I tried so hard to do everything right.

On Monday, February 28th 2000, our beautiful son Giovanni was born at 5:55pm. That moment and those that followed with our son were the happiest of our lives. Our lives felt so complete and fulfilled, so satisfied. We felt a sense of joy that words can never begin to describe. We thanked God for safely delivering our angel to us. Giovanni scored 10 on his apgar test and hence we were given the impression that we had a healthy baby boy.

The following day the nurses thought that Giovanni looked "yellowish" and figured that he might of had jaundice. In addition, he was not feeding well which caused me to be very frustrated. I was told that some babies take a while to adapt to breast feeding properly. This did not relieve my frustration since I wanted so much to feed my baby. Another thing that seemed a bit strange was Giovanni's constant napping. He slept a lot, sometimes he would fall asleep on my breast while trying to feed him. Again, I was not given any reason to be concerned since it was considered normal for newborns to sleep a lot.

On Wednesday the pediatrician was asked to examine the baby to determine whether he did in fact had jaundice. In addition to checking for the jaundice the doctor also examined the heart beat (via stethoscope), and other areas of the body. In all, it was a normal examination. We were told that Giovanni did not have jaundice and that he had my skin tone, and that there was no need to worry. Other than a few short sucks after which Giovanni seemed exhausted, we still had not made much progress with the breastfeeding. By this time my frustration had peaked and I expressed this to the nurses. They finally agreed to give him some milk via a spoon. I was relieved. Later in the evening we noticed some red spots (that resembled light blood) in his diaper and immediately brought it to the nurses' attention. They asked me to take him to the nursery where he was checked by the head nurse who informed us that it was not blood, only a discharge that is produced by the hormones of some newborns. Again, I was told that this was normal.

I was however told a little later that Giovanni should stay in the nursery just for observation (in this hospital the baby stays in the room with the mother), and not that anything was particularly wrong with him. This bothered me very much since irrespective of what we were told I had an inner feeling that something could be wrong. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all since I missed having him in my room and wanted to be with him so much. I was so happy when the nurse brought him back at about 3:00 am.

On Thursday, my gynecologist examined me and said that once the pediatrician examined Giovanni and confirmed that he was okay I could be discharged. The pediatrician checked for jaundice again (this time only for jaundice) and confirmed that he had no jaundice and could be discharged. This allayed my fears of something being wrong and we took my son home a few hours later that day. Other than the poor breast feeding, everything seemed normal for the rest of the day. During the night Giovanni was very fussy and wanted to be held constantly.

The next morning (Friday) he reverted to his calm disposition. Unknown to us, in a short time we would lose the joy of our lives. Later that morning, our dear son suddenly passed away while laying in his carrier. Our lives have been shattered by his death. We couldn't understand what could have possibly gone wrong. An autopsy revealed that Giovanni had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) some thing that we never heard of.

After extensively researching this condition, we have realized that our son showed symptoms of HLHS which were mistaken as normal behavior and conditions for a new born baby. We also learned about the severity of this condition and the options available and their risks. We wish so much that we had an opportunity to try to save our son. We have accepted that he has gone home to Heaven and is in the save arms of the Lord. This brings us comfort. He will continue to live in our hearts. We miss him and love him dearly.

PSALM 23-THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Links

Tribute read at Giovanni's Memorial
Gabriel's Story
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