Aubrey's Angels
Our Story
Mark and I thought a lot about what we wanted to share about our daughter Aubrey, and although this is deeply personal, we thought this journal entry of Mark's shared it well. This is the early story of our beautiful daughter Aubrey...
Journal Entry by Mark Leck
On Sunday, the 16th of July, just after Church, Amber and I laid down together to watch some television. We’d only been watching about 15 minutes when Amber screamed in shock. Her water had broken – and at this realization, she began to cry. I believe she felt nervous and overwhelmed that this child she’d been carrying for so long was now on it’s way. We were prepared to go to the hospital, and jumped in our car and drove to the hospital.
Most of that night was spent waiting in her room. Amber was not progressing very well – she’d made it do about 3cm, but that was it. She was given some drugs to help with this, but they didn’t help at all. By the next morning, our OBGYN had told us to start preparing for a C-section. Amber knew it was coming (based on her experience as an RN). So, although we were disappointed that our baby couldn’t come naturally, we just wanted her to get here. The nurses helped prep Amber for the surgery, I got dressed up in the white surgical cloths they have for us Dads, and we headed off to the OR.
Amber had requested I film the surgery (she always loves that kinda stuff for some reason), so I tried my best and recorded most of the surgery. When the Doctor finally pulled Aubrey out, I had the most overwhelming feeling come over me. I cannot explain the feeling I was having – I was in awe that we had made this little baby, and that this little spirit has just been with our Heavenly Father. It was an incredible moment.
Right away, however, the doctors began checking Aubrey over. Amber had told me that they would take her into another room to perform some exams and that I ought to follow them. So I followed with my video camera, trying to record every moment. As I was filming in this side room, one of the senior doctors turned to me and said, “Are you the father? I need to talk with you for a moment. Can you please turn off that camera?” So I did. With that he said to me, “Sir, your baby shows signs that she may have Down Syndrom, did you have any indications before hand of this?” “No”, I said, “none.” “Well”, he said, “we cannot be sure until we have done more testing. I think we ought to wait before telling your wife. She’s been through so much already.”
It’s hard to describe how you feel at a moment like that. In my mind, I was extremely calm, and knew that I needed to be strong for my wife, Amber. But at the same time, I felt this HUGE weight dropped on my shoulders, and I wondered “why” this had happened to me. In fact, I remember specifically talking to our doctor when he performed our Ultra-sound, and asking him if there were any indications of down syndrome or any other disabilities. He said that our baby looked perfectly healthy, and we took a deep breath and relaxed.
Anyhow, back to the story. So, the doctor was suggesting that I don’t tell Amber, and right at the moment, the nurse turned around and said, “Baby is ready to go see mommy.” So I told them that Amber was a nurse, and would be able to tell that something wasn’t right. With that I asked if I could take Aubrey into her and let her know myself. So I grabbed my little angel, and went in to tell Amber. I remember placing Aubrey on Amber’s chest, and Amber started looking her over from head to toe. Then I whispered to her, “Honey, our baby has down syndrome.” “What? What’d you say?” I repeated myself, in a louder voice, and Amber said, “Who said that? Did the doctors say that? Why?” Amber was frantic; she and I started to cry. I tried to keep telling her that everything was going to be okay.
Right then, I was told we needed to get the baby up to the NICU (new born intensive care unit). Aubrey need oxygen, and was placed under a “hood”. Once Amber’s surgery was completed, she was brought up again to see her baby in the NICU. I could tell she was on a ton of drugs at the time, because of the surgery. I could also tell she was really upset by the news that Aubrey had downs. She wasn’t there long, however, before the nurses wanted to take her to recovery. Once I knew that Aubrey was okay, I went to go make sure Amber was doing okay.
As soon as I got into her room, she asked me again, why this had happened to us. She asked me to call her parents, which I did. I also called my parents. I cried during both of those phone calls, but that was the last time. I tried to keep consoling Amber, and reassuring her that everything would be okay. It was a surreal experience. She said to me, “Mark, is this a dream? I hope that it is? Please wake me up. Can you wake me up now?” I just had to say, “I’m sorry hunny, this is not a dream, but everything will be okay.” Eventually Amber fell asleep.
Once Amber woke up from her sleep, I could tell she was much more “with it”. I asked her how she was feeling, and she said better. I laid down next to her in bed, and we began to talk about this new surprise. Amber asked me how I was doing, and wanted to know my feelings. She then asked, “Do you remember the dream I had when we were engaged? About our first child?” “Yes,” I said, “of course. That was the dream were you saw that we were going to have a little girl and that her name was Aubrey. Oh, and she had brown hair, right?” “Yes, that’s the one. But do you remember the rest of the dream?” she inquired. I didn’t, so she began to recount it.
“In the dream, I saw our first born child. She was a little girl with brown hair, and her name was Aubrey. In the dream, I saw us all together in a hospital room after she had been born. I could tell it was the first time we had been together with our baby. In the dream, we knelt on our bed, and prayed to thank Heavenly Father for sending us one of his most precious spirits. And that was the dream. The only think I don’t understand” she said, “was that we weren’t on this bed. It was like a queen size bed or something, and they don’t have those in this hospital rooms. Anyhow, I thought it was interesting that we thanked Heavenly Father for sending us one of his most precious spirits. And as I think about it now, I believe he was telling us” she said. I agreed. I thought it was amazing to consider how much the Lord had tried to prepare us – despite all the science/technology which couldn’t, the Lord knew.
Anyhow, when I had told Amber’s parents the news – they decided to leave right away and drive out here to be with Amber and I. It was a great blessing for us to have them come here. They stayed with us for the next week – Aubrey stayed in the NICU for a total of about 9 days before finally being release to us – and here is where the story gets really neat…
As part of the procedures for releasing a new born from the NICU, the parents of the newborn have to get certified in infant CPR, do some special over-night feeding things with the baby, and on the last night, spend the night with the baby in a room, and learn how to work the oxygen system/heart monitor so they are competent with the equipment before they go home on their own. So, on the night before we took Aubrey home, Amber and I went to the hospital for our overnight stay. When we arrived at the hospital, one of the attending nurses showed us to the room we were going to be staying in, so we could drop off our luggage. When she opened the door, there was a queen size bed, a little wetbar, and a private bathroom. Immediately as the nurse left us to get ourselves settled, Amber turned to me and said, “Mark! This is the room from my dream! This is the room with the queen size bed!” Somewhat in amazement, I realized the full meaning of what she was telling me, and without thinking I said, “Honey, tonight I believe we are going to fulfill your dream.” “Fulfill my dream?” She said, “I had never thought of us needing to fulfill it.” But she was excited with the thought of it.
So, sure enough that evening, our little Angel, Aubrey, was brought into our room with us for the very first time. And that night, we knelt down together on this bed, in the hospital, and offered a special prayer to specifically thank Heavenly Father for sending us one of his most precious spirits!
This whole experience was truly amazing. We knew without a doubt that we were meant to have this little angel brought into our lives, and to know that our Father in Heaven, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, was kind enough to have provided for us these experiences, whereby we knew that it was his will – still amazes me to this day.
Love,
Mark, Amber, Aubrey & Michael
About The United Angels Foundation
United Angels Foundation (UAF) is a nonprofit, parent-to-parent support group for families of children with special needs (our Angels). Our goals at UAF consist of providing interaction, education, and resources to our parents. From newborn visits, to group activities for parents and children, we strive to be there every step of the way. Funds raised from our Walk with Angels event will specifically go towards financing our educational seminars and group activities. These funds are also used to administer our newborn and new member program. Thank you for your support of all the Angels in our community!
Walk Day Schedule
June 1, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.
Margaret Wines Park 500 N Center Street, Lehi UT
9:30 a.m. Check In Begins
10:00 a.m. Performances by Advocacy Groups
10:30 a.m. Pre-Walk Ceremonies
11:00 a.m. Walk Begins!
11:30 a.m. Food Trucks & Mainstage Entertainment
12:15 p.m. Raffle Winners Announced
1:00 p.m. Event Concludes
Ongoing: Carnival games, raffle, photo booth, bounce houses, mascots, superheroes, princesses, and more!
**Silent Auction is online this year! Auction will go LIVE on Wednesday, May 29th and will close on Wednesday, June 5th at midnight. Be sure to share the link with friends and family who want to support Utah’s special needs community**
Team Members
