By Terry, mom to Micah from China with hypospadias
Micah had hypospadias as his need. That meaning he doesn’t urinate through the tip of the penis. There are 3 different stages of hypospadias, one being where the opening is just underneath the tip, the second where the opening is midway back, and Micah’s condition where the opening is all the way back and not actually on the shaft. The Pediatric Surgeon filled me in to the many things they can do and that many boys even in the US deal with these issues to some level, but they are just not spoken about. They can actually build a urethra from his tissue and extend it to the ‘normal’ location so that he urinates like other boys. Amazing what Drs can do.
I should back up and state that Micah did have an ultrasound and blood work completed in China. The ultrasound showed all male parts, no female parts internally and his blood work came back 46xy with no abnormalities. We felt pretty strongly he was BOY! He is so boy in all his mannerisms!
Now the Endo Dr once we got home had a different story for me. Before putting him on growth hormone to see if his testicles {which were not dropped} would respond, he told me that there are plenty of 46xy females around. Well, I didn’t learn that fact in biology and let me tell you the biology he explained to me was amazing. There is so much that goes into the hormones within our body and the details, it is hard for a non-medical mind to grasp.
The Endo did some testing, but had to rule things out instead of test directly because children’s bodies go quiescent from about 6 months until puberty, meaning they do not produce testosterone or estrogen. He passed all that testing with flying colors, showing strong male tendencies throughout. The Endo felt now we wait till puberty to see how things function. He was also a little concerned about Micah’s growth. He is plenty heavy, but not very tall….he wanted to watch his growth pattern to make sure we were not dealing with any immune disorder that could be correlated with his need.
Some of the research I had previously done stated that this need could arise from pollution or high exposure to chemicals. Micah is from Tiayuan, one of the most polluted cities in the world. Who knows what his biological mother did, maybe she was a factory worker in a chemical plant. Doesn’t matter to us at this point, other than his need could be just what it is and nothing more. We were always aware that there could be much more involved with this need and that in the back of our minds we had to be comfortable in dealing with whatever came with it. So far so good!
Micah’s first surgery was to build scrotum. It was long, about 4 hours, but he did amazingly well. We go in this week to have his testicles dropped and I am expecting him to do fabulous. Then in Sept we go in to complete the hypospadias repair. If all goes well he will be done with surgery at that point.
This all comes down to a little boy in need of a home, us being willing to be obedient and step forward and then being rewarded with such a beautiful gift from above. Micah is the joy of our house, ALWAYS happy and smiling and so willing to show his love and affection. He makes us all laugh, what more could you ask for in a child? There are no guarantees to what life throws at us, there are no guarantees for perfect children, bio or adopted, I am not even sure where that definition lies. These children need loving families just like non-special needs children and they are just as much of a blessing to the family as any other child.
Micah may have other issues that arise, but we don’t know the future for any of our 6 children. We do know that our Heavenly Father is there waiting to help us walk through whatever comes at us and that He has blessed us abundantly with these children and they are ultimately HIS!
We are looking at adopting a 2 year son who has severe hypospadias, but could really use an experienced parent’s advice. Can you please email me? I would appreciate it very much!!