April 7, 2024 • 27 mins
In the latest episode of "Bruised Not Broken: Life with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia," Melissa Zdziarski and guest Lauren Hurley share their heartfelt stories of navigating motherhood while affected by GT. Lauren, a GT patient from Massachusetts, recounts her lifelong battle with Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia and her determination to become a mother through adoption. The episode explores the complexities of the adoption process, touching on emotional challenges, financial considerations, and the significance of support networks. Melissa and Lauren offer valuable insights and encouragement for individuals with GT considering adoption, emphasizing the importance of research and communication with healthcare providers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peter Zdziarski (00:00):
We'll come back to bruise, not broken life with
(00:02):
Glanzmann's thrombocytopenia.
For those of you who are new tous, Glanzmann's pharmacy mania
is an extremely rare autosomalrecessive disorder of the blood.
At which platelets lack glyco.
Hence, no fibrinogen bridgingcan occur and bleeding time is
significantly prolonged.
DT can be life-threatening.
(00:23):
And is estimated to affect onein 1 million.
This podcast is proudlypresented by the Glanzmann's
research foundation.
Today we have two guests withus, my mother, mom, Melissa, and
Lauren from the Facebook group.
Melissa Zdziarski (00:36):
Yes.
I am mom.
I am Peter's mom and my name isMelissa Ziarski.
Most people call me Missy, but Iam here today with Lauren and
Peter and Lauren is a mom withGT and she's going to talk to us
about her journey in becoming amom.
So Lauren, do you want tointroduce yourself?
Lauren Hurley (00:59):
I'm Lauren Hurley.
I am a GT patient that lives inMassachusetts.
I'm 32.
I have two young childrenthrough adoption.
I was diagnosed when I was sixmonths old.
kind of knew right away frombirth, something was off,
covered in bruises, a lot oftesting done.
And so I've been, you know,living with this my whole life.
(01:21):
And yeah, just here to talkabout adoption and what that
journey is like.
Peter Zdziarski (01:26):
Do you know around like the year that you
were diagnosed?
I want to know if maybe we werediagnosed similar times.
Lauren Hurley (01:32):
I was born in 1992.
So I think it was within thatyear, maybe 93.
Peter Zdziarski (01:37):
Yeah, so it would have been
Melissa Zdziarski (01:39):
So you and Peter were diagnosed around the
same time because he was born in92 and he was, I think he was
eight months old when we got thediagnosis.
So yeah, right around the sametime.
Lauren Hurley (01:49):
But I was actually diagnosed at Hasbro
children's hospital.
Melissa Zdziarski (01:54):
Peter was diagnosed at UMass Medical and
they immediately sent us to Dr.
Michelson.
Well actually, no, at that time,Dr.
Michelson was at UMass Medical.
So he he was actually diagnosedin Springfield at Bay State
Hospital and they sent us to Dr.
Michelson at UMass Medical.
Yeah.
So at what point did you meetDr.
(02:15):
Michelson?
Lauren Hurley (02:16):
Probably when I was maybe a toddler, I like
couple years.
Yeah, I think I went through afew different doctors just over
the when I was younger and then.
I had Dr.
Foreman, which was at Hasbro,which I had for a long time
until he retired and then movedover to Boston eventually.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:37):
Yeah.
Were you did your doctor haveany other GT patients at that
time when you were diagnosed?
Lauren Hurley (02:42):
I don't think so.
Not that I, yeah, not that Iremember.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:46):
Right.
So you were always special too.
Lauren Hurley (02:50):
yeah.
Yeah.
Peter was like one of the first,like, people I heard about that
had GT in Massachusetts.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:58):
Right.
Lauren Hurley (02:59):
was like, I don't think I knew until probably 14,
15.
So,
Melissa Zdziarski (03:03):
So at what point, like at what age did you
start thinking, wow you know, Iwant to be a mom someday.
You know, what was your thoughtprocess and, and I'm sure, you
know, you spoke to your parentsand your doctors about it and
you know, when did your journeystart?
Lauren Hurley (03:18):
I mean, I always wanted to be a mom.
There was never a time where Ididn't think about, what that
would look like, but I rememberbeing very young and, you know,
being treated at one of theclinics and them saying, you
know, she'll never be able tohave kids.
And I kind of, that kind of juststuck in my head for a long
time.
And I, that's just always what Ithought.
(03:39):
And then as you get older andyou start having relationships
and you think more about it.
And then you think of just thedifferent possibilities and
obviously with medicineadvancing, there's new things
that come out all the time.
So just kind of always stayinghopeful for other options.
But I always thought aboutadoption when I was younger and
never really thought what thatentailed.
But I knew one way or another Iwas going to try to have
(04:03):
children.
Melissa Zdziarski (04:04):
Sure.
Well I, you know, in our supportgroup, I think one of, one of
the first things.
Parents think of when they havea daughter who's diagnosed with
GT is, you know, how, gosh, howis, how's my daughter going to
become a mom someday?
You know, that's a, that, that,that's a thought process, I
think, pretty early on for a lotof families.
So you know, I'm so gratefulthat you're willing to talk
(04:25):
about your journey.
I think a lot of people aregoing to want to tune in and
listen to it.
So so where, where did you startwith, with your adoption
journey?
Where did you reach out tosocial workers?
Did you have friends who hadadopted children?
What, what was your.
What was your starting point?
Lauren Hurley (04:43):
yeah.
So to rewind a little bit when Imet my husband, Patrick that's
sort of when we started, youknow, talking through the
different options and you know,I was very open with him in the
beginning about, you know, Whathaving a kid would look like
with me and that it might not bepossible.
And so just kind of kept an openmind from the beginning and he
(05:03):
was always really good about it.
But we did meet with a fewdoctors some high risk maternal
fetal medicine doctors to seewhat our options were as far as,
you know, like how, what itwould look like to even get
pregnant with GT.
Because.
For me, even having, you know,your menstrual cycle is fatal
and very dangerous.
So you know, what, how couldthat even, you know, even
(05:25):
getting pregnant just seemedkind of impossible.
But we walked through all thedifferent options with them for
a while, did all the testing.
And just, you know, I remembermy doctors kind of sat us down
and they were like, you know,these are the options that we
can do, but we're not.
And this is at, you know, BostonBrigham and Women's, one of the
best hospitals.
And they were saying there's.
(05:46):
You know, we can do it, but it'srisky.
And we honestly don't want totreat you.
We'd have to send you to someoneelse cause we're just that
uncomfortable.
So we went through a couple ofdifferent things.
We even looked at likesurrogacy, even just the egg
retrieval process for me wasreally.
Risky.
I'm definitely more of a severeGT case.
So we, you know, did that for acouple of weeks and months and
(06:07):
years, and it was just notreally worth it.
So we started really lookinginto the adoption.
Journey and it was at first justkind of a lot of Google
searching for differentagencies.
There's a lot of local agenciesnear us in Boston, but there's
there's tons nationwide.
There's international agencies.
(06:28):
So there's a lot to kind of takein.
So it took a long time to justand, you know, different
agencies and look at reviews.
And I didn't know anybody reallythat I'd adopted before for
friends or family.
So kind of just doing it on yourown, trying to figure out.
if some of these companies arelegit and what it kind So
Melissa Zdziarski (06:47):
starting out with, with an attorney that has
expertise in adoption or a
Lauren Hurley (06:53):
can, there, there definitely are some good ones
out there that you know,specialize in adoption.
We, for our second adoption, ourdaughter was born in Florida.
So the attorney we use there,she was really awesome.
Very knowledgeable about theprocess.
So you can kind of reach out to,you know, someone like that.
I ended up finding one that waslocal.
(07:13):
Like right outside of Boston.
So you were able to like go intotheir office and me and they had
been around for 30 years.
So you knew you know, they hadsome good background and they
were really easy to work with.
And, you know, some of thesecompanies, you know, they want
the money up front and there'sall these different things out
there.
So this company was pretty goodand it's kind of like a mom and
pop type of thing.
(07:34):
So.
We really liked them and justdoing a lot of research.
And once we decided to go withthem, you kind of start that
application process, which ispretty long and.
They have to do some homestudies and come out and do
those sorts of things and thenwe start, get started.
Melissa Zdziarski (07:52):
Wow.
So once you're approved foradoption is what's next?
Then you.
You wait for an available childor do the parents pick you or
what, what happens next?
Lauren Hurley (08:04):
So with our agency, and I know there's all
different ones, and I know withinternational there's different
rules and everything like that,but for ours, we, it was in
Massachusetts, so they only workwith Massachusetts families, but
adoption can be basicallyanywhere throughout the United
States.
So you can get a call in Ohioor, you know, Florida or
(08:24):
wherever it is.
So you're kind of open to anyplace, but they only work with
Massachusetts families and theyrequire just, you know, a full
application process.
They, you know, do backgroundchecks on you and all that sort
of thing.
And then they do the home study.
And then once you complete allof those steps, you have to
create kind of like a look book,they call it.
(08:46):
And it has pictures of you andyour family and you have to
include your pets and if youalready have previous children.
So you make these kind of lookbooks.
Shutterfly books that and youmake 15 or so copies of them and
the agency will send them out topotential birth parents.
So if, you know, they get a lotof contacts from either
(09:07):
hospitals or birth parentsdirectly contact the agency,
they do a lot of marketing.
And so they'll Get thatinformation.
And then if your profile meetsthis birth mother, they'll send
your book to that birth motherand a few others.
And then they'll choose thatway.
Most of the time with our firstson, with Liam, he his birth
(09:28):
mother was kind of, she didn'twant to choose a family, so the
agency chose for her but thesecond time around we were
chosen by a birth parent.
So it kind of depends on thesituation, but
Melissa Zdziarski (09:38):
And how, when did you know that you were going
to be parents?
What was she, was Liam's motherbirth mother?
Pregnant at the time, or was healready born, or what,
Lauren Hurley (09:48):
he was with Liam.
He was already born.
So the adoption processobviously can be a little
grueling.
We started, I think, a yearbefore we got placement with
Liam.
So just with the whole processof the home study, it doesn't
happen overnight.
It's, you know, you kind of haveto go through the steps.
And then once we had a fewmatches that had fallen through
(10:09):
so our first one, first majormatch was in Orlando, Florida.
We were called.
To actually go and meet with thebirth mother, she had chosen us,
and then we actually went to thehospital, met the baby for a
couple of days, and then shechanged her mind.
So that was like our kind of ourfirst big match, and then a
couple months went by, and thenwith Liam, it was actually a
(10:32):
local adoption in Massachusetts,and his birth mother.
She was homeless and kind of washad Liam and basically left the
hospital.
So the agency had contacted usand basically we're like, it
was, I think a Wednesday andthey're like, can you come pick
him up on Friday?
And okay, like, this is crazy,but sure.
Melissa Zdziarski (10:50):
that's exciting though.
How exciting.
I mean, the first experiencemust have been tough for you,
you know, to go and meet.
Lauren Hurley (10:57):
yeah, with adoption, you definitely have to
keep an open mind because not,it's not easy.
You don't, it's not kind of likethe movies where you get the
phone call and you just go pickup the baby and it's.
It's definitely a process butit's worth it in the end,
Melissa Zdziarski (11:11):
I mean, I'm sure the agency probably
counsels you about that, that,you know, there, there could be
times where the.
birth mother changes her mind orsomething happens, you know and
I'm sure having a good supportsystem in your family must have
been extremely helpful tooduring that time.
Lauren Hurley (11:27):
Yeah yeah, it was helpful.
I mean, it's tough because noteveryone, you know, has gone
through adoption.
So they, I think they can't wraptheir mind around how sometimes
these things don't work out.
Or you hear these stories ofsome of these.
Birth parents and, you know,some of the situations they're
in and you feel so horrible forthese kids.
And sometimes if they decide tokeep them, you feel even worse.
(11:49):
So it's, you know, there's a lotof that going around.
And sometimes even with ourparents, it was like hard for
them to understand, you know,the whole process.
And they're kind of like, howare you doing this?
And but it was actually helpfulto, there's a few other GT moms
who have adopted.
You know, prior to when I haveso kind of talking with them and
hearing some of their storiesand hearing things that didn't
work out for them, but theneventually did was reassuring.
(12:12):
So that's that was helpful.
Melissa Zdziarski (12:14):
So Liam was born on a Wednesday, you picked
him up on a Friday.
Did you have, did you haveclothes for him?
Did you have diapers?
Did you have everything
Lauren Hurley (12:22):
We had just, we had the essentials.
We kind of kept for the adoptionagency.
They want to have when they cometo the homestay, they want to
see kind of like where the babywould sleep.
So you have the nursery sort ofalready set up all in gender
neutral things, just cause youdon't know what's going to
happen.
But we had just sort of theessentials and we picked them up
on a Friday and we had to waitwith Massachusetts law.
(12:45):
I think it was, 48 hours for thebirth mother to sign.
So they were like, you can takehim home, but I wouldn't tell
your families yet until shesigned.
So we took him home.
Our families are texting us,calling us all weekend, like,
Hey, you guys want to hang out?
And we're like, Oh no, we'resick.
Don't call us.
Like we couldn't, we had to lie.
And we're like, no, we're just,we're not feeling good.
Like don't come over.
(13:05):
Don't, don't ask us to doanything.
And then we texted everybody onSunday after she had signed and
we're like, come over for lunch.
And everyone's like, What didthey get a new puppy or
something?
Like, why do they want to so wehad my husband's family and my
family show up on like a Sundayafternoon and then we had Liam
to surprise them.
So, yeah,
Melissa Zdziarski (13:27):
that's, and it's kind of sweet that you were
able to bond with him, you know,for those 48 hours.
Lauren Hurley (13:32):
yeah, it was it was nice.
And then, but then COVIDhappened and then we really got
to bond with him just the threeof us for a while but,
Melissa Zdziarski (13:39):
Yeah.
I was going to say, I think thiswas around the, so this was
right before COVID.
It
Lauren Hurley (13:43):
yeah, so he was born in February and then I
think we were like locked onlockdown starting in March.
So yeah, so that's right, rightbefore.
Melissa Zdziarski (13:51):
So you, you were home, you didn't have to
worry about when to take him outin public because you just
couldn't.
Lauren Hurley (13:56):
Yeah, I know.
Now, like having a second andhe's four now.
So our daughter Claire is fivemonths.
So just like trying to rememberback to, okay, like what is the
proper etiquette to take yourchild on?
I'm like, I can't compare it toLiam because we were just, we
were locked down for like, Ithink it was like six months
almost.
Melissa Zdziarski (14:14):
I've heard so many stories brand new parents
around the time of COVID.
My gosh, very isolating, but sowhen, when did you know you were
ready to, to try again to gothrough the process again?
Lauren Hurley (14:26):
Pretty quickly after we always knew we wanted
Yeah.
At least two or for Liam to havea sibling.
So we kind of threw our hat backin immediately.
We waited until Liam wasfinalized.
So when they, the birth parentssign away their rights, it's
irrevocable at that moment fromthe birth parents, but you're
(14:46):
technically, they're stilltechnically in custody by
whichever state they're born in.
So they just have to make surethey do like follow up home
studies to make sureeverything's okay.
And then finalization can take.
a couple months to like sixmonths.
So I think Liam was six monthslater after we brought him home.
So after that was all finalized,we kind of started the
(15:08):
application process again for asecond.
But this time around it took alittle bit longer.
I think birth rates were downfrom what our agency was telling
us, I think after COVID.
So it definitely took a littlebit longer and then we did have
a couple other.
Situations that fell throughkind of like the first time
around.
So we were a little discouragedfor a bit.
(15:30):
And then with Claire'ssituation, she was born in
Florida and we had been incontact with her birth mother a
month before she was born.
So we were having a lot ofcontact with her up until the
time she was born.
So
Melissa Zdziarski (15:44):
So then Claire Claire was born and did
you take her home from thehospital two days later also, or
was that process any different?
Lauren Hurley (15:51):
yes, this is different just because we had a
relationship with the birthmother.
There was kind of a plan inplace where.
She was kind of living in atough situation and, you know,
she didn't want to take care ofthe baby and at all like when
the baby was born for any periodof time.
So it was, we were called to goto the hospital before she
(16:11):
delivered.
So she was, they were inducingher because I think Claire was
up 40 weeks.
So they were inducing her.
And so we were.
We have a house in Florida, too,so we were only an hour away
from the hospital, so we wereable to get there quickly and
wait until she delivered, andthen once she delivered, we were
able to go up right away, and wehad the baby immediately, and
(16:34):
then we still had to wait that,I think it was 48 hours or, I
think, 24 or 48 hours to signbut we were still caring for the
baby until she signed, and thenshe signed when we were in the
hospital, and we stayed in thehospital with the baby the whole
time and then was discharged andwas able to come back home.
Melissa Zdziarski (16:51):
What advice would you give to mothers that
have GT for the adoptionprocess?
you start out with you know,doing the research that you did
on your own, or do you thinkthey should go directly to an
agency or go directly to anadoption attorney or you know,
what, if you could do it overagain, would you change anything
(17:12):
or, you know, with the knowledgethat you have now, would you've
done anything
Lauren Hurley (17:16):
I mean, I, I think we did look out with the
agency we found through doing alot of research.
And it was interesting becausewhen I was doing all the
research, there's a ton of bigcompanies that do adoption that
are just, you know, you wouldtalk with them online or over
the phone, you would never gointo an office or anything like
that.
And they're, they could be basedin California or something, but
(17:37):
those are like a lot biggercompanies.
But when I was doing research,there was really only two
agencies near us at home thatwere options.
So it was, you know, basically Ikind of picked the one that
would be closer to us becausewe'd have to be going in a few
times.
And it was definitely the rightchoice, I think, for us just
(17:57):
because we had pretty goodexperiences.
But I think just having to dothat research and then going and
meeting with them and seeing ifit feels right.
And that's kind of how it wasfor us, like it was.
For me, it was a little bit of asign because where our adoption
agency is on the same streetwhere I went to college, it was
kind of just a coincidence.
So it just kind of felt like itwas meant to be, but I think
(18:20):
just doing all that research andthen if you're not able to find
kind of a local adoption agencyor something that, you know,
suits what you're looking for,then I would definitely reach
out to an adoption attorney andthey can steer you in a
direction of a reputable agency.
Melissa Zdziarski (18:36):
Did you ever consider international adoption
or.
Lauren Hurley (18:39):
There's a lot of weird rules with international
depending on, there's a lot ofrestrictions now I think more so
than there used to be.
And then there's a lot of, Ithink a few countries where you
had to be a certain age, andthen you had to be married for
so many years so at that pointwe were starting out we had only
been married for, I think, twoyears so I think you have to be
(19:00):
married for longer and so itwas, there was a lot of
different restrictions.
on international that I thinkwere a lot harder and just even
talking to a few other GT peoplewho were internationally, they
did adoption throughinternational and it was, you
know, sometimes you have to goover there for a month and then
come back and then go back.
So it was just, it seems alittle bit more of a process.
Melissa Zdziarski (19:23):
And I, I also wonder, you know, financially
you know, if you're having totravel internationally, even if
the adoption fees aren't as muchas they would be here, it
probably is a consideration fora lot of families too, you know
not just traveling from maybe,you know, a job or maybe
children you already have, butalso financially.
(19:44):
You know, having the funds to dosomething like that.
But financially what type ofbudget are you looking at for an
adoption of a baby?
Yeah.
Lauren Hurley (19:54):
so I think I mean it goes up a little bit every
year just based on the fees andbecause they so with our agency
they hired the lawyer on ourbehalf.
So you're not paying like aseparate attorney fee, but it's
all everything's kind ofincluded in one one fee.
So I think for the last one Ithink it had gone up like a
couple thousand, but it was 50,000, I believe.
(20:16):
And then it was like 54 for liketwins.
So it was kind of like, okay, ifthere's twins and why not?
But so yeah, so that kind ofincluded all the, the attorney
fees, which those can be veryexpensive as well.
But as far as, you know, withsome of the other placements
that didn't work out and evenjust the current placement,
it's, you have to, you know, payyour own travel and hotels and
(20:40):
things like that.
So that obviously can getexpensive.
But I know there's a lot ofincentives like through, like
for our employer, for example,they give adoption credits back.
So I think with, with, yeah,with Dell, they give, I think it
was like 10, 000 per kid, perchild.
And then I think you, there's amax or something like that.
But a lot of companies I thinkdo have adoption incentives,
(21:04):
which is
Melissa Zdziarski (21:04):
Yeah.
Is there any incentives?
I mean, this may be a funnyquestion, but I'm thinking, you
know, when you're spending thatkind of money, is there any
incentives on your tax
Lauren Hurley (21:13):
There is.
Melissa Zdziarski (21:14):
There is.
Oh, okay.
Oh, that's interesting.
So it's not such a dumbquestion.
I mean, I know you can claim thechild once you have it, but I
wonder, so adoption fees, youcan claim adoption fees.
Lauren Hurley (21:24):
Yep.
Yeah, so yeah, there's yeah, Idon't know a whole lot about it.
That's more my husband'sexpertise with the taxes and
stuff, but yeah But yeah, thereis
Melissa Zdziarski (21:36):
have you found since becoming a mom have
you found it harder to well, ofcourse it's going to take more
time, but to deal with yourissues with GT, like if you have
a nosebleed or, you know heavymenstrual bleeding or anything
like that, that before you hadchildren, you could.
You know, just worry aboutyourself and not worry about
what the kids are doing, but areyou finding it more challenging
(21:56):
now as a mom with GT?
Lauren Hurley (21:59):
yes I Definitely kind of put myself on the back
burner a lot And I just saw myhematologist a couple months ago
And I was telling her I was andI hadn't seen her for a couple
years Which was bad on my but Ididn't really need to which was
good and I'm gonna knock on woodbut Yeah, I was saying, I was
like, well, now having kids, I'mlike, I just don't think about.
(22:19):
Any of my issues.
And I, you know, if there isone, like, I think recently I
had, we were flying and I had anosebleed, which hasn't happened
to me since I was a kid.
And it just happened recently.
And I was just like, you know,I'm worried about like, Liam's
like hanging on the floor andall this stuff.
And it's just like, you know,everything is just like the kids
are priority with everything.
So it's like, you kind of justforget about yourself.
(22:42):
And I'm like, that's why I waslike, I need to make an
appointment because I need tolike stay in touch with my
hematologist so she doesn'tforget about me, but.
Yeah, it's harder to kind ofprioritize yourself, especially
when they have issues too.
I mean Claire, after she wasborn, she ended up with some
kind of freak thing where shehad a bone infection in her foot
(23:02):
and we were in children'shospital with her for two weeks.
And I was like, now, now I knowwhat my parents felt like when
they were in the hospital withme as a kid, because like just
being in there for two weeks,I'm like, oh my gosh, this is
like, now I have another, abetter appreciation for my
parents.
But yeah.
You kind of forget about any,cause I think at that time too,
I was, I had like a really badcold, nosebleed the whole time I
(23:23):
was like in the hospital and I'mlike, I'll deal with it later.
I just like need to make sureshe's okay.
So it's, you definitely putyourself on the back burner,
which can be tough, but I thinkall moms probably do that.
Melissa Zdziarski (23:37):
Right, right.
Well, as a mom with GT, how doesit feel when you see Liam take a
tumble?
Are you like, you know,surprised when he doesn't have a
huge hematoma or when he doesn'thave a nosebleed when he bumps
his nose or he doesn't have gumbleeds?
It must be interesting for you.
Lauren Hurley (23:53):
yeah, and he's super rambunctious being a four
year old boy, so he's alwaysjumping on things, and he'll
like, you know, fall and scrapehimself or something, and I'm
like, oh, he didn't even bleed?
Like, this is so weird, but
Melissa Zdziarski (24:05):
Isn't it?
When
Lauren Hurley (24:06):
like, I'm so happy you're not bleeding.
Melissa Zdziarski (24:08):
when you see how resilient you know, kids
are, I mean, even children withGT are so resilient, but I think
you know, being a mom who hasone child with GT and three who
don't have GT, and my oldestchild was the one with GT, it
was so strange when they didn'thave, you know, a child.
I know, you know, I didn't knowany different, like you, you
know, I knew any different.
(24:29):
And you know, Peter was just,oh, there was always something
with Peter.
He can tell you more.
So, how's Patrick doing as a newdad to two littles?
How's he doing?
Lauren Hurley (24:41):
He is good.
Yeah, he's, he's now trying topush for a third and I just
don't think it's gonna happen.
Melissa Zdziarski (24:49):
Honestly, in my experience, from one to two
is the hardest.
From two to three, it's like, atthat point, it's like, oh, okay.
Just kind of rolling.
And you already have one beach,so.
Lauren Hurley (25:00):
yeah, I with, I mean with adoption, because it
can take a couple years, I.
Liam's four, so if it took alittle bit longer, like a couple
years again, he'd be, you know,six with a newborn.
I'm just like, even right now,four with a five month old, I'm
just, like, there are twototally different stages right
now where it's It's, you know,kind of tough where Liam, now
(25:21):
I've, like, didn't have to bringthe stroller and everything
everywhere and a diaper bagbecause he's, you know, pie
trained.
He can walk and, you know, allthat stuff.
And now it's like, okay, now Igot to lug everything again.
And so it's, it's just totallydifferent.
So
Melissa Zdziarski (25:35):
Have you gotten the minivan?
Do you have the minivan yet?
Lauren Hurley (25:38):
We have a suburban, which is, I can never
go smaller at this point.
It's, you need it.
Melissa Zdziarski (25:44):
was.
That was interesting going fromthe Honda Accord to the minivan.
I think I cried.
I was like not ready to give upthe four door sedan, but there
comes a time when you cannot fiteverything in a sedan.
It just doesn't happen.
Lauren Hurley (25:57):
No.
Melissa Zdziarski (25:59):
Well, this, this has been great, Lauren.
Thank you so much for sharingyour experience.
Like I said, I, I know, a lot ofparents are going to be
interested.
To hear about this and a lot ofyoung women with GT, so it's
been wonderful.
Peter Zdziarski (26:14):
Thank you, everyone for tuning into this
month's episode.
I want to thank my mom andLauren for speaking on this
great subject.
I think is so important thatother hopeful moms get to listen
to.
If this is your first timehearing about duct Glanzmann's
research foundation, please lookus up@curegt.org.
And also if you're on Facebook,check out our support group
(26:35):
titled the Glanzmann'sthrombocytopenia support group.
We'll come back to bruise, not broken life with
(00:02):
Glanzmann's thrombocytopenia.
For those of you who are new tous, Glanzmann's pharmacy mania
is an extremely rare autosomalrecessive disorder of the blood.
At which platelets lack glyco.
Hence, no fibrinogen bridgingcan occur and bleeding time is
significantly prolonged.
DT can be life-threatening.
(00:23):
And is estimated to affect onein 1 million.
This podcast is proudlypresented by the Glanzmann's
research foundation.
Today we have two guests withus, my mother, mom, Melissa, and
Lauren from the Facebook group.
Melissa Zdziarski (00:36):
Yes.
I am mom.
I am Peter's mom and my name isMelissa Ziarski.
Most people call me Missy, but Iam here today with Lauren and
Peter and Lauren is a mom withGT and she's going to talk to us
about her journey in becoming amom.
So Lauren, do you want tointroduce yourself?
Lauren Hurley (00:59):
I'm Lauren Hurley.
I am a GT patient that lives inMassachusetts.
I'm 32.
I have two young childrenthrough adoption.
I was diagnosed when I was sixmonths old.
kind of knew right away frombirth, something was off,
covered in bruises, a lot oftesting done.
And so I've been, you know,living with this my whole life.
(01:21):
And yeah, just here to talkabout adoption and what that
journey is like.
Peter Zdziarski (01:26):
Do you know around like the year that you
were diagnosed?
I want to know if maybe we werediagnosed similar times.
Lauren Hurley (01:32):
I was born in 1992.
So I think it was within thatyear, maybe 93.
Peter Zdziarski (01:37):
Yeah, so it would have been
Melissa Zdziarski (01:39):
So you and Peter were diagnosed around the
same time because he was born in92 and he was, I think he was
eight months old when we got thediagnosis.
So yeah, right around the sametime.
Lauren Hurley (01:49):
But I was actually diagnosed at Hasbro
children's hospital.
Melissa Zdziarski (01:54):
Peter was diagnosed at UMass Medical and
they immediately sent us to Dr.
Michelson.
Well actually, no, at that time,Dr.
Michelson was at UMass Medical.
So he he was actually diagnosedin Springfield at Bay State
Hospital and they sent us to Dr.
Michelson at UMass Medical.
Yeah.
So at what point did you meetDr.
(02:15):
Michelson?
Lauren Hurley (02:16):
Probably when I was maybe a toddler, I like
couple years.
Yeah, I think I went through afew different doctors just over
the when I was younger and then.
I had Dr.
Foreman, which was at Hasbro,which I had for a long time
until he retired and then movedover to Boston eventually.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:37):
Yeah.
Were you did your doctor haveany other GT patients at that
time when you were diagnosed?
Lauren Hurley (02:42):
I don't think so.
Not that I, yeah, not that Iremember.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:46):
Right.
So you were always special too.
Lauren Hurley (02:50):
yeah.
Yeah.
Peter was like one of the first,like, people I heard about that
had GT in Massachusetts.
Melissa Zdziarski (02:58):
Right.
Lauren Hurley (02:59):
was like, I don't think I knew until probably 14,
15.
So,
Melissa Zdziarski (03:03):
So at what point, like at what age did you
start thinking, wow you know, Iwant to be a mom someday.
You know, what was your thoughtprocess and, and I'm sure, you
know, you spoke to your parentsand your doctors about it and
you know, when did your journeystart?
Lauren Hurley (03:18):
I mean, I always wanted to be a mom.
There was never a time where Ididn't think about, what that
would look like, but I rememberbeing very young and, you know,
being treated at one of theclinics and them saying, you
know, she'll never be able tohave kids.
And I kind of, that kind of juststuck in my head for a long
time.
And I, that's just always what Ithought.
(03:39):
And then as you get older andyou start having relationships
and you think more about it.
And then you think of just thedifferent possibilities and
obviously with medicineadvancing, there's new things
that come out all the time.
So just kind of always stayinghopeful for other options.
But I always thought aboutadoption when I was younger and
never really thought what thatentailed.
But I knew one way or another Iwas going to try to have
(04:03):
children.
Melissa Zdziarski (04:04):
Sure.
Well I, you know, in our supportgroup, I think one of, one of
the first things.
Parents think of when they havea daughter who's diagnosed with
GT is, you know, how, gosh, howis, how's my daughter going to
become a mom someday?
You know, that's a, that, that,that's a thought process, I
think, pretty early on for a lotof families.
So you know, I'm so gratefulthat you're willing to talk
(04:25):
about your journey.
I think a lot of people aregoing to want to tune in and
listen to it.
So so where, where did you startwith, with your adoption
journey?
Where did you reach out tosocial workers?
Did you have friends who hadadopted children?
What, what was your.
What was your starting point?
Lauren Hurley (04:43):
yeah.
So to rewind a little bit when Imet my husband, Patrick that's
sort of when we started, youknow, talking through the
different options and you know,I was very open with him in the
beginning about, you know, Whathaving a kid would look like
with me and that it might not bepossible.
And so just kind of kept an openmind from the beginning and he
(05:03):
was always really good about it.
But we did meet with a fewdoctors some high risk maternal
fetal medicine doctors to seewhat our options were as far as,
you know, like how, what itwould look like to even get
pregnant with GT.
Because.
For me, even having, you know,your menstrual cycle is fatal
and very dangerous.
So you know, what, how couldthat even, you know, even
(05:25):
getting pregnant just seemedkind of impossible.
But we walked through all thedifferent options with them for
a while, did all the testing.
And just, you know, I remembermy doctors kind of sat us down
and they were like, you know,these are the options that we
can do, but we're not.
And this is at, you know, BostonBrigham and Women's, one of the
best hospitals.
And they were saying there's.
(05:46):
You know, we can do it, but it'srisky.
And we honestly don't want totreat you.
We'd have to send you to someoneelse cause we're just that
uncomfortable.
So we went through a couple ofdifferent things.
We even looked at likesurrogacy, even just the egg
retrieval process for me wasreally.
Risky.
I'm definitely more of a severeGT case.
So we, you know, did that for acouple of weeks and months and
(06:07):
years, and it was just notreally worth it.
So we started really lookinginto the adoption.
Journey and it was at first justkind of a lot of Google
searching for differentagencies.
There's a lot of local agenciesnear us in Boston, but there's
there's tons nationwide.
There's international agencies.
(06:28):
So there's a lot to kind of takein.
So it took a long time to justand, you know, different
agencies and look at reviews.
And I didn't know anybody reallythat I'd adopted before for
friends or family.
So kind of just doing it on yourown, trying to figure out.
if some of these companies arelegit and what it kind So
Melissa Zdziarski (06:47):
starting out with, with an attorney that has
expertise in adoption or a
Lauren Hurley (06:53):
can, there, there definitely are some good ones
out there that you know,specialize in adoption.
We, for our second adoption, ourdaughter was born in Florida.
So the attorney we use there,she was really awesome.
Very knowledgeable about theprocess.
So you can kind of reach out to,you know, someone like that.
I ended up finding one that waslocal.
(07:13):
Like right outside of Boston.
So you were able to like go intotheir office and me and they had
been around for 30 years.
So you knew you know, they hadsome good background and they
were really easy to work with.
And, you know, some of thesecompanies, you know, they want
the money up front and there'sall these different things out
there.
So this company was pretty goodand it's kind of like a mom and
pop type of thing.
(07:34):
So.
We really liked them and justdoing a lot of research.
And once we decided to go withthem, you kind of start that
application process, which ispretty long and.
They have to do some homestudies and come out and do
those sorts of things and thenwe start, get started.
Melissa Zdziarski (07:52):
Wow.
So once you're approved foradoption is what's next?
Then you.
You wait for an available childor do the parents pick you or
what, what happens next?
Lauren Hurley (08:04):
So with our agency, and I know there's all
different ones, and I know withinternational there's different
rules and everything like that,but for ours, we, it was in
Massachusetts, so they only workwith Massachusetts families, but
adoption can be basicallyanywhere throughout the United
States.
So you can get a call in Ohioor, you know, Florida or
(08:24):
wherever it is.
So you're kind of open to anyplace, but they only work with
Massachusetts families and theyrequire just, you know, a full
application process.
They, you know, do backgroundchecks on you and all that sort
of thing.
And then they do the home study.
And then once you complete allof those steps, you have to
create kind of like a look book,they call it.
(08:46):
And it has pictures of you andyour family and you have to
include your pets and if youalready have previous children.
So you make these kind of lookbooks.
Shutterfly books that and youmake 15 or so copies of them and
the agency will send them out topotential birth parents.
So if, you know, they get a lotof contacts from either
(09:07):
hospitals or birth parentsdirectly contact the agency,
they do a lot of marketing.
And so they'll Get thatinformation.
And then if your profile meetsthis birth mother, they'll send
your book to that birth motherand a few others.
And then they'll choose thatway.
Most of the time with our firstson, with Liam, he his birth
(09:28):
mother was kind of, she didn'twant to choose a family, so the
agency chose for her but thesecond time around we were
chosen by a birth parent.
So it kind of depends on thesituation, but
Melissa Zdziarski (09:38):
And how, when did you know that you were going
to be parents?
What was she, was Liam's motherbirth mother?
Pregnant at the time, or was healready born, or what,
Lauren Hurley (09:48):
he was with Liam.
He was already born.
So the adoption processobviously can be a little
grueling.
We started, I think, a yearbefore we got placement with
Liam.
So just with the whole processof the home study, it doesn't
happen overnight.
It's, you know, you kind of haveto go through the steps.
And then once we had a fewmatches that had fallen through
(10:09):
so our first one, first majormatch was in Orlando, Florida.
We were called.
To actually go and meet with thebirth mother, she had chosen us,
and then we actually went to thehospital, met the baby for a
couple of days, and then shechanged her mind.
So that was like our kind of ourfirst big match, and then a
couple months went by, and thenwith Liam, it was actually a
(10:32):
local adoption in Massachusetts,and his birth mother.
She was homeless and kind of washad Liam and basically left the
hospital.
So the agency had contacted usand basically we're like, it
was, I think a Wednesday andthey're like, can you come pick
him up on Friday?
And okay, like, this is crazy,but sure.
Melissa Zdziarski (10:50):
that's exciting though.
How exciting.
I mean, the first experiencemust have been tough for you,
you know, to go and meet.
Lauren Hurley (10:57):
yeah, with adoption, you definitely have to
keep an open mind because not,it's not easy.
You don't, it's not kind of likethe movies where you get the
phone call and you just go pickup the baby and it's.
It's definitely a process butit's worth it in the end,
Melissa Zdziarski (11:11):
I mean, I'm sure the agency probably
counsels you about that, that,you know, there, there could be
times where the.
birth mother changes her mind orsomething happens, you know and
I'm sure having a good supportsystem in your family must have
been extremely helpful tooduring that time.
Lauren Hurley (11:27):
Yeah yeah, it was helpful.
I mean, it's tough because noteveryone, you know, has gone
through adoption.
So they, I think they can't wraptheir mind around how sometimes
these things don't work out.
Or you hear these stories ofsome of these.
Birth parents and, you know,some of the situations they're
in and you feel so horrible forthese kids.
And sometimes if they decide tokeep them, you feel even worse.
(11:49):
So it's, you know, there's a lotof that going around.
And sometimes even with ourparents, it was like hard for
them to understand, you know,the whole process.
And they're kind of like, howare you doing this?
And but it was actually helpfulto, there's a few other GT moms
who have adopted.
You know, prior to when I haveso kind of talking with them and
hearing some of their storiesand hearing things that didn't
work out for them, but theneventually did was reassuring.
(12:12):
So that's that was helpful.
Melissa Zdziarski (12:14):
So Liam was born on a Wednesday, you picked
him up on a Friday.
Did you have, did you haveclothes for him?
Did you have diapers?
Did you have everything
Lauren Hurley (12:22):
We had just, we had the essentials.
We kind of kept for the adoptionagency.
They want to have when they cometo the homestay, they want to
see kind of like where the babywould sleep.
So you have the nursery sort ofalready set up all in gender
neutral things, just cause youdon't know what's going to
happen.
But we had just sort of theessentials and we picked them up
on a Friday and we had to waitwith Massachusetts law.
(12:45):
I think it was, 48 hours for thebirth mother to sign.
So they were like, you can takehim home, but I wouldn't tell
your families yet until shesigned.
So we took him home.
Our families are texting us,calling us all weekend, like,
Hey, you guys want to hang out?
And we're like, Oh no, we'resick.
Don't call us.
Like we couldn't, we had to lie.
And we're like, no, we're just,we're not feeling good.
Like don't come over.
(13:05):
Don't, don't ask us to doanything.
And then we texted everybody onSunday after she had signed and
we're like, come over for lunch.
And everyone's like, What didthey get a new puppy or
something?
Like, why do they want to so wehad my husband's family and my
family show up on like a Sundayafternoon and then we had Liam
to surprise them.
So, yeah,
Melissa Zdziarski (13:27):
that's, and it's kind of sweet that you were
able to bond with him, you know,for those 48 hours.
Lauren Hurley (13:32):
yeah, it was it was nice.
And then, but then COVIDhappened and then we really got
to bond with him just the threeof us for a while but,
Melissa Zdziarski (13:39):
Yeah.
I was going to say, I think thiswas around the, so this was
right before COVID.
It
Lauren Hurley (13:43):
yeah, so he was born in February and then I
think we were like locked onlockdown starting in March.
So yeah, so that's right, rightbefore.
Melissa Zdziarski (13:51):
So you, you were home, you didn't have to
worry about when to take him outin public because you just
couldn't.
Lauren Hurley (13:56):
Yeah, I know.
Now, like having a second andhe's four now.
So our daughter Claire is fivemonths.
So just like trying to rememberback to, okay, like what is the
proper etiquette to take yourchild on?
I'm like, I can't compare it toLiam because we were just, we
were locked down for like, Ithink it was like six months
almost.
Melissa Zdziarski (14:14):
I've heard so many stories brand new parents
around the time of COVID.
My gosh, very isolating, but sowhen, when did you know you were
ready to, to try again to gothrough the process again?
Lauren Hurley (14:26):
Pretty quickly after we always knew we wanted
Yeah.
At least two or for Liam to havea sibling.
So we kind of threw our hat backin immediately.
We waited until Liam wasfinalized.
So when they, the birth parentssign away their rights, it's
irrevocable at that moment fromthe birth parents, but you're
(14:46):
technically, they're stilltechnically in custody by
whichever state they're born in.
So they just have to make surethey do like follow up home
studies to make sureeverything's okay.
And then finalization can take.
a couple months to like sixmonths.
So I think Liam was six monthslater after we brought him home.
So after that was all finalized,we kind of started the
(15:08):
application process again for asecond.
But this time around it took alittle bit longer.
I think birth rates were downfrom what our agency was telling
us, I think after COVID.
So it definitely took a littlebit longer and then we did have
a couple other.
Situations that fell throughkind of like the first time
around.
So we were a little discouragedfor a bit.
(15:30):
And then with Claire'ssituation, she was born in
Florida and we had been incontact with her birth mother a
month before she was born.
So we were having a lot ofcontact with her up until the
time she was born.
So
Melissa Zdziarski (15:44):
So then Claire Claire was born and did
you take her home from thehospital two days later also, or
was that process any different?
Lauren Hurley (15:51):
yes, this is different just because we had a
relationship with the birthmother.
There was kind of a plan inplace where.
She was kind of living in atough situation and, you know,
she didn't want to take care ofthe baby and at all like when
the baby was born for any periodof time.
So it was, we were called to goto the hospital before she
(16:11):
delivered.
So she was, they were inducingher because I think Claire was
up 40 weeks.
So they were inducing her.
And so we were.
We have a house in Florida, too,so we were only an hour away
from the hospital, so we wereable to get there quickly and
wait until she delivered, andthen once she delivered, we were
able to go up right away, and wehad the baby immediately, and
(16:34):
then we still had to wait that,I think it was 48 hours or, I
think, 24 or 48 hours to signbut we were still caring for the
baby until she signed, and thenshe signed when we were in the
hospital, and we stayed in thehospital with the baby the whole
time and then was discharged andwas able to come back home.
Melissa Zdziarski (16:51):
What advice would you give to mothers that
have GT for the adoptionprocess?
you start out with you know,doing the research that you did
on your own, or do you thinkthey should go directly to an
agency or go directly to anadoption attorney or you know,
what, if you could do it overagain, would you change anything
(17:12):
or, you know, with the knowledgethat you have now, would you've
done anything
Lauren Hurley (17:16):
I mean, I, I think we did look out with the
agency we found through doing alot of research.
And it was interesting becausewhen I was doing all the
research, there's a ton of bigcompanies that do adoption that
are just, you know, you wouldtalk with them online or over
the phone, you would never gointo an office or anything like
that.
And they're, they could be basedin California or something, but
(17:37):
those are like a lot biggercompanies.
But when I was doing research,there was really only two
agencies near us at home thatwere options.
So it was, you know, basically Ikind of picked the one that
would be closer to us becausewe'd have to be going in a few
times.
And it was definitely the rightchoice, I think, for us just
(17:57):
because we had pretty goodexperiences.
But I think just having to dothat research and then going and
meeting with them and seeing ifit feels right.
And that's kind of how it wasfor us, like it was.
For me, it was a little bit of asign because where our adoption
agency is on the same streetwhere I went to college, it was
kind of just a coincidence.
So it just kind of felt like itwas meant to be, but I think
(18:20):
just doing all that research andthen if you're not able to find
kind of a local adoption agencyor something that, you know,
suits what you're looking for,then I would definitely reach
out to an adoption attorney andthey can steer you in a
direction of a reputable agency.
Melissa Zdziarski (18:36):
Did you ever consider international adoption
or.
Lauren Hurley (18:39):
There's a lot of weird rules with international
depending on, there's a lot ofrestrictions now I think more so
than there used to be.
And then there's a lot of, Ithink a few countries where you
had to be a certain age, andthen you had to be married for
so many years so at that pointwe were starting out we had only
been married for, I think, twoyears so I think you have to be
(19:00):
married for longer and so itwas, there was a lot of
different restrictions.
on international that I thinkwere a lot harder and just even
talking to a few other GT peoplewho were internationally, they
did adoption throughinternational and it was, you
know, sometimes you have to goover there for a month and then
come back and then go back.
So it was just, it seems alittle bit more of a process.
Melissa Zdziarski (19:23):
And I, I also wonder, you know, financially
you know, if you're having totravel internationally, even if
the adoption fees aren't as muchas they would be here, it
probably is a consideration fora lot of families too, you know
not just traveling from maybe,you know, a job or maybe
children you already have, butalso financially.
(19:44):
You know, having the funds to dosomething like that.
But financially what type ofbudget are you looking at for an
adoption of a baby?
Yeah.
Lauren Hurley (19:54):
so I think I mean it goes up a little bit every
year just based on the fees andbecause they so with our agency
they hired the lawyer on ourbehalf.
So you're not paying like aseparate attorney fee, but it's
all everything's kind ofincluded in one one fee.
So I think for the last one Ithink it had gone up like a
couple thousand, but it was 50,000, I believe.
(20:16):
And then it was like 54 for liketwins.
So it was kind of like, okay, ifthere's twins and why not?
But so yeah, so that kind ofincluded all the, the attorney
fees, which those can be veryexpensive as well.
But as far as, you know, withsome of the other placements
that didn't work out and evenjust the current placement,
it's, you have to, you know, payyour own travel and hotels and
(20:40):
things like that.
So that obviously can getexpensive.
But I know there's a lot ofincentives like through, like
for our employer, for example,they give adoption credits back.
So I think with, with, yeah,with Dell, they give, I think it
was like 10, 000 per kid, perchild.
And then I think you, there's amax or something like that.
But a lot of companies I thinkdo have adoption incentives,
(21:04):
which is
Melissa Zdziarski (21:04):
Yeah.
Is there any incentives?
I mean, this may be a funnyquestion, but I'm thinking, you
know, when you're spending thatkind of money, is there any
incentives on your tax
Lauren Hurley (21:13):
There is.
Melissa Zdziarski (21:14):
There is.
Oh, okay.
Oh, that's interesting.
So it's not such a dumbquestion.
I mean, I know you can claim thechild once you have it, but I
wonder, so adoption fees, youcan claim adoption fees.
Lauren Hurley (21:24):
Yep.
Yeah, so yeah, there's yeah, Idon't know a whole lot about it.
That's more my husband'sexpertise with the taxes and
stuff, but yeah But yeah, thereis
Melissa Zdziarski (21:36):
have you found since becoming a mom have
you found it harder to well, ofcourse it's going to take more
time, but to deal with yourissues with GT, like if you have
a nosebleed or, you know heavymenstrual bleeding or anything
like that, that before you hadchildren, you could.
You know, just worry aboutyourself and not worry about
what the kids are doing, but areyou finding it more challenging
(21:56):
now as a mom with GT?
Lauren Hurley (21:59):
yes I Definitely kind of put myself on the back
burner a lot And I just saw myhematologist a couple months ago
And I was telling her I was andI hadn't seen her for a couple
years Which was bad on my but Ididn't really need to which was
good and I'm gonna knock on woodbut Yeah, I was saying, I was
like, well, now having kids, I'mlike, I just don't think about.
(22:19):
Any of my issues.
And I, you know, if there isone, like, I think recently I
had, we were flying and I had anosebleed, which hasn't happened
to me since I was a kid.
And it just happened recently.
And I was just like, you know,I'm worried about like, Liam's
like hanging on the floor andall this stuff.
And it's just like, you know,everything is just like the kids
are priority with everything.
So it's like, you kind of justforget about yourself.
(22:42):
And I'm like, that's why I waslike, I need to make an
appointment because I need tolike stay in touch with my
hematologist so she doesn'tforget about me, but.
Yeah, it's harder to kind ofprioritize yourself, especially
when they have issues too.
I mean Claire, after she wasborn, she ended up with some
kind of freak thing where shehad a bone infection in her foot
(23:02):
and we were in children'shospital with her for two weeks.
And I was like, now, now I knowwhat my parents felt like when
they were in the hospital withme as a kid, because like just
being in there for two weeks,I'm like, oh my gosh, this is
like, now I have another, abetter appreciation for my
parents.
But yeah.
You kind of forget about any,cause I think at that time too,
I was, I had like a really badcold, nosebleed the whole time I
(23:23):
was like in the hospital and I'mlike, I'll deal with it later.
I just like need to make sureshe's okay.
So it's, you definitely putyourself on the back burner,
which can be tough, but I thinkall moms probably do that.
Melissa Zdziarski (23:37):
Right, right.
Well, as a mom with GT, how doesit feel when you see Liam take a
tumble?
Are you like, you know,surprised when he doesn't have a
huge hematoma or when he doesn'thave a nosebleed when he bumps
his nose or he doesn't have gumbleeds?
It must be interesting for you.
Lauren Hurley (23:53):
yeah, and he's super rambunctious being a four
year old boy, so he's alwaysjumping on things, and he'll
like, you know, fall and scrapehimself or something, and I'm
like, oh, he didn't even bleed?
Like, this is so weird, but
Melissa Zdziarski (24:05):
Isn't it?
When
Lauren Hurley (24:06):
like, I'm so happy you're not bleeding.
Melissa Zdziarski (24:08):
when you see how resilient you know, kids
are, I mean, even children withGT are so resilient, but I think
you know, being a mom who hasone child with GT and three who
don't have GT, and my oldestchild was the one with GT, it
was so strange when they didn'thave, you know, a child.
I know, you know, I didn't knowany different, like you, you
know, I knew any different.
(24:29):
And you know, Peter was just,oh, there was always something
with Peter.
He can tell you more.
So, how's Patrick doing as a newdad to two littles?
How's he doing?
Lauren Hurley (24:41):
He is good.
Yeah, he's, he's now trying topush for a third and I just
don't think it's gonna happen.
Melissa Zdziarski (24:49):
Honestly, in my experience, from one to two
is the hardest.
From two to three, it's like, atthat point, it's like, oh, okay.
Just kind of rolling.
And you already have one beach,so.
Lauren Hurley (25:00):
yeah, I with, I mean with adoption, because it
can take a couple years, I.
Liam's four, so if it took alittle bit longer, like a couple
years again, he'd be, you know,six with a newborn.
I'm just like, even right now,four with a five month old, I'm
just, like, there are twototally different stages right
now where it's It's, you know,kind of tough where Liam, now
(25:21):
I've, like, didn't have to bringthe stroller and everything
everywhere and a diaper bagbecause he's, you know, pie
trained.
He can walk and, you know, allthat stuff.
And now it's like, okay, now Igot to lug everything again.
And so it's, it's just totallydifferent.
So
Melissa Zdziarski (25:35):
Have you gotten the minivan?
Do you have the minivan yet?
Lauren Hurley (25:38):
We have a suburban, which is, I can never
go smaller at this point.
It's, you need it.
Melissa Zdziarski (25:44):
was.
That was interesting going fromthe Honda Accord to the minivan.
I think I cried.
I was like not ready to give upthe four door sedan, but there
comes a time when you cannot fiteverything in a sedan.
It just doesn't happen.
Lauren Hurley (25:57):
No.
Melissa Zdziarski (25:59):
Well, this, this has been great, Lauren.
Thank you so much for sharingyour experience.
Like I said, I, I know, a lot ofparents are going to be
interested.
To hear about this and a lot ofyoung women with GT, so it's
been wonderful.
Peter Zdziarski (26:14):
Thank you, everyone for tuning into this
month's episode.
I want to thank my mom andLauren for speaking on this
great subject.
I think is so important thatother hopeful moms get to listen
to.
If this is your first timehearing about duct Glanzmann's
research foundation, please lookus up@curegt.org.
And also if you're on Facebook,check out our support group
(26:35):
titled the Glanzmann'sthrombocytopenia support group.
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