The series follows the story of Laux family, who are expecting a child with profound abnormalities and is expecting to only live hours or days after birth. Through the help of an experienced hospice nurse, they develop a birth plan for their son.
After hearing the grim prognosis, T.K. spoke first: Thomas was meant to be theirs, he told the doctors, and Thomas had a purpose. However brief his life might be, it was a gift.
People rallied around the Lauxes as they told family and friends of their decision. A cousin introduced them to Kathy Rose, the one Dallas-area hospice nurse who worked full time with dying children.
At any given time, Rose guided at least a dozen kids and their parents through journeys no family ever wanted to take. Though North Texas has no prenatal hospice programs, Rose and her colleagues at Community Hospice of Texas have cared for several dozen trisomy infants. She was the first person the Lauxes met who'd even seen a trisomy 13 baby.
In late March, the nurse came to the Lauxes' home and explained how she would help them and their doctors develop a birth plan. If it was possible to bring Thomas home, hospice also could provide support – meeting them at the hospital to plan, providing oxygen equipment and medicine to manage symptoms such as breathlessness, anxiety and discomfort.
Rose and her colleagues also would come at least several times a week to check on them. Whatever happened, she would be a brief drive away.
It was reassuring to the couple that Rose talked so comfortably about death – how it might come for Thomas if he survived his birth, and when, and what they could do to ensure he didn't suffer.
