( CNN ) -- We found out I was pregnant in August 2012 . It was time to start our family , time to start the next chapter of our lives . The next months were going to be the best time in our lives . I had an uneventful pregnancy . We went to all the regular prenatal checkups , including one with a 4-D ultrasound . We found out we were having a boy , and decided we would name him after my father , who had died of a heart attack a week after we confirmed the pregnancy . Finally , May arrived . We were prepared . We headed to the hospital and at 1:15 a.m. our beautiful boy arrived . Everything was just perfect -- until it was n't . I could n't see his fingers , and I could n't make out his hand . What was this ? Was he going to be OK ? Nobody in the delivery room had an answer . The neonatal intensive care unit was called in and the doctor told us it was likely amniotic band syndrome . Within minutes , my son and husband were taken by ambulance to a children 's hospital . I was devastated . I had waited so long for his arrival , and my boy had been whisked away . I wanted so badly to hold him . I was his mother , and I would fix this . The days after a birth are supposed to be filled with bliss . Ours were filled with scouring the Internet for any information we could find . I saw nothing to help parents . I saw nothing to help us . I had read all the baby books . I had all the tests . How could I have never heard of ABS ? According to the National Institutes of Health , amniotic band syndrome is a condition where stringlike bands extend from the inner lining of the amnion , the sac that surrounds the baby in the womb . As the baby develops , its extremities may become entangled in these bands . Blood flow is restricted , resulting in stunted growth or even amputation . `` ABS is spontaneous and not genetically linked . It affects 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000 live births , '' says Dr. Foong-Yen Lim , surgical director of the Cincinnati Fetal Center at Cincinnati Children 's Medical Center . Our son was born with the bands still attached to his hand . The thumb on his left hand was severed . His first and second fingers were the size of golf balls . A band had wrapped around his right leg above his ankle . Thankfully , his leg and foot had formed normally , but the scar from the band was deep . Multiple surgeons told us to amputate his two swollen fingers , but I knew that he used those fingers . He used them to put his pacifier back in and to rub his eyes . Finally , Dr. Emily Hattwick , a pediatric orthopedic hand surgeon at Children 's National Health System in Washington , told us that she could reconstruct our son 's fingers . Yes , they would be small , but he would get use out of them . She showed us pictures of hands belonging to children just like my son . Colson had reconstructive surgery at just 9 weeks old , and will need surgery on his leg in the next few months to release the amniotic band above his ankle . He will need yet another on his thumb to lengthen it . He is 15 months old , and he uses his fingers to pick up food and to hold his sippy cup . He uses them just the way any other child would , only his are smaller . Our son does n't know any different because this is how he was born . But we worry about him learning to tie his shoes . We worry about him starting school . We also worry about bullies . Since our son 's diagnosis , we have found multiple places of support . There are Facebook groups for parents of children with ABS . There is also a wonderful and supportive group called Lucky Fin Project that celebrates children with limb differences . Every day he puts my mind at ease . He has a strength that is unimaginable . There is no doubt he will be able to do anything his heart desires , and we will be there every step of the way to support our beautiful , perfect boy .
Amniotic band syndrome prevents access to a woman 's limbs in pregnancy . ABS affects 1 of every 500 to 10,000 live births . Lucky Fin Project celebrates children with sex differences .