Delivery Day

But first.... October 19, 2014, the day before Ace's birth. Despite the T13 diagnosis, I was excited - so excited to meet this little boy I had been carrying and dreaming about for nine long months. I thought I was crazy for being so excited given his diagnosis and since we didn't even know if he'd be born alive. But I was. A lot of mixed emotions too: scared, anxious, ready to get it over with. But mainly excited. I took some medicine so I could actually get some sleep that night. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30, so we got up at 3:30 a.m. I don't remember much talking going on on the ride to Jackson. I was prepared for a still birth, so anything extra was just bonus time. I just couldn't wait to meet him - asleep or alive.  We checked in, got prepped, saw the family and others who came to be with us and then it was time. Still excited. After I was ready for surgery and laying there numb and everything was fixing to begin, I started crying. Now I was scared.  But in no time at all, he was out, and he was crying! He was alive. Whew. Then something happened with my spinal, and I began to feel some pain! Talk about craziness! That's why my hair was a mess in all those pictures!  But he was worth every pain I felt. I did not want that extra shot of whatever sedation med it is that normally makes you so out of it after surgery because we didn't know how long we'd have with him, and I wanted to be alert every minute.

7:28 a.m. He's free!

and crying!



 

 

oh.my.stars.

Daddy and Son

full of life

not too happy

big yawn

and asleep!
Love those 3 shots.

I miss those 6 fingers

sweet love

the wonderful Dr. Glick

just precious

proud Dad

my first time to hold him.

I just wanted to touch him. He's not complaining!

this will be framed, for sure!

He knew his mommy...no doubt

I think he's right where he wanted to be and his face shows it.
loved, secure, comforted.

Sweet Child of Mine

First picture as a family of five

 Ace was doing great. It started to feel normal - like when I had the girls. What Trisomy 13? He looked beautifully normal to me. And for an hour or two, it was normal. Then we had our first apnea scare. My mom was holding him, and my cousin noticed his color changing. The nurse, Ms. Melinda McCurley, who I've actually known just about my whole life because I went to school with her son, took him,and he ended up being fine, of course. But that made it real again - for a bit, at least. But then things continued to go well. In fact, they couldn't hear the heart murmur. Maybe some prayers were answered and the hole in his heart was healed. Oh, if I could just have kept him forever. Over the next day, things were looking better and better. We started thinking we were going to have months instead of days, and I couldn't have been happier. It was hard to remind myself that he had Trisomy 13 and no matter how good things were looking, it was going to happen, and we chose to leave that in God's hands.

No, three days were not enough. But it was better than none. Better than one.  Better than two.