Thirteen years ago...............
Something changed my life.................
It is one of the most significant events in my life and it has changed who I am. This event had a profound impact on me and continues to challenge me and make me a better man.
Thirteen years ago my wife was in labor for roughly 22 hours.....
As the day turned to evening, she kept telling me something was wrong. The nurse would reassure us that this was our first and everything was fine. I would look at my wife, not sure what to do or think, after all, the nurse was right. It was our first. Something I have taken away from this experience is that, a Mother knows, trust her instincts.
Finally our oldest was born. It was a BOY! 10 pounds, 2 ounces, 22 inches long,
he was born a toddler. He was also grey. He had been so large that he become trapped in the birth canal and struggled so much that the cord had wrapped around his neck and he had also suffered something
referred to as
Meconium Aspiration. He ingested
meconium and amniotic fluid, I'll spare you those details but it was severe and his lungs were eaten alive with infection.
They took him from our room and I followed. My wife made me promise that I would not leave him. He was life flighted to another hospital, I followed him there. My wife was left at the first hospital while I would visit two more that night. My loyalties and responsibilities torn for the first time. I was a Father now and my son was fighting for his life. We had family with us at both hospitals and I am so thankful for all the support we
received during this ordeal but it's hard to explain how alone I felt in the middle of this crisis.
I was told at the second hospital that our son would most likely not make it through the night and once again we were life flighted to a third location. We found ourselves at Vanderbilt University Medical Hospital in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. (
NICU for short).
Our son was put on an
Ecmo machine. He was only the 94
th patient to have gone through this treatment. His neck had
very large tubes coming out of it, his blood was taken from his body, filtered through machines and pumped back through him. His lungs were inflated by a respirator so they could rest and heal. We were given very little hope for success.
My wife checked herself out of the hospital in the morning and her Mom drove her to
Vandy Hospital (even if you're a doctor, you don't get between a mother and her baby!) We lived at the hospital, we slept in the waiting room and brushed our teeth in the hall.....
Every day we were given a new prognosis, every day the team of specialists would prepare us for the worst. It was a living nightmare! Friends and family came and would give prayers, support and sandwiches. (the
Vandy caffeteria has the best chocolate shake in the world!!!)
I stood in a back hallway, alone with God, and told Him it was okay, whatever He decided to do was alright with me. I gave him my son and surrendered my will. It was the most difficult prayer that I have ever prayed. As soon as I finished my prayer, something began to change on the inside of my heart and there was a peace and strength that had not been there before. I remembered who my God is and I began to believe with my wife for healing.
Doug Nolan, Tim Sumner, James
Gaches and myself walked into that room where only one person was allowed at a time. We
laid hands on this baby that we
weren't allowed to touch and began to pray. They had tied my son's hands to the bed so he wouldn't pull the tubes from his neck. He had gauze around his wrists
safety pinned to rubber bands that were
attached to the bed. When we would pray he would lift his little hands and stretch those rubber bands as far as they would stretch. He was fighting!!!
God began to move and our son was taken off of
Ecmo and moved to the regular
NICU. We spent the next two weeks loving and caring for our son in this place. We were able to minister to families that were from all over the
country and had wound up in this hospital with their babies. We saw tragedies and victories unfold for others. Every day the specialists would give us the news, at first, he wasn't going to make it, then it was he'll be disabled, then it was he'll be slow, then it was he'll have health problems his whole life, and so on....
Every day we would get their report and every day my wife would thank them for their service to our son and their knowledge but then she would reassure them that our son was going to be fine. (She was and still is an amazing woman.) The staff was incredible and we are thankful for all they did but to
everyone's amazement, in two weeks we walked out of that hospital with a healthy baby boy (well toddler, he was huge!) The doctors couldn't explain it but they did acknowledged Divine influence.
Our son has no physical or mental issues. He is strong, intelligent and a testimony to how great our God is. He is a thirteen year miracle in the making!!! I am amazed at how much God likes to show off and I am so grateful for His grace and mercy on our lives. Thank you God!!! And happy birthday
TJ!!! I am so proud to be your Father and I love to watch you, love your God!!!
Oh and by the way, God still is a God of miracles!!!
He did not pass me by. He did not hide me in the cleft of the rock. He did not cover me with His hand.
