Where it all began
1053 Words
When Douglas and I met I was only 19. I had one thing in mind I wanted to be a good wife and I wanted to be a great mother. Right after we married, Doug lost his job, so that meant we had to move, so I had to leave behind my family and adjust to a new marriage and being on my own. But life was good we were doing well but something was still missing I wanted that baby. So we started trying to get pregnant. I got pregnant right off that bat and had that dreaded miscarriage. But I will tell you Doug was wonderful loving and supportive. The doctor suggested waiting six weeks and said we could try again. Well six weeks passed and I got pregnant very quickly. I had a very hard pregnancy, blood pressure problems, toxemia, and got the flu and other problems. When I was 7 months pregnant I passed out and my mother come to stay with us. I was so happy to have her there I was warm and safe with both Doug and Momma around. Then I got the flu we went to the doctor and he said my blood pressure was 210/120 and I needed to go to the hospital he said they had to take the baby on this day. He said the baby was in distress because I was in distress boy I was afraid. Momma called Doug at work and my Daddy in Orange Texas. Off we go to the hospital it was right across the street from the hospital. We got there and my blood pressure had gone up to 240/140 they put me on monitors and monitored both the baby and me. They were hoping to induce labor and hoping I could have the baby well this plan didn't work my blood pressure kept going up and while Momma and I were sitting in the room the monitor suddenly went quiet. Momma said don't worry and went out into the hallway and screamed get down here don't let this baby die. By this time we had name him Christopher. She kept telling me Christopher is not going to die. They came in and tried to find his heart rate and they ran me out of the room on the bed and told my family they were taking me to surgery for a C-Section because both me and Christopher were in serious distress. I got into the surgery suite and they put a mask over my face and told me to breathe deep that is the last thing I remember and then I woke up in recovery they told me I had an 11-pound baby that was 23 inches long and that he had survived. We stayed in the hospital for about a week and the day before they were going to send us home the doctor come in and said that it was supposed to snow the next day he said I am keeping you mom you have a fever but let's send Christopher home with Dad and Grandma and we will see how you feel tomorrow. So I did not get to take my baby home with me. The next day, it did snow some and my fever was gone so my husband could come and get me and take me home from the hospital. I had not slept a wink and had cried all night worried over Christopher I knew they had taken good care of him I just wanted to be with my baby I was heart broke. I was so happy when I got home to Christopher I was like a new person. Well, life was good for a few months. Christopher did well at all of his check-ups he was developing well but one day I noticed he was pale so I took him to the doctor. The doctor agreed with me and did some blood work on him. At this time he was about 8 1/2 months old he was eating and drinking well and had met all of his milestones very well. The doctor come in and said that his bloodwork looks like he had developed leukemia and that we needed to transfer him via ambulance to Dallas Children's Hospital. I will never forget this we were between payday's I had 49cents in my checking account and I had 2 quarters in my purse and I had a full tank of gas. I cried and called my Momma which was nearly 6 hours from me and she said: "baby don't worry Momma is on the way". We took off to Dallas Children's I was so upset because they would not let us in the room when they were trying to get a line on him to start blood they were sticking him over and over they finally did cut downs on his ankles and got them. You have to figure this was nearly 40 years ago. The resident that was sticking him put rainbow clown hair on and for the rest of Christopher's life bless his heart he was terrified not just afraid of clowns. So they started the blood and we sat and we waited. My momma and my oldest sister got there and I was so happy to see them. I felt so supported it was not that Doug was not trying to be there for me it was that he was just as sad and as afraid as I was. We didn't know what to do or what to say to one another we just knew we didn't want our beautiful baby boy to die. Well, we got through the hospital stay and we got sent home the poor baby had to go and have his fingers and toes stuck every day for a blood count his hands and feet were so sore. I could drive near the medical center and he would scream nobody will ever make believe he didn't know where we were going. We did this until he was three all of a sudden at the age of 3 his blood became normal. I will always credit that to the Grace of God. During Christopher's sickness, we did a lot of praying and we had a lot of elders lay hands on him.
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