Some of you know, but some of you don't know the story of my son's birth. Here is a post I wrote about his birth and as a thank you to all of you who have prayed us on along the way... I enjoyed re-reading this as I was feeling sorry for myself and quickly realized that God CAN work miracles!!!
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Aiden’s Birth Story, May 3, 2009
Jodi Morgan, written by Aiden & Sophie’s Mom
Aiden Bradley Morgan was born on Sunday night, May 3, 2009 at 6:53pm. He was 30.5 weeks along and was 3lbs 11.8ounces and 16 1/2 inches long.
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| Hours after Aiden was born... What a trooper! |
It was a Sunday morning like any other for a woman on bed rest. I had been ordered to “strict bed rest” after pre-term contractions had hospitalized me three times. On this particular Sunday, I woke up, got cleaned up, and watched what I like to call "TV Church" which consists of watching the worship service with St. Lukes' senior pastor and friend of ours, Dr. Tom Pace (on May 3, Justin preached), and First UMC's Steve Wende who preaches shortly after Tom on another channel. [My mom had been staying with us for some time now and was helping maintain some sense of normalcy for Sophie and me during this phase. She deserves a medal!] This morning, something was different, contractions picked up shortly after I had called the doctor about a suspicious feeling I was having. About an hour later, they called back and I told them that the contractions (then 8 minutes apart) had really picked up so they told me to go into the Hospital. I was nervous because my doctor was on a medical missions trip to Guatamala and was going to be gone ALL WEEK. Ugh ~ scary! So, with butterflies in my stomach, my mom drove me to Women’s Hospital and we both prayed. The doctor on call ordered us straight to labor and delivery because they thought that this could really be it. I went into the hospital and they checked things out and though the contractions were then about 4 minutes apart, I was hanging in there so they started medicating me to make them stop. I had been contracting for five weeks (went into the hospital for the first time with contractions at 25 weeks) so I thought they'd get it stopped, and surely I would be home with my feet propped up by 5 o'clock. We prayed and prayed that they could get the labor stopped. They pumped me full of medicine… we were SURE it would stop, well Aiden had another idea...
At around 4:30pm, they checked me again because with a cocktail of pain medicines as well as a number of things that they typically use to get contractions stopped, nothing had worked! I was contracting even closer and closer together and they were actually getting CLOSER together and far more painful. I kept hearing alarms go off, the baby's heart rate kept going down, down, down and mine was going up, up, up with every single contraction. I was scared to death... drugged and scared to death! My mom kept reassuring me that everything would be all right and with tears in her eyes, she looked down at me and said, "We are in the best hospital in the country, I am sure this kind of stuff happens all the time and it will be all right". I have no idea how she held it together. The nurse rushed in and in a calming tone, said, "Just in case we have to have a C-section, I am going to go ahead and get the room ready". Just in CASE??? REALLY??? I thought for sure that the hospital staff had lost their marbles. Dr. Cooper could always get this to stop!!! On the verge of freaking out, I felt a calm rush over me. I told mom that I was scared, but that I was worried about her. Everyone kept looking at me saying how calm I was and all I could say was that God would take care of us. I was so sure of it now.
Paralyzed by fear, the doctor on call for my “mission working doctor” [by the way, it’s only cool that they are charitable and do missions work when you’re not in labor!] came back into the room. She checked me. Two centimeters. She looked at my mom, "Looks like we're going to have to do a C-section, because of their heart rates... we have no choice". She reassured me that the baby, though fragile, would probably be fine since I had been given steroid injections a few weeks beforehand. And, though at 30.5 weeks it would be a tough road, it would be allright because we had made it almost six weeks further than when we first arrived in the hospital at 25 weeks before I was put on strict bed rest. At any rate (argh) we were having a c-section. So, they pumped me full of IV fluids, and rushed me into the operating room. Mom got dressed in her scrubs and because you know my mom, you know that the scrubs swallowed her small frame. I don't think you could see much but her brown hair, her comforting grin, and the tears in her eyes at this point. Someone was going to be a grandmother again, ready or not!
They got me prepped, including an epidural which really helped with the contractions. I remember the anesthesiologist walking in and he said, “How are you holding up?”, and though, I wanted to say, “Great, for someone who is trying to raise a 7 year old and soon to be newborn preemie on her own, I’m FABulous!”, but I didn’t… Unlike my normally opinionated self I was sooooo calm. Maybe they had put something in my IV, but a few moments later and for the first time in months, I was pain free. I wanted to cry, what a relief... but I was terribly concerned about the baby. I was overwhelmed by the cloud of “what-if’s”…. “What if he is malformed”, “What if he can’t breathe”, “What if, what if, what if…”. I was paralyzed by fear but in my heart I knew that God was steering the events of the day. I had asked him to so many times, so I knew he was in control. Faith, Faith, Faith, I kept telling myself. I had bought a plaque from Hobby Lobby in the early part of my pregnancy which simply read, “FAITH”, and had placed it on the bookshelves near the entrance of the apartment so I could see it on my way in and out. I knew that through Him Aiden and mom and I would be safe, no matter what.
Before I knew it I was lying there with a blue curtain over me and they were tugging and pulling on me. Someone said, "Get her family…. I think her mom is here" and I saw my mom come into the room. She didn't know where to sit or what to do so she sat by my head and kind of pet me and reassured me that it would be okay. I had her watching those baby shows on TLC for weeks before and warned her, "Don't look below the curtain". I didn't want to put her through that. Suddenly, and at about that time, they pulled out the baby and he cried. I couldn't believe he cried!!! After some more crying on our part, sweet preemie, Aiden, was taken out to the NICU and I laid there with my mom at my head. I told her that it kind of hurt and she said that everything went well. All I could do was say, “I can't believe he cried”.
The next thing I really remember, I was in the recovery room chatting up my nurse, Sharon [anesthesia will do that to you]. She was one of the kindest people. She even moved me to the back of the recovery unit so I could have peace. An eternity went by and my mom was starting to get really anxious (though she didn't tell me for obvious reasons). Then.... the baby was wheeled in! Yep, he was brought in to see me with his entourage of nurses and two doctors in tow and was warming in a mobile incubator. They even let me touch him! He was soft as velvet and was very pink. He looked really healthy short of all of the tubes and wires. He was so tiny and I just thought he was a fighter through my tears; I leaned over and said, “I love you, Aiden”. I reached my hand into the incubator and touched his hand. His breathing was taxed until I touched him. I looked up at my mom and said through my tears, “He knows me!”. The doctor told us that he would be stable and doing well in no time and that he was bigger than most 30 weekers. We said that with the height that runs in our family, I wasn't really surprised.
Knowing that I wouldn't be allowed to see him until the next day, I focused on rest and on praying for my baby. God was in control, and I was going to just let him stay that way. The next day I focused on getting to see my little Aiden. I knew he was struggling and through my tears, I prayed. I sang to him and talked to him. I think he knew me. I also think he knew that I was scared, but that he was safe. I had the doctors and nurses explain to me what the tubes all were and they were able to quell some of my concerns and answer all my questions. I knew that he was going to be protected by that host of angels I had called to stand watch at his bedside.
After being laid off in November, dumped three days before my wedding in December, Bed rest in March and delivering a baby in May, I had had enough… More than a lot of people. I decided back in December of 2008 to permanently and completely let God take the reins and I wasn't about to grab the reins from Him just yet. I don't know that I ever will. I know that he is going to protect us and care for us like he has so many moms along the way. I was discharged three days later and though I thought it was too early (thank you insurance companies), I went home and left my precious little angel at the hospital. I visit every day, pray every hour, and every day he makes a little progress. From breathing with a lot of help, to breathing on his own, he has come a long way.
I just have to focus on healing myself now and giving Aiden enough space to heal himself and visiting him enough so he knows me. I have never felt so stretched, but also never so happy. There really is no greater reward than having your child look into your eyes for the first time, or having your oldest child visit and read to your new baby, "Cus I know how and he needs to hear some of this stuff from me."
In the following picture, Sophie is reading to Aiden in the Level III NICU because they weren't sure that he was going to make it. She read Dr. Suess to him and she swore up and down that he was looking right at her as she read. The lion was a gift to Aiden from my brother's family and was meant to symbolize the fighting spirit and courage of a lion. Just to give you some perpective, the lion is the size of a standard beanie baby.
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| Sophie came to visit Aiden for the first time in the Level III NICU. |
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After I wrote this post, Aiden continued to fight for his life through Epilepsy, Cerebral Palsy and an immune disorder over the next year and is actually doing terrific. He will be two in May. He and his sister adore each other and thankfully for all of us, he's doing very well now.
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| Aiden on 2/05/2011 |
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