Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Hurricane Ivan - 4 years ago

Four years ago today Ivan hit and hit hard. I remember because I was 9 plus months pregnant. My due date was the 17th of September. My doctor had asked me to come to the hospital and stay, but we decided to go to my mom's. She was by herself and I just felt I'd be more comfortable there.

My body had tried to abort Christopher the entire nine months. In fact, at one point the doctor told us we had lost him. After continuing with the problems I was having, went back to the doctor two days later; the ultrasound showed the baby that wasn't there just two days prior. Her explanation, during a point in the pregnancy there are membranes forming. It happens for just glimpses and the first ultrasound was done during that glimpse. So you can imagine the emotional roller coaster Chris and I had been on, and the rest of the family.

On August 1st I started having contractions. From then, we were at the hospital a total of 14 times. It was a long month and a half.

From the time Ivan hit, I worried less about the pregnancy than I had the entire nine months. It was the best three days of my pregnancy, mentally at least. I awoke at 2:20 on the Sunday after Ivan hit and was bleeding and had no baby movement. We had no phones and hadn't had any cell phone reception. Panicked, I tried the phones, and had a cell phone signal. I was able to get in touch with the hospital, they told me some stuff to do and then come on in.

There was a curfew in affect at the time. We were stopped by a police officer who quickly congratulated us and let us on our way.

Christopher Paul Paden was born just a few hours later at 7:53 a.m. The room was packed with many of the nurses that had been on duty for the number of times we had been there. Christopher was born weighing 10lbs 2oz. Big, beautiful baby! His APGAR scores very low. He was blue, they had to take him for oxygen. Christopher had pneumonia, but there were no signs of him swallowing any fluids. He was hooked up to machines and heat lamps and was in the hospital for the week following Ivan. We were released just as we had gotten power on at home.

This Friday, my little man will be four years old. He is a very special baby. I am thankful the Lord allowed me to carry him full term and that he is who he is today.

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