Sixteen, as of today, Little Man is sixteen! What an adventure it has been and continues to be. He is the one whom we never thought would be and then he came into the world and completed our family.
Let's go back a few years . . .
After Puppy came into the world, we believed she would be the last of our biological children. In fact, we started looking into adoption because we didn't want her to be an only child. Because of the uncertainty of additional children, we never talked with her about having another baby. She was it!
Then, in December of 2004, in the midst of a very eventful Christmas in northwestern Oklahoma (that's a story for another day), I found out I was pregnant with Little Man. We were excited beyond measure. Another baby on the way. God was showing up and proving the doctor's prediction wrong. How exciting!
God provided the pregnancy, but he made no promise it would be easy. To begin with, I was over 35 (gasp!) and labeled with "Advanced Maternal Age". That brings with it its own set of complications. As with Puppy's pregnancy, all care was by a perinatologist, Dr. Adam in the Houston Medical Center. Dr. Adam is one who does not take any chances and takes every precaution. When it looked like I might lose the pregnancy in the first trimester, she gave me medication to stop it. I remember her asking me if I wanted the medication and then telling me that we might be playing with fate. I was willing to take the medication believing if the pregnancy wasn't meant to be that God wouldn't have allowed it in the first place.
As I moved into the second trimester, I had surgery to make certain Little Man stayed tucked safely inside as well as given asthma medication to control preterm contractions. Unfortunately, my body didn't like the asthma medication that worked so beautifully when I was pregnant with Puppy. In fact, the medication had a rare affect on my body and caused my potassium level to drop - drastically. I was already on bedrest at this point. My chest felt so heavy that I was having a hard time breathing. After a call to my doctor, it was determined that I needed to get to the ER immediately.
Once at the hospital, Dr. Adam, because of a case study she had done in medical school, was able to take the necessary measures to get my potassium level back up prior to my going into cardiac arrest. Dr. Adam and the case study - coincidence? I think not! Unfortunately, it was discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Little Man's neck and it tightened every time I had a contraction. So, in the hospital I stayed where I could be watched and closely monitored.
During this time, Puppy was passed around between staying at home with a caregiver when The Professor couldn't be home, going to my parents', and going to The Professor's dad and stepmom's. It was very hard on all of us. I was in the hospital confined to a bed, The Professor was juggling being at the hospital with me and making certain Puppy was taken care of, and Puppy was living in a uncertain world. Through it all, though, God showed up, took care of us, and there aren't any permanent scars - except for the crazy C-section scar.
Thankfully after a five-week hospital stay, Dr. Adam deemed it safe for me to return home on complete bedrest with a daily visit from a perinatal nurse and electronic monitoring. It wasn't completely smooth sailing from that point forward, but it wasn't that bad either. It was good to be home.
On Sunday, August 7, 2005, my Sunday School class threw a baby shower for Little Man. My parents came down from Oklahoma. I was able to get out of bed, dress in actual clothes, fix my hair, and put on makeup! It was a good day. I was one week from my scheduled C-section. Dr. Adam was out of the country, due back for the scheduled C. Little Man was a large baby. Dr. Adam had said that if I should go into labor in her absence, not to worry. Little Man would be fine to come a week early.
The baby shower came to an end, my parents were packing up to head back to Oklahoma, and I felt rather "odd". After a bit of time and a call to the nurse line, it was determined that I should get to the hospital. I was going into labor. Being that it was Sunday evening, Dr. Adam's partner wasn't too keen on coming to the hospital to deliver a baby. He suggested I be given medication to try to stop the labor. He was hit with a resounding "NO". Dr. Adam had already said it was safe for Little Man to come early and that is what I wanted to do.
My refusal to take the medication brought a very unhappy "Partner" to the hospital. In the wee hours of Monday morning, August 8, 2005, Little Man made his entrance into this world of ours.
