SPIRIT INNERVENTION R

Early Delivery

On August 18th, 2012, my husband David and I were blessed with our sweet baby boy. I was truly in disbelief until the moment they rolled me into the delivery room. The reason it was so unbelievable was that I still had 11 weeks until he was due.

That day was a complete whirlwind, as was the day before. On the morning of August 17th, I was to keep my niece Eden while I housesat for my parents in Leesburg (my husband and I live in Valdosta, Ga.). We were planning to have a fun day hanging out, swimming, taking our sweet doggy Cookie for a walk, and having lunch. When Eden arrived at the house around 8:30 that morning, I began feeling a little under the weather. I was very lethargic and had been having sudden cramps every now and again for about a week. But since I was looking forward to this day of fun, I brushed my sick feelings under the carpet and went about the day.

We played a bit inside, and then before heading out to lunch, we took Cookie for a walk. As we walked Cookie, I really started feeling sick. I barely made it back to the house without passing out. To make a long story short, the rest of the day went downhill. Eden’s daddy picked her up around six o’clock that evening, and I went to bed. I tried to rest but kept waking up throughout the night with cramps that kept get- ting worse and worse. First thing in the morning, I called David, who was home in Valdosta about three hours away. I told him what was happening, and he advised me to go to the hospital to see what was going on. In the meantime, he packed a few items and headed straight to Leesburg.

After the doctors worked to get the contractions to stop, there was no more trying; my baby boy was on his way into this world. My mind went in numerous different directions: When is my husband going to get here? Is he going to make it in time to see our baby being born? Thankfully and miraculously, all of my family had been in Orlando at a business conference, so they skipped over to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Children to be a part of this exciting yet crazy experience. At 2p.m. with my husband beside me, I got to see the most beautiful face I had ever seen. Christopher Timothy Coté was born, weighing in at only two pounds, nine ounces. I tell everyone he was basically the size of a 6-inch sub. From the delivery room, they took our sweet new bundle of joy to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where all premature babies are kept until they are able to survive on their own.

Christopher lived in an incubator for the first month of his life. David and I were able to hold him and even change his teeny tiny diaper very carefully. There were so many difficulties that first month, I can’t even count. We were blessed to be able to live right beside the hospital at the Ronald McDonald House the whole time, which enabled us to see him all day, every day.

The emotions that go along with an experience like this are almost too hard to put into words. On the days he was thriving, I was on top of the world. On the days we would arrive only to hear he had a bad night, I was a basket case until the news got better. My faith in God carried me through from the time I knew Christopher was going to be born. My faith in God is still carrying me, giving me the energy to chase my little munchkin around the house as he crawls and gets into literally everything!

I believe wholeheartedly that all of the support and prayers from family and friends helped Christopher thrive the way he did. We finally went home on October 5th when Christopher was only four pounds. From then on, Christopher has grown and developed into the perfect 10-month old baby he is today.