Going to Kansas City

So after Ted and Peggy left our house that night we got the kids to bed and began packing for our trip. I remember calling our parents to give them the news because I didn't want to get off the airplane and have them wonder why we were so upset. We got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep that night. Early the next morning Mike O'Shaughnessy came to pick us up and take us to the airport. The whole time we were in K.C. I remember thinking I was having a miscarriage. I had some cramping and my Dr. told me that it was highly possible. I've always been a very positive person. It was weird how I found myself just acting very normal like nothing had happened. I felt the need to make other people feel alright and not uncomfortable around me. I also didn't want my kids getting upset wondering what was wrong with mommy and daddy. Well we went back to Arizona and now had to face all our friends. I knew they already had heard the news but now we had to see them face to face. Pastor Ted called us and asked if we would give a testimony on stage at church on Sunday. He said there was a pastor from Oklahoma and his wife that were talking on stage before us and he would like them to pray for us and interview us. We agreed. Basically we just began to tell our story. We had to make the decision of whether to continue the pregnancy or not and the turning point in our faith is when we decided that the decision was not ours. God gave us this baby and if He wants this baby to live it will happen. Randy and I both felt a huge sense of peace and strength that came from that decision. It's what got us through the rest of the pregnancy. We started having level 2 ultrasounds weekly to check for more complications. There were so many syndromes associated with encephaloceles but the more they looked the more surprised they were. They couldn't find what they were looking for. They just kept saying how shocked they were that our baby didn't have extra fingers and toes, cleft lip, massive retardation, extreme deformaties of the face and so on. Somewhere deep inside me, I was NOT surprised at all. I made a decision to leave things up to God and I knew that it would all work out the way He had planned it. If my baby was retarded or deformed, then God would give us the strength to deal with that. I knew that he might only have a few minutes or hours with us but I would make it the BEST few minutes ever!! As a few more months had passed my doctor wanted to discuss the birth. He said that Kyle ( that's what we wanted to name him ) would have to be a c-section so we wouldn't burst the sac on his head. We scheduled his c-section for May 19th. We picked this day because Ellie was born on 9-19-99 and Andrew was 1-19-02, so it made sense that he would be the 19th also. Mid April I was not feeling well at all. I felt sick all the time and had a lot of back pain. One day after dinner I laid on the sofa and told Randy I was having a hard time catching my breath. I just didn't feel right at all. We called 911 and the ambulance came to our house. my blood pressure had soared to a dangerous 190/140. When I got to the hospital they realized that I was having contractions. My doctor was called and I was put on bed rest. The next week I laid in bed feeling depressed and helpless. I hated every minute of it!! On April 18th I woke up with excruciating back pain! My husband rubbed my back then got on the computer to look for answers. ( this is his way of finding answers about everything) He states, I think your in labor..."Uhhh, you think?" I was irritated none the less. We finally call Dr. Nelson and he tells us to get to the hospital immediately and have my labor stopped. It was Good Friday and I called my mom to let her know whats going on. I said everythings fine they're going to stop my labor. What I didn't know is that my mom was dying her hair when I called. She was so panicked that she bleached her hair then forgot to put the red dye on it . It was 4am and we called Mike and Karen O'Shaughnessey to watch Ellie and Andrew for us. Off we went to Good Sam in Phoenix. Once I got there they began to try and stop my labor. I was also put on anxiety and high blood pressure medications. Nothing was working. At one point I ripped of the little belt that goes around your belly to monitor the heart rate and through it across the room. I was scared and in shit loads of pain! My mom had immediately flew to Arizona and met us at the hospital. She got there as they were wheeling me in to surgery. Here we go...Kyle was coming early! We prayed that he weighed enough at birth to undergo surgery if need be. I was crying and so scared. Randy got on scrubs and met me in there. Everything happened so fast. All of a sudden Dr. Nelson and Randy were both crying and shouting "He's beautiful!!!" He was 6lbs...not bad for all his problems and born at 36 weeks. He was amazing. I barely got to hold him though. Kyle was transported to PCH ( Phx Childrens Hospital ). As they wheeled me out of the room I was very drugged up and dizzy and sick. Pastor Scott and Pastor Ted were there in moral support. They got to peek at the little guy through the window before he headed to PCH.