Why I Believe In Miracles
Make NO mistake about it. No matter what happens-on ANY day-for the rest of my life, there will never be a day as great or as important as September 27th.
That’s the day that we (Debbie and I) became three.
Hogan Charles Nance was born on this date 17 years ago.
Okay, here’s the hard part.
We knew Debbie was having some issues. She went in on a Wednesday for her weekly appointment and was hospitalized almost upon arrival.
Still, I was okay.
They pumped her full of drugs and steroids all day and night to help try to stabilze her blood pressure and help the baby.
Still, I was okay.
Her OBGYN came by that next morning-cool as the other side of the pillow-looked at us and said, “You know what, that little guy is telling us he needs to come out, so we’re gonna get him outta there.”
Still, I was okay.
So, I get dressed in my “Daddy Scrubs” and start to follow her as she’s wheeled out of the room towards the OR when her doctor stops me, puts his hand on my chest and in a WHOLE different/WAYYY MORE serious tone says, “Son, I’m 30 minutes from losing both of them. I’ll let you know if and when you can come in.”
I’m not okay.
Trust me, in those moments, you will remember what your knees are for. Prayer one, answered-as I got to be there when Hogan was born by c-section.
He was born more than 2 months early and weighing just 2 pounds, 4 ounces. Oh, and it gets better…immediately after birth, babies lose as much as 10% of their body weight, so within hours he weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces.
It’s funny how your mind works in those situations. Once I handed him off to the NICU (within seconds, it seemed, of his birth), my focus became Debbie; and she was in bad shape. I stayed in the room with her until around midnight (he was born in the early afternoon), when all of the sudden I remembered, “We’ve got a son in this place!”
Below is the very fist picture taken of him (okay, it’s a picture OF the old Poloroid picture).
I’d like to tell you that was the end of the drama, but I’d be lying. There were blood transfusions (2), life-threatening infections, and two young parents who were scared out of their minds.
Let me state something right now that most parents take for granted and you should not. The joy of getting to leave the hospital with your baby, is NOTHING compared to the nightmare of leaving the hospital after giving birth…and having to leave your child there.
Not only that, but rules and recommendations from the neo-natal intensive care unit allowed us to be with him-to hold him-only twice a day for about an hour at a time.
So, that was our life from that day in September until Veterans’ Day (the week before Thanksgiving) when we brought him home (weighing less than 5 pounds at that point).
From there?
Believe what you want. However, I can tell you…MIRACLES HAPPEN! I’ve seen it. I do see it every time I look at my boy.
Happy 17th to my favorite person in the world.
