August 28, 2015 2:38am my phone rings waking me out of a deep slumber. The phone number was unrecognizable and I was certain this was THE call. I froze, I knew it was her and I let the phone continue to ring because I was in shock.
A text message came through almost immediately. "BAbies coming!" I woke Joe up and said "omg she's in labor! What do we do?"
Now let's pause for a second and take a moment to think about that last question. We all know how Type A/over planned I was for this moment and I was the one asking "what do we do?" Lordy bee-
Joe says "we get up and leave honey." Oh my stars, today was the day.
I felt the need to shower while Joe packed the car. Thankfully we had spent the last week packing so we only had last minute things to put in suitcases.
At 3:20am we pulled out of our driveway on the most important road trip of our lives. I think I spent the first hour or two of the trip crying and praying-praying for her safety, for his safety, that we would miraculously make it there.
An hour later at 4:21am I got the first picture of my son. He was born at 4:15am central time, 5:15am eastern time.
He was perfect in every way and I was immediately in love. The next 10 hours seemed like it lasted all day. Luckily it was a pretty drive and my husband knows exactly how to pass the time in the car.
We prayed, we praised, and tried to enjoy our last few moments as a family of two. Ironically (is there really such a thing?), the song that played as we crossed the SC border was
"And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm"
God is so good.
We finally pulled up to the hospital at 4:25pm eastern time. We walked in to the hospital and headed to the 6th floor where we would meet the woman who would make us parents.
We were all nervous meeting each other but we soon clicked and knew this was a match made in Heaven (truly). Then it was time to meet our boy who would be staying in the NICU for monitoring due to his Congenital Heart Defect. We had to wait for the social worker to come get us, which seemed like it took forever but she soon led us to the doors of the NICU where we washed our hands and simply waited. I remember one of the nurses saying "you're so close, you don't even know how close you are."
Soon enough the doors opened and we were escorted to the warmer where our son laid, which happened to be right inside the door.
Words cannot describe the feelings that I had as I looked at him for the first time. All of those emotions are flooding back right now as I write this. He was hooked up to many monitors, which tracked his heart rate, his oxygen, and other vitals but he was so beautiful.
We weren't able to hold him right away but we touched him and kissed him and told him how loved he was. To be honest, it was an out of body experience. There were probably 8-10 other people around watching us meet him and everyone was in tears. It was truly the best moment of my life.
Colton Joseph
6lbs. 12.2oz
18 3/4 in.
08/28/15 5:15am
Suddenly all of the heartache over the past two and a half years, all of the needles, the tests, the single pink lines, the tears were all worth it. All of it was forgotten because my heart became whole.
Later that night we were able to feed him for the first time and he opened his eyes for us. My sister was able to drive up from Gulf Shores and I was so grateful to have her there to meet her nephew.
I can't wait to share with you the rest of our story. There's so much to share.
Tomorrow he will be 3 weeks old and I can't imagine loving him more, but each day it seems to happen.
Thank you Lord. Thank you.
