Looking Back

I wasn't completely honest in my last post.  I did fail to mention that the main reason for my hiatus was NCAA basketball, but I was slightly embarrassed to admit it.  In the last 29 years, I have cared little about NCAA basketball, but this year, I really got into it.  So much so that I filled out a bracket for the tournament and kept close tabs on the games.  I'm unhappy--yet somewhat relieved because it means that I can regain my old life back--to report that I could really care less now who wins the whole thing.  But it was an incredible season to watch and I'm glad I tuned in.  And I'm happy that I have a few months off before football season starts.  Now on to what I want to say today...

Many of you probably know about my niece, H. Today is her 8th birthday.  It's about 8 years more than she was expected to live and it's an incredible milestone.

I received a call from my mom at about 4 am the morning of March 25, 2003.  She said that my sister-in-law had just had her baby.  Both of my brothers' wives were expecting and I heard the name of the one that was due in July, not the one that was due in April.  I figured that my mom had gotten the names mixed up and went to correct her.

No, she said.  It really was the sister-in-law that was due in July.  My brother and his wife were living about 300 miles south, away at college, and had gone into premature labor.  They couldn't stop it and H. was born by emergency C-section at 23 weeks. For the uninitiated, a full term pregnancy is 40 weeks, so roughly just over half way through the pregnancy. Life Flight flew down from the University and picked up H., but left my sister-in-law, who was still recuperating, and my brother behind.  They didn't have family nearby and my brother knew that my mom and I could meet H. at the University, so he opted to stay behind with his wife.

My mom and I drove to the University hospital and met the helicopter as it brought in little H.

Well, really, "little" is a bit of an overstatement.  She weighed 1 lb 2 oz and was 11 inches long.  Imagine the length of a dollar bill. Her eyes hadn't even opened yet, they were still fused shut.  But she was perfectly formed.  All her little (little, little, little) fingers and toes. Her little lips and perfect ears.

We stayed there all day, marveling at how something so little could have so much fight in her.  It remains, still, as one of the most spirtual experiences I have ever witnessed.

Over the next few days, the news switched between dire and heartbreaking.  There was little chance of survival and our only hope was to keep her alive until her parents could make the trek up to see her one last time.  They made it up after two days and it seemed like that buoyed H. She fought her way back from the brink of death on more than one occassion.  Many prayers were offered in her behalf and it was a very soul-searching time for those of us directly involved.  I really did see the face of God in that little baby lying in the incubator. 

After six months in the hospital, H. was sent home with little hope for a viable life.  However, though the diligence of my brother and his wife and the spirit of tenancity that H. embodies, she is, today, a happy, healthy 8 year old.  She is truly a daily inspiration and a true miracle.

Happy Birthday!