I prayed for a third child for about five years. Jeff was a college student and thought we’d
be wise to wait until he graduated. I
became pregnant in October of 2006. I
was so happy, yet also riddled with fear of losing this baby for some reason. All was healthy and fine. However, around 20 weeks, I began having some
complications with my pregnancy. These lasted for 10 weeks. Finally, around 30 weeks, I was doing better. Fear had somewhat subsided and I just couldn’t
wait to meet my little girl!
On her due date, June 27, 2007, my beautiful Jacklyn Frances
Adelaide Herring was born. 7 pounds, 8
ounces. We were all so excited to meet
her and couldn’t wait to bring her home and experience life together as a
family of five. Her big sisters,
Kourtney (9) and Maggi (7) were excited to help with whatever their baby sister
needed. They just wanted to get their
hands on her!
Just after I had signed the discharge papers to leave the
hospital, with the whole family in the room, I looked down at Jacklyn because
she had suddenly gotten very still. To
my horror, her entire body had turned blue! I screamed
for a nurse and the next thing I knew, three nurses were in the room. One of them grabbed her out of my arms,
turned her somewhat upside down and was rubbing Jacklyn’s back. The color came back to her and she started
crying. They whisked her away and left
us all crying and wondering what was going on.
I can’t remember how long it was or what happened between
that moment and when I got to see her again.
The doctor said she had some sort of infection in her blood and they
would need to keep her in the hospital, on antibiotics, for several days. It was terrifying! The girls were devastated, not only because they
didn’t get to bring their baby sister home that day, but because they would not
be allowed to go into the NICU.
Jeff’s parents came down to stay with the girls and helped
us out in so many ways. They were
lifesavers. I was permitted to stay at
the hospital as a “Boarder Mom.” (That
title always made me feel like a dog, reminded me of Border Collie.) I was called into the NICU by the nurses
about every hour and a half, around the clock, to feed my little Jacklyn. One of the nurses nicknamed her “Zero to
Sixty”, saying that she would be sound asleep or just quietly laying there and
then suddenly start screaming her head off.
She managed to chunk up and gain weight in those five days
in the NICU. Her infection went away and
they finally sent us home on July 2, 2007.
It was a very scary journey. We never knew exactly what caused the infection. We were just so glad she responded so well to the medication and that if it was going to happen, that it happened while we were still at the hospital.
We are so thankful for the gift of Jacklyn’s life.
She has been such a blessing to us all!
