God's grace and Nathan Broome

Today, I want to tell you a little more about my "typical" child, Nathan. Six years ago, he came into the world in a "not-so-typical" way and every time I think of it, I am reminded of what a miracle he is and how good God is everyday. He really is in the details.

On October 31, 2005, a Monday, I went to work like I did every other Monday. At the time, I worked at a local hospital as an occupational therapist. I was 26 weeks 4 days into my pregnancy. I didn't feel great that morning, but none of my mornings felt that great. (You see, I wasn't one of those cute pregnant women with the basketball in front. No, I carried it all over. I waddled. I was tired all of the time. Every joint hurt. Just thought that was how pregnant women felt.) My intentions that day were to finish my caseload at the hospital, then see a couple of home health patients in the afternoon. That morning, I was moving around slower than usual. I was having some mild low back discomfort, but nothing big, or so I thought. By lunch time, I was so tired and just wanted to find a mat in the rehab gym to lie down on for a little while. I remember having to call my home health patients and reschedule them for later in the afternoon because I was not finished at the hospital. A co-worker even offered to stay for me so I could go home and rest. I told her I would be fine. As I was trying to rest, my fellow therapists were growing concerned about me. I called the doctor around 12:30 to get an appointment but they couldn't see me until 2:00 pm. I tried to rest but just felt awful so my boss ended up taking me via wheelchair to my doctor's office so I could maybe get in earlier than planned. The office was in a building connected to the hospital so it only took a few minutes to get there, but by the time we arrived, I was starting to have serious pain. It was 1:30 p.m. The nurses heard me crying in the waiting area and got me back to a room. They had a hard time finding a doctor because it was their lunch hour and they were either rounding or in surgery. Finally, they found a doctor. He checked me and I remember him saying something about the baby's head. He told me I was going to have a baby very soon. What?

In a storyline that could have been an "ER" episode, they couldn't find a stretcher so they picked me up, put me in a wheelchair, told me not to push (uh...impossible) and ran with me down the hall toward the hospital with the doctor running in front of us. He was on his cell phone talking to the 7th floor, telling them to get a surgery room ready and call a neonatologist. My boss was still with me, running along side while on my cell phone calling my husband, who worked 40 minutes away in Mississippi, to tell him I was in labor and come to the hospital quickly. When I get to the room, there were already several people there waiting on me. They lifted me onto a table and told me not to push. Yea, right. Tried but that didn't work. One nurse was coaching me on how to breathe while putting papers in front of me to sign for admittance to the hospital. I was in shock. Could he survive? Would I survive? How did this happen? Will I see Roger again? Every time the door opened, I looked to see if it was Roger all while the nurse was trying to get me to focus...breathe...push...It only took 3 or 4 pushes and my little boy was born. He cried and it was the sweetest sound I had ever heard. He weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces and was 14 1/4 inches long. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. They immediately started working on him while awaiting the ambulance and team from the local children's hospital who would take him to the NICU.

The nurse took me in to a regular room and my husband soon arrived. We were both a little in disbelief. This was our first child and we certainly weren't expecting this. (We were scheduled for our child birth class a couple of weeks from then. This wasn't the right order!) The transport team wheeled our little guy into the room so we could see him - 2-3 minutes at most. Ten little fingers and ten tiny toes. He even had a little hair on his head. I could already see that he had a cowlick! He was amazing. So perfect. We tried to take it all in for the short time he was there. We had never seen someone so small. And he was ours. Hard to comprehend at the time. Then they had to take him away. The neonatologist arrived to tell us what to expect during our NICU stay. We had no idea what a roller coaster ride we were in for. Our sweet baby was soon on his way to a new place and we were still there trying to wrap our minds around it all.

We named him Nathan Grant. Nathan means "gift from God." He is exactly that. He spent the next 2 1/2 months in the NICU. It was an incredibly difficult time. He battled a serious bowel infection while there called necrotizing enterocolotis which we thought might take his life. He was so sick. It was so hard to watch him go through this. Surgeons rounded on him daily to assess whether or not to remove part of his intestines. Difficult really isn't adequate to describe what we went through.

But God....I love those words. But God spared his life. God worked in amazing ways through our circumstances. He healed our little boy and surgery was not necessary. Nathan had the most minor of intracranial hemorrhages (hemorrhaging is common in preemies) - which resolved, and even his retinopathy was the mildest it could possibly be. God's hand was on every detail of his life. We were blessed to bring Nathan home on January 13, 2006, 2 1/2 weeks before his original due date. He weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces when we he was discharged from the hospital.

He is a miracle in our lives. God was so gracious in sending us this little boy. Nathan is a tremendous blessing. His only delays are in speech but he has received speech therapy since he was 2 1/2 years old and he has almost overcome these deficits! All praise to God! He is an active, imaginative, and creative little boy. I couldn't imagine life without him.

God was so evident in the events of October 31, 2005 and the many days and weeks that followed while in the hospital. He continues to amaze me. The fact that I worked in the hospital that was connected to my doctor's office building...The fact that I could have gone home at lunch instead of staying at the hospital, but I didn't...The fact that I was supposed to be at a patient's home for his therapy at the time I went into labor, but I wasn't...quite possibly saved our lives. The outcome could have been so different. God worked in and through that experience. My faith was strengthened as I watched it all unfold. His grace, power, and mercy were on full display. And I am so thankful. My prayer is that my precious gift from God will grow into a young man who loves the Lord, fears the Lord, and serves Him faithfully. I pray that He will continue to work in and through Nathan. May God receive the glory for it all!

Happy Birthday my sweet Nathan!

A busy October and some really great kids

I am so far behind on my blogging. It seems as though life is moving at warp speed since school began. There are so many things going on in my life right now! I guess I had just forgotten how busy October is.

Earlier in the month, Roger and I were able to go to the Alabama/ Vanderbilt game in Tuscaloosa for homecoming. It was so much fun! We had a blast. First, Alabama won, so that was great. Second, it was Roger's first Bama game and he loved it. Most importantly, it was an opportunity for us to get away together for a night, which was much needed and enjoyed!

Last weekend, I had an opportunity to go back to my hometown, Hanceville, Alabama, and visit with high school friends at our school's homecoming. It was fun and so good to see how everyone is doing these days, how we have changed, how we have not changed. Lots of reminiscing. It was a "pre-reunion" so to speak. Our 20th high school reunion is next year (wow! we are old!). Looking forward to seeing even more friends then.

Nathan's kindergarten class is busy too. Next week, he gets to go on a field trip to a pumpkin patch with his class. He is so excited and I know it will be fun. His class also has Nursery Rhyme Day. Nathan has chosen "Humpty Dumpty" for his rhyme so I am trying to get something together to make him look like an egg. His only request is that I don't make him look like a cracked egg! Apparently, the thought of the fall off of that wall doesn't set well with him. I told him that even if I made him look cracked, it wouldn't hurt. No use though. No scrambling. A whole Humpty Dumpty he will be.

Today, Luke got to go on his first field trip of the year with his preschool class at Little Tree. I want to say a big thank you to Scott Parks and the students of Project Outreach at Spanish Fort High School for making it all possible. Project Outreach is a group of high school students who have an interest in working with special needs kids. They have a heart for them too. From the moment we arrived, they welcomed the kids and really worked to engage the kids in all the activities. They all had a great time. I really appreciate the time and effort that they put into making this day happen for our kids - kids that they don't know, kids that may not understand what is going on, kids that may not be able to verbalize anything to them. Yet, they didn't stop trying to talk to the kids or trying to get to know them. They wanted the kids to have a great time. A fun day was had by all. It takes a lot of work to put something like this together and to see the number of young people there with an interest in helping these kids, my son included, was so encouraging. So much of what I see in the news about teens is negative. That is why I wanted to take the time to write this. These young women and men are reaching out beyond themselves to learn about and care about those who are different, those who have special needs. They aren't self absorbed, "me first" kind of kids but rather kind, caring, and sincere young adults who want to make a difference in people's lives. I wish there were more programs out there like this in our schools. Bullying is a problems in schools, especially with autistic students as the targets. Programs such as this one could go a long way in decreasing bullying and breaking down stereotypes that people with disabilities are somehow not capable. Sure, some things are out of reach, but there is so much they can do. There is so much they can offer. Get to know someone with autism or down's syndrome or CP or anything and your life will be richer for it. Disability or not, we are all human and when we see each other as just that, the differences don't matter quite so much. I hope these are the kinds of kids that my son will one day have the privilege of calling "friends."

So, kuddos to Mr. Parks and his students. Thanks you for your time and effort to put it all together. Even more, thank you for caring. Thank you for seeing our kids as kids, not disabilities. The world is a little nicer place because of programs like Project Outreach and the special people that are a part of it.