I got the following story from Facebook from old friends I used to work with in Ohio. When I saw this beautiful picture of Lauren and her baby Carson, I was inspired to share her story on our website and newsletter.
Background: The first sign of trouble in Lauren’s pregnancy was her water breaking at 22 weeks. She was admitted into Akron City Hospital immediately, and spent 81 days in the hospital before going into labor. Carson was born on April 28, 6 1/2 weeks early. Since Carson was still at serious risk, Lauren was moved to an operating room next to NICU for the delivery. She was only able to hold him for about 30 seconds before the NICU team took him next door where he would spend the next 3 weeks fighting for his young life.
Here now, in her own words, is Lauren’s story.
As I sat feeding Carson, very early this morning, I started to reflect on this past year. It has been, by far, the most terrifying, yet most rewarding year of my life. I often didn’t share the negative aspects of my journey, but I can’t help but to think about those today. Today is the day…the day Carson should have been born.
I remember walking into the hospital on February 8 being completely terrified about what was happening and not truly comprehending the possible outcomes. I was admitted that night and didn’t walk out of that hospital again until April 29, the day after Carson was born. My first night there, the NICU team came to see me to explain what would happen should Carson (who was nameless at the time) be born anytime soon. They outlined, as part of their job, the likelihood of him surviving at that early in gestation. I believe it was roughly a 40% chance survival rate in babies that small. I remember just sobbing. I didn’t know what to think. I kept asking Jeff, “Why me? Why us? Why do these things keep happening?” I also remember talking to my mom asking (while sobbing), “What do I do if I have to have a funeral? Do I have one? Do I bury him?” She encouraged me to stay positive and that we can’t think that way.
That’s when we decided that we weren’t accepting anything but a good outcome. I remember looking at Jeff our second day there, after things were starting to sink in, and told him that we needed to decide on a name. We needed to tell people who they should pray for and it needed to be specific…they needed to pray for Carson Ray [Last name deleted for privacy], our little boy. We even considered not telling people what was going on but I knew we needed our village, and boy, did it work.
From there, it was an uphill battle. We worked with many doctors and nurses to ensure we were getting the best care for Carson and myself. While my overall experience was great (considering), looking back now, the whole thing feels like a bad dream.
Despite the many challenges, things turned out just how we wanted them…we got our healthy baby boy, our miracle baby and true blessing from God.
Thank you to our village for praying for this little miracle.
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