It basically started out with Kirstin having a feeling that something was not right with Cole about 4 weeks before his due date. He was not being active like he had been and this worried her. After a call to the OBGYN it was decided to go ahead and visit the hospital and run a few tests just to make sure all was ok.
Well, they stuck a small pig tail looking device in the top of Cole's head to monitor his heart rate and many other things I can not pronounce much less spell. His heart rate stayed constant and his movements were very few which alarmed the doctor and nurses greatly. The next thing I know we are hearing it is time for a emergency C-Section.
Everything happened really fast at this point. My wife was taken to the OR for prep and I was taken to a changing room to get some make shift scrubs on. Once I got inside the C-Section started withing minutes. I watched as the doctor made the incision across my Kirstin's lower mid section and remember her side stepping an ocean of amniotic fluid that came next. I was nervous and knew something was really wrong but never let my wife in on it. The doctor pulled Cole from the incision she had just made and I noticed that Cole was the color of an elephant. He was grey, not moving and not crying. Cole is our second child so I knew
how the first delivery went and how Logan looked. This was a complete 180 from that.
Cole was handed from the OBGYN to our Pediatrician who immediately went to work trying to get Cole to breathe. I remember taking a step to go see what was happening and another doctor taking my arm and telling me to stay with Kirstin. I lied to Kirstin and told her everything looked fine and that they were just getting him to move. It took around 6 minutes for the doctor to get Cole to breathe and somewhat cry. From there he was taken to the nursery and put on oxygen.
Next thing I know it is being explained to me that he probably had been sitting on his cord and swallowed meconium. Then MUSC sent their Meducare Ambulance for transport from East Cooper Hospital. I then had to leave Kirstin at East Cooper and follow EMS to MUSC where we would spend the next 2 weeks.
When I got to MUSC I was told by doctors that he probably would not survive the night. They led me back to where he was and all I could see was him hooked up to an uncountable number or wires and hoses.
From the time we knew something was wrong Kirstin and I began to pray. This was the biggest storm we had ever faced and we had to completely depend on God to give us strength and pull Cole through. We depended on our church family for support and prayer as well. You see I have always been a Christian but I had not always been the spiritual leader God expects me to be. I had just started back to regularly going back to church maybe 2 months before this happened.
Now back at East Cooper they told Kirstin that once she was able to shower on her own she would be able to discharge and go to MUSC with Cole. So that day she showered on her own and headed down with me to MUSC ;-)
Over the next 2 weeks we were told numerous things were wrong with Cole. His liver and heart were not working right, he had to have frozen plasma injected constantly, and his lungs were not strong enough to support life were the first troublesome issues. How did we handle this? We prayed. We also had a church family praying and fellow Christians all over the world praying.
Next up they told us that they had found hundred tiny bleeds on his brain and that if he survived them (which was slim) he would be vegetable like. We turned to God again and prayed.
The next day they did another brain scan and could not find any bleeds. The doctor actually said to us, "I do not understand this...I have never seen this happen before. Ever." He may not have known why but Kirstin and I did.
Over the last week of being at MUSC Cole slowly recovered from every thing that was wrong with him. Finally a nurse came in and asked us if we were ready to take him home...it was New Years Eve 2003. As we got Cole ready to head home the doctor explained to us that Cole probably would never use his arms and legs. They were so weak from all the damage he had suffered and would not recover. The doctor also explained that his speech may be affected as well. We really didn't care, we just wanted our son home.
After his birth we had to follow up with the High Risk Clinic at MUSC once a year so they could assess his disabilities and help us with any rehab he might need. Every year we had doctors read his chart outside the room. They would walk in and look at Cole then walk out to make sure they were in the right room. Every one of the doctors would tell us that there is no reason that Cole should be alive. Science said Cole should be dead but God had other plans.
So here we are 7 years later and Cole has absolutely no effects from all the issues he had! As a matter of fact we nickname him Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs as well as Tornado because he has two speeds: High and Sleep.
While going through the trial of Kirstin's chronic illness (which I will need an entire book to chronicle) I had two different friends tell me something that helped he. At different times each of them told me, "You never know who is watching you go through these times. You don't know who you are affecting and possibly turning to God because of your compassion towards your wife and how you care for her. God is using your trouble for a greater good".
That helped to sustain me through some of the roughest points in Kirstin's illness. They were right and I will never know why God allowed my trials. I just know he used them for his greater good. And when I finally make it to Heaven I hope He will tell me, "Well done my good and faithful servant..."
