Jimmy turns 10!!!!

I can not believe that it has been 10 years already! I feel so old saying this, but time really does fly! Since it has been a whole decade since he was born I thought that I would take a trip down memory lane and talk about the day that he was born.

Ten years ago right now I was still enjoying that cute, fat 10 lb baby boy. He looked perfect and exactly like Phil. Who knew that at 9:15 that night my world would be turned upside down when the nurse woke me up to tell me there was a problem with the baby. By 10:30 they were wheeling him into my room in an incubator and living off of a machine. The nurse was telling me that I should tell my baby goodbye. I stuck my hand through the little hole on the side, grabbed his hand and told him how much him mommy loved him. Five minutes later he was in a helicopter on his way to Rockford Memorial. He was diagnosed there with Transposition of the Great Vessels and sent immediately to Christ Hospital in Chicago. Phil and his family followed the helicopter all night long from Woodstock, to Rockford, and finally to Chicago. I was in my dark hospital room, with a huge incision from the cesarean, with my mom. She gave me an extra pillow to put on my incision, climbed into my bed, held me tight and told me to just go ahead and cry. I became the baby in my mom's arms that night. I don't know how I would have made it through the night with out her.

Three days later I was on my way to Christ Hospital. Now it was my turn to be strong and be the mom. I stood by Jimmy's bed as long as the nurses would allow me to. They kept getting angry with me and telling me that I was doing too much being that I was post op. I knew better. A mom can never do too much!

At six days old he was taken into surgery. Again the doctors' and the nurses' told us that we should have a moment with the baby. Phil told him that he loved him and had to leave the room. I leaned in reaching around all of the tubes that were keeping my precious baby boy alive and whispered Our Father and then Now I lay me down to sleep into his ear.

His surgery lasted 6 and a half hours. Those were truly the longest 6 and half hours of my life. I just sat there, numb, without any emotion staring at the carpet. Still today I have the design of the carpet ingrained in my brain. When it was finally over they said that Phil and I could go in and see him.He had a whole room to himself. Here he was this tiny little baby on a tiny little bed in a room filled with machines. Each one doing a different job to keep his tiny heart beating and lungs breathing. He had tubes every where. Not even his bald little head was spared because that is where one of the IVs was located. I was not allowed to speak because every time that I did his heart beat would go through the roof. I just sat silently rubbing my thumb along the top of his hand. We were only allowed to stay in there about 10 minutes.

When we went back into the waiting room and I saw my mom the flood gates finally broke. The emotions of the day just flew out of me as I fell into her arms. I was inconsolable. I had been so scared all week that we were going to lose him and I had held it all in wanting to be strong. Now that the worst was over, I could let go.

He ended up spending 3 weeks at Christ Hospital. There were ups and downs through that time but nothing like the actual day of surgery. Poor Joey was being bounced around like a beach ball from family member to family member. Thank God he was an easy going 2 year old and that we had such a helpful family. Phil and I never could have made it through this on our own. It was with family at our side every step of the way that we made it through.

Jimmy has never really stopped giving us challenges. He was the much fussier infant, the impossible toddler, the super attached preschooler, and the student that hates school. However, if you doubled all of the drama you would have the joy and laughter Jimmy brings into our lives every day. I still thank God for our little miracle!

Happy 10th birthday Jimmy, I love you.

P.S. My sister-in-law Kate captured the whole couple of weeks with pictures. At the time I remember telling her that I was never going to want to look at these again. However ten years later I am grateful to her for that. So, here are some of the pictures of that time. Thanks Kate!!

Molly and Phil ~ Visiting Jimmy in the NICU
Molly and Phil ~ Visiting Jimmy in the NICU
Baby Jimmy in the NICU ~ That adult hand is Phil's

Joey and Jimmy meet for the first time 12-20-97
This is the first time I held Jimmy 12-17-97 He was still hooked up to some machines as you can see. He went home 3 days later.