Grayson's Story

Chad and I were married in July of 2011. Neither of us were in NO way ready for babies, in fact we had decided we wanted to wait for a while. Of course though, like every other part of our lives, God had another plan.

The week after Thanksgiving 2011, Chad was giving me a hard time, joking that I was pregnant because I was a little "late". The next day I went in to refill my birth control (ironic. and yes - I was on birth control!) When I decided to pick up some pregnancy tests, just to be safe! Chad was at school and I was expecting a friend to come over for lunch but I decided to go ahead and take the tests really quickly.

The first test I took came back positive, I panicked a little so I took the rest of the tests. Right when I found that they were all positive, my friend walks in the door to me bawling my eyes out holding the tests in my hand. I was in such shock and I knew that we had planned on waiting and I wasn't ready for a baby! After telling her the news and calming down a bit, we decided to go for a walk. When we returned I was talking on the phone with my cousin asking her what I should say to Chad, little did I know, Chad had come home early to pick something up and was in the other room listening to my conversation. He sent me a text saying "whatever it is, you better tell me."

I motioned to my friend to leave and walked in to face Chad. I immediately started crying again, fearing that he was going to be so upset. When he asked what was going on and I told him the news I buried my face in my hands, he let out a little laugh and hugged me. He was so excited and reassured me that everything would be okay. The next day we went to the doctor to take another test to confirm that I was, indeed, pregnant. I was four weeks along, and my due date would be August 5th and the day after that we told our parents.

Skipping ahead to June of 2012.

We moved into our new apartment in northern Kentucky June 1st. A couple weeks later we had taken a trip to Anderson, Indiana to visit some family. We returned on Sunday night. Chad goes to work everyday so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was unpacking and pool-going for me.

Thursday, June 28th, Chad left for work at about 7am to get there early. I woke up at about 7:15 to go the bathroom, when I stood up from the bed I realized that I may have already went. The bed was dry but for some reason, I was wet. I immediately called my mom and she told me to call my doctor. By this time I figured out that I was feeling, what I thought were some braxton hicks. My doctor told me to come on in and to pack a bag just in case.

I immediately tried to call Chad but he wasn't answering. I got in my car at 7:40 and saw that I was out of gas! I pulled over at a gas station and as I stuck the pump into the car I felt water running all down my legs. I was so embarrassed and noticed that people were staring at me. Finally on the road, I continued to try to call Chad, he picked up and I told him about what was going on. He told me to keep him posted and I parked and walked in to my doctor's office.

When I got inside, I signed in and they told me that I'd have to wait for a few minutes. Soaking wet, I went in to the bathroom to change. They took me back and the doctor did an ultrasound to make sure the baby was alright, because I wasn't due for another 5 1/2 weeks. After everything checked out, she explained to me that I was, in fact, in labor. So she proceeded to finish breaking my water and SENT ME ACROSS TOWN, BY MYSELF, to the hospital. I had never been to the hospital here before! Even when I registered for delivery I was at the doctor's. Getting in my car I called my mom, my mother in law, and Chad to let them know I was in labor and headed to the hospital by myself.

Having trouble finding a parking spot I pulled into the staff parking lot on accident. A lady in the lot yelled at me and told me I couldn't park there. My contractions were pretty painful at this point and I explained that I was in labor. She pointed me in the right direction and I went on my way. With about 6 different people trying to call me over and over again, trying to drive myself, and contractions interrupting my driving every few minutes, I was struggling to finally get parked.

Upon entering the hospital, the person at the help desk pointed me towards the elevator and when I got there, there were about 15 old men in business suits. We all piled in, and they all stared at me, not showered, wet pants, 3 huge bags on my hip, when finally one of them asked if he could take me where I needed to go. I was SO grateful and eventually made it to my room and changed into a hospital gown.

In so much pain, the nurse poked a prodded and hooked me up to an IV. Eating Popsicle after Popsicle (because that's all I was allowed to have) Chad finally arrived at about 9am. At about 11:30 I got my epidural and shortly after that my parents arrived. Around 2:30  Chad's parents arrived and everyone started realizing that no one had eaten so Chad, his parents, and my dad went down to get something to eat. As soon as they had left, my doctor told me that it was time to start pushing! We hurried to get Chad back in the room and an hour later (3:38pm) we had baby Grayson in our arms. Weighing in at 5 pounds, 3.8 ounces, 18 inches long, he was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen.

They cleaned him up and took him away to the NICU. No one was allowed to hold him at first, because he was so early and so small he had to be hooked up to monitors that tracked his heart rate and temperature. Later that evening Chad and I were finally allowed to hold him and feed him. He stayed in the NICU for 3 days and made completely perfect progress, meeting all the goals and requirements he needed to before we were allowed to take him home.

He was the smallest thing I'd ever held, he smelt so delicious and I wanted to kiss every inch of him. His tiny fingers wrapped around my pinky, with room to spare. His hair was dark and soft and he looked just like a small man. His eyes were so big and when he looked at you the rest of the world was nonexistent. I wanted to hold him forever. I was madly in love.

So on a rainy Sunday, July 1st, we packed up our baby and finally took him home. We were so scared that we'd break him, but he was a perfect angel for us and we've had nothing but joy because of him ever since.