When my labor started, my fears became more intense. When we started for the hospital, I started crying. Wayne asked if I was hurting that bad and I told him I was just very scared that something was wrong. He tried to calm me and told me I was just imagining it. I calmed some when I arrived at the hospital and was sent direct to the delivery room. Dr Blender called his nurse to where I was and told her "I want you to watch a perfect birth" The birth was quick, but when Danny was born he would not start breathing. Dr Blender let me go and frantically started working on him. I was very frightened. He turned him over and massaged his back while repeating over and over "Please baby, Breathe" Danny let out one faint little cry and stopped, Dr Blender worked longer and finally after he got a better response, sent him to the incubator for oxygen while he finished with me. It was then that he told me Danny could not live more than two hours with his underdeveloped lungs. Wayne was waiting for me when I was taken to my room. He asked me why I was so white. That was the first time I broke down and cried after Danny’s birth. I asked him what he expected me to look like after being told my baby was going to die. He became angry and said I should not have been told. I disagreed. A short time later, Dr Blender came into my room and asked if I wanted to go see our baby. Dr Blender, was also a great friend of ours. He personally rolled me into the hall by the nursery so I could tell my little boy goodbye. Danny’s little chest heaved as he gasped for breath. It was very hard on me emotionally to see our baby in such distress. I hated to leave him, but knew I had to. I was taken back to my room where I prayed and prayed without benefit of sleep for my little boy to live. In desperation, I bargained with God to at least let him live to be 18, so at least we could get to know him. People heard about his plight and prayers were being said in every church in Cherokee. Danny barely hung onto life the first few days, but gradually became stronger. We had a special nurse around the clock for 3 days and let her go when we thought he was going to be OK. The next morning I awakened around 5 AM. I was startled and felt something horrible was happening. I wanted to jump out of bed and run. I could also hear voices down the hall. I decided after a few minutes I was just exhausted and imagining things, so went back to sleep. Dr Blender came in around 7 AM and told me they about lost him again, that the plug that babies have to prevent them from taking a breath before birth had just come loose and was choking him. A nurse just happened to go by at the right moment and saw what was happening. Another miracle. We reassigned the special nurse for another few days and took one day at a time. Danny remained in the hospital 30 days before he was finally strong enough to come home. I never forgot my bargain, but let the thoughts slip into the shadows as the years went on. Danny died on Aug 21 before his 19th birthday on November 2, 1972. When we went to see him the night he died, our doctor gave us condolences and told us how sorry he was. I told him we were lucky to have had him as a gift for 18 years. He asked me a few months later what I meant. I told him that Danny was a gift for those 18 years. I did not feel that God took him away from us. He just loaned him to us for the promised years and called him home at age 18 fulfilling the promise/bargain I made some 18 years before. |
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Created December 25, 2020
Updated: 15 June, 2021
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