Sydney

I am writing from my Mom and Dad's house tonight. After a great morning celebrating Annie, the bride to be, our family packed up the car and made a 3 hour journey South to celebrate my niece's 12th birthday. A pool party with her friends (that, honestly, made me SO nervous about parenting during the middle school years--what an awkward, self conscious age--oh my!) was followed by a delicious family cookout, and an impromptu Wipeout watching party with cousins. One thing is certain, we are all wiped out!

I couldn't help but remember my niece's birth 12 years ago. My amazing sister was 20 and unmarried. At one point as her labor progressed, Boo started crying and said, "I changed my mind. I don't think I can do this."
I remember naively thinking. "Umm, haven't you had 9 months to prepare for this?" The day I delivered my own children I suddenly understood. No woman is ever prepared for the emotions of that moment.

As I was still single and a long way from motherhood, the experience was a bit traumatic for me. I specifically recall when they came in the room to 'break her water' and my Mom encouraged me to stay in the room. I vividly remember telling her is she EVER wanted grandchildren from me she had better let me out of there pronto. I stepped to the other side of the curtain and managed to be terrified just by the soundtrack. How ironic that I never experienced childbirth this way...no water breaking, no pushing, no yelling. Even my sweet sister wound up having a C-section after all that drama.

I remember my Mom, Dad & I holding Sydney while Boo recovered. (Well, maybe not Dad...He was quite afraid he might break her in those early days...now they are best buddies.)

Two weeks after Sydney's birth she stopped breathing and turned blue. Thankfully, she was in her pediatrician's office at the time. She was rushed to a hospital nearby (which did not have a NICU) where she coded repeatedly. All we could do is stand by her bedside and watch. I still remember the pink gingham checked suit I was wearing that day as I paced the halls wondering if after all the strength and resolve my sister had shown in carrying this pregnancy to term without a husband, was it really going to end this way? Sydney was life flighted to Birmingham where a cardiac cath revealed a serious heart defect (Transposition of the Greater Arteries) requiring surgery. Sydney was then flown to Boston for a risky open heart surgery to save her life. My little sister, who had never flown before was suddenly following her desperately ill newborn cross country, unsure of what she might find.

For six long weeks Sydney and Boo were in Boston--with various family members rotating up and back to sit with her. I remember my own short time there...rocking her late one night in the CICU. A tangle of cords cascaded from her little body and cellophane covered her chest to enable quick access if her heart began to fail. I will never forget rocking her and praying with her...whispering in her ear that I knew God must have quite a plan for her life if her testimony was starting this dramatically.

Back then, it seemed impossible to believe that 12 years later she would surpass me in height. (OK, so I am only 5'2") Watching her today as she swam, ran, laughed and played with her friends it seemed impossible to believe she was that fragile little soul we almost lost 12 years ago. But she is...

There are miracles all around us. We must only slow down to look for them and remember what our God has done.

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. Job 37:5 (NIV)