Our story

Our story has been posted before. It has been told a million times and I hope we get to share it a million times more. Dallas wrote a great entry for it and I would like to share it again.

The journey to bring my first child into this life
This all started two nights ago when Nancy started feeling cramps at 25 weeks into her first pregnancy.
The next morning (yesterday 9-20-05) she called her OBGYN and reported having some cramps and some discharge.
She was told that since there was no current cramping just to watch it.
Then at 8:00pm she started having really bad cramps which turned out to be contractions.
Around 10pm she started vomiting and the cramps got so bad that I insisted we go to the hospital.
So we took the drive to Alta View hospital.
When we showed up in the ER we were automatically taken to the women’s center.
After some tests the doctors found that Nancy was completely dilated and the sack was protruding.
They also found that the baby was head up, so they called for Life Flight to take her to either LDS Hospital or the U of U Hospital.
Life Flight showed up however they were unwilling to take her since she was fully dilated, because they have a rule that they do not transfer if the woman is dilated at a 6 or above.
Therefore Life Flight and the doctors argued back and forth in front of us for a good hour, each trying to convince the other of their recommendations.
They were getting ready to finally decided to take her when the doctor decided to take one more look.
He then found that the baby was coming right now and she could no longer be transferred.
Life Flight therefore left and they prepped Nancy for a c-section.
Once the original Life Flight left they called in the newborn Life Flight specialists and the doctors took her into the OR. (I was unable to accompany my wife since they had to put her to sleep.)
The baby was delivered at 1:24am, bottom first.
The baby was rushed into ICU where he began steps to save his life, including chest compressions on his frail little body.
By this time the new Life Flight had landed and was helping the doctors stabilize Tyler.
Once he was stable enough to transfer they pushed him into the room with his mother for a quick glance and a Priesthood blessing.
They then rushed him to the helicopter, where I helped them load my new baby son into the Life Flight helicopter, and then watched them take off to LDS Hospital.
Then I went in and briefly talked to my wife and then headed to LDS Hospital.
When I arrived he had already landed and they were taking steps to stabilize him again.
After a long wait they finally allowed me into the NICU to see my son after landing.
There was my first and only child, tiny as could be hooked up to all types of equipment.
One of the nurses kindly sat with me and tried to explain everything that was happening.
At 6:30am they made me leave and so I therefore headed home after being awake for 24 hours straight and having a roller coaster of emotions.
Once arriving home I was unable to get any sleep as my emotions and worries once again overtook me.
It is now the afternoon after this amazing and terrifying experience and I have yet to get any sleep.
I have visited my wife again and from all reports mother and son are doing as well as can be expected with the baby being this early.
This is a miracle that is still in progress. Especially since when we were first told we were having the baby this morning we were also told that the chances for the baby’s survival were not very good.
I was later told that my son is a fighter and that is a great thing and that his chances were now at about 80% that he will survive.
Since he is so early he is also unable to create his own red blood cells and therefore with the loss of blood and the blood taken for tests, I was told he would have to have the first of many blood transfusions throughout the next few months.
His blood type is O+ and we thank all that donate blood, and especially thank the unknown people whose blood Tyler has and will get.
I would also like to state that the Women’s Center doctors and nurses at both LDS Hospital and especially Alta View Hospital were SO amazing and so thoughtful and helpful.
We ask all too please keep our family in their thoughts and prayers, as we still have a long, expensive, and tough battle in front of us, with at least 3 months in the hospital.
If all goes well we hope to be able to finally take him home around Christmas.

This was just the beginning of our journey. We had no idea what we were up against. We didn't know when the roller coaster would take us up high and then drop us like a free fall. What we did know, we had a beautiful baby. One that was going to need a lot of prayers, love and time before we could take him home. We also knew that he was special. And that he was ours.