I will go ahead and apologize if this blog seems to ramble on but man what a week this was. It began on Tuesday evening, March 9, 2010. After working a full day, I came home to pick up the wife and we were to begin our journey to expand our family. We picked up my mother-in-law at the airport and met my parents for dinner. I think we were all feeling the excitement and ready for an exciting 24 hours.
We got Stephanie settled in the hospital room around 9pm. The grandparents to be decided to head out for the evening as we all knew this was going to take several hours for the process to get going. They started the inducing around 11pm, that I remember. The nurse was having an issue trying to draw blood from Stephanie and Stephanie was in obvious pain. I tried to calm her by rubbing her face; however, what I did next, I think did not help her out at all. I passed out and in doing so, I slammed my head on the ground. The next thing I remember is waking up in the ICU after going through a CT scan the night before. I went in for another CT scan at 1pm and the results were not good. Apparently, a blood clot was beginning to develop on the brain and brain surgery was going to be needed immediately. I lost it and began to cry. My father lost it as well. My mom had to get down to Stephanie's room to tell her what was going on. As the doctor was giving us the news, an associate pastor of our church came in to the room. Talk about some major intervention for us! The doctor left and it was just my dad, myself and the pastor. He went right to scripture and started reading. He read us Psalm 34, which partially states,
"1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears" (NIV)
As I sat there realizing I was going to be going into brain surgery, I could only focus on how Great and awesome our God was. Many who know me understand how much music means to me and how powerful songs can be. The one that came to mind as I was being wheeled down to surgery was Chris Tomlin's How Great is our God.
They wheeled me past Stephanie's room and I realized that this was the hardest part of my life. When the doctor tells you death can be a result, holy cow do things change! I told her I loved her and that I would see her soon. I can only imagine what this whole thing was doing to her but man she is a strong woman! I have such an amazing amount of admiration for her and her strong faith.
Surgery lasted just over an hour and was a complete success. They passed the information along to my parents and of course to Stephanie. When I woke up, holy cow did I feel better! I got wheeled up to my room and came into a room full of friends and family. From a college roommate to family friends of over 25 years, it was overwhelming. And then I see my phone blowing up with Facebook messages and texts from people from all over. All of these people, whether present in the room or praying from all over will never know the impact the thoughts and prayers had on us. It is overwhelming to even think about it.
Oh, and the day was not over! A baby was needing to make his arrival.
The nurses worked to get me into the delivery room for the big moment. I can never say enough about the nurses and doctors at St. Clare's Hospital in Fenton, MO. Simply amazing!! I got wheeled in there around 1:45am March 11. The wife was pushing and pushing. The drugs had worn off on her and she was still going. At 2:15am, Cameron Andrew Young made his entrance into the world. He was then cleaned off and weighed. The room went nuts when the weight came across: 10lbs, 3 ounces. I have to take full responsibility for that one. I had to leave soon after the picture above was taken but I think the grandparents stayed with that baby as long as they could.
I have started to have a chance and look back and think about last week. It makes me smile, laugh, and cry. But most importantly, it has made me realize one thing that I knew going into my surgery: How Great is our God????? Simply amazing. He was crying with our family going into that surgery. He was holding my wife as I was being wheeled away from her. He was giving to comfort over me as I am seeing Cameron coming into this world.
"You're the name above all names. You are worthy of our praise. And my Heart will sing, how Great is our God." (voice of Chris Tomlin, the heart of many.)
