Thank You: To our doctors/nurses

As we drove to the hospital, Baptist South of Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 9:30 am we were full of excitement as we knew THIS would be the day we had been longing for and praying about since August, the day we would finally be able to hold our precious baby boy, Tristan, and yet at the same time for me there was a great fear - the fear of what the day would hold. After we found out about Tristan having Trisomy 18, I began praying specifically for 2 things in regard to the hospital: (1) that we would have the "big room" at the end of the hallway(I couldn't remember the room #) so that all of our family members could be in one room at the same time with plenty of space and so that we would be completely isolated from all of the other new parents with healthy babies and (2) that the nurses taking care of us would completely understand our situation and would sympathize with us, when and if needed. Our expectations were more than met as we entered the 3rd floor Labor & Delivery. We were greeted by a group of nurses with smiling faces saying "Good morning" and then they introduced us to our first nurse, Jen, who was so sweet as she talked to us, calmed my fears and walked us down the hallway to our room. She said, "You'll love your room, you have the big room which you will need with all of your family" (you couldn't miss all of my family walking behind us). I said, "Is it the end room?" She said, "Yes, you know the room?" I said, "Yes, we've seen it before but more importantly I've been praying for this room since August 15th!" She said, "You have?" This was the beginning of what was the most incredible hospital stay we've ever experienced. We've had both our boys at Baptist with the same doctors and with nice nurses but nothing compares to what we experienced for 5 days last week. On our wedding day back in October 1990, we had a couple sing the song "Holy Ground". When we look back on our hospital stay, from the moment we entered the doors of the 3rd floor Labor & Delivery and were met by our nurse Jen, to the moment our nurse, Rani, wheeled me outside to our car and hugged us all goodbye, this is what it felt like to us. Here are the words to that song:

As I walked through the door, I sensed His presence
and I knew this was a place where love abounds
for this is the temple, Jehovah God abides here
and we are standing in His presence on holy ground.
We are standing on holy ground
and I know there are angels all around,
let us praise Jesus now,
we are standing in His presence on holy ground.
In His presence, there is joy beyond all measure,
at His feet peace of mind can still be found,
if you have a need I know He has the answer,
reach out and claim it for we are standing on holy ground.
Let us praise Jesus now,
we are standing in His presence,
we are standing in His presence,
we are standing in His presence on holy ground.

• To my doctors: Dr. Wilford E. Paulk, we appreciate all of your support and encouragement as we met with you every 2 weeks from August 15th to Nov. 29th for sonograms and appts. We realize we came to our appts. with lots of questions and sometimes asked the same questions over and over, week after week, trying to comprehend all that we would be facing in the days ahead and for all the times I was emotional, thank you for understanding and for your soft, sweet reassurance as we traveled this uncertain journey with our precious baby boy. The Lord truly blessed us with you and we hope you know how much we love and appreciate everything you have done for us and for our miracle baby boy, Tristan! AND to Dr. Joseph C. Greenhaw, thank you for being so sweet and comforting from the moment they took me into the OR for the c-section, through all of my unexpected complications, for helping me understand the need of having 2 blood transfusions and calming my fears about it, for joining hands with us and our nurse, Lisa, as she prayed regarding the transfusions and for being excited and sharing in our joy on the last day as we prepared to take our precious baby boy, Tristan, home. The Lord truly blessed us with you and we hope you know how much we love and appreciate everything you have done for us and our miracle baby boy, Tristan! May the Lord continue to bless both of you as you do what the Lord has called you to do, help bring life - especially miracle babies like Tristan - into this world.
  

• To our sweet Christian nurses: Lisa, Katie, Brenda. Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude for what you three mean to us. Your DAILY support, love, hugs, tears (when we cried), your prayers with us and especially your prayers while you stood over Tristan means more than we can ever express. We truly believe the Lord placed each one of you in our room - Room 336 - for a purpose, His purpose, and we appreciate you allowing the Lord to work through you and to use you in our lives and the lives of our family members while we were in the hospital for 5 days. As you know, I had a lot of emotional moments, and moments I was scared when Tristan had his "blue spells" and nervousness when I was told "it was imperative" I receive 2 transfusions and then add my physical weakness to all of that, yet every moment you were all there encouraging me and loving me never pushing me to do more than I could do and never expecting me to emotionally act in a way that I could not. May the Lord continue to bless each of you as you do what the Lord has called you to do, taking care of new moms and new babies - especially miracle babies like Tristan. We hope you three and the entire 3rd floor Labor & Delivery staff enjoyed the Peterbrooke Chocolate basket, just a little thank you gift from Trayc and I and my parents, The Makepeaces.
  

• To everyone else we came in contact with during our stay (registration personnel, nurses that were not personally assigned to us, neonatalogists, dietary deliveries, etc.): Thank you for your sweet spirit every time you entered our room, for understanding our situation and for sharing in our joy and excitement of our miracle baby boy, Tristan. It was greatly appreciated!