WE'RE HEADED FOR A VALLEY

Everybody thinks that because there is such a big age gap between Sam and Kyle, that Sam was an oops.....I assure you he wasn't. He was however supposed to be a girl, but that just didn't happen. I am so blessed to be Sam's mom....he is such a blessing to all of us. I was always sure I wanted a big family, but Rod needed some convincing. Sam was born exactly when he needed to be and even then God was preparing for a miracle to happen. There are 7 years between Kyle and Sam and then Jesse and Taylor are even older. What was really a neat experience for the boys is that they were old enough to remember Sam being born and all of the excitement that surrounds waiting for a new baby to arrive. The excitement quickly turned to worry and stress as we were all faced with the possibility that Sam may never come home. I knew about 5 months into my pregnancy that Sam was a boy.....we had a test done so we were 100% sure he was all boy. What we didn't know was that there was anything wrong with his heart. I had all of the usual tests done during a pregnancy and the ultrasound showed a normal heart rate with 4 chambers and it all appeared fine. My pregnancy was normal, my health was good and not in a million years did I even suspect that anything was wrong with my baby boy. It wasn't until I was in labour that the first signs appeared that Sam might be in trouble. During the last phase of labour Sam's heart rate would drop dramatically with each contraction. At first no one seemed to concerned, but each time it got worse....the nurses started to get a bit excited and they called for my doctor to come as quickly as possible.....the baby needed to come out. He was in distress and no one knew why. I don't think the severity of the situation really had registered with me. I was in pain, and I also had an infection that they had to put me on IV drugs for and Sam was not supposed to be born until all of the drugs had passed through my system.....this had not happened yet. There was so much going on and no one could have prepared me for what Rod and I were about to face. We were headed for a valley.......and I really needed God to walk with me.......he not only walked with me , he carried me.
Debbie

THE BEGINNING

Sam is 8 years old and has so much energy and spunk that it's hard to believe that his life was ever in jeporady. We believe that he is a miracle and why God chose to heal our son.....well I am not sure of the answer to that yet, but I am so glad that he did. Sam asks us all of the time about what happened to him and why he has so many scars. I am going to write about his journey so he can read and see how miraculous it is that he survived. He was born with a heart defect that went undetected until minutes after he was born. Sam this is your story and this is for you. You are so special and when I look at you I am reminded everyday that there are miracles all around us. Some are bigger then others, but they are still there if we would just open our eyes and see God's hand in all of it.