Big Sis To The Rescue

by Shawna Cline

Hi, my name is Shawna and my son's name is Andrew James. When I found out I was pregnant with Andrew I was amazed and so was his daddy. I had waited 7 years to have another child and actually thought I would never have another one.

The pregnancy went smoothly. We did have a couple of scares that Andrew might come early towards the end. The date was set for May 24th, 2004. I was so scared to have another c-section (because I have a flap over the base of my uterus). My daughter was also a c-section so I was very scared.

At 8:30 am. Andrew was here barely breathing. For God knows why they had him on oxygen for 2 hours before I could even see him or feed him. I was scared. Franticly I was screaming, Where is my son? Finally my older sister Shannon brought the only signs of life to me. Andrew's first photo of him on oxygen fighting to breathe.

I had no clue what was wrong with my baby boy. A nurse finally came in and explained to me that he was a couple of weeks early and if he didn't start to breathe on his own without oxygen then they were going to send him out to another hospital. My heart was wrenched. If he was leaving then so was I. That's all I knew.

I heard him crying from across the hall and so wanted to run to him, then I saw his big sister Dorothy pass by the room towards the nursery. No more crying from him, she had walked right up to the warmer and grabbed his little hand in hers and said "bubba don't be sad I am here, its sissy" and he stopped crying. It was the best feeling I had all morning. They brought him to me with no oxygen on him and I immediately put him on the breast. He was so hungry, I swore he ate for like 1/2 an hour.

Birth weight was 6 pounds 14 oz. Now at almost 7 months old on Christmas eve he is still breastfeeding and loving every minute of it. Andrew is almost 18 pounds and on some solid foods. I thought I would never have this chance again and I honestly believe Andrew and Dorothy are my little miracles.

Dorothy was a breastfed child to for a couple of months because I didn't know really to much. I was young but with Andrew I'm taking this ride for as long as we both can..