David....Again.


March 18, 2007 was a cold Sunday morning. My due date was April 20th. Sitting in church, the contractions would not stop coming, so Ed and I found somebody to watch Donny and Bree, then we stopped so Ed could change his clothes and we were at the hospital by 11:30am. At 1:37 David was born. A nurse put him on my chest and I knew something wasn't right. I said to the nurse,"What is wrong with my baby?". She said there was nothing wrong with him. I told her to come get him because something was wrong with his breathing. Moments later, he was rushed to the NICU. I would not hold my baby again for more than 24 agonizing hours. David's doctor said he was not improving and would need to be put on a ventilator. I sat and cried. My mom and dad were there the next day and Ed and my dad gave David a priesthood blessing. The nurse said David started to improve immediately. After three days in the hospital, I was discharged. David stayed in the NICU on oxygen and a feeding tube. I would spend the next 6 days going back and forth from home to the hospital. On the 9th day, we brought home our tiny man, weighing in at 5lbs 8oz. He would remain on oxygen for 19 days. Little did I know his lungs would become the strongest things on his body.
Today, 3 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days later(approx), he threw the mother of all tantrums. It all started when it was time to get ready for church. He didn't like the outfit I picked out so we went upstairs to find a new one. I gave in and let him wear the jeans. He refused the tie, and I didn't want to have a major meltdown, so I thought a white shirt and nice jeans were good enough. We went downstairs to get his shoes on and that's when things got ugly. He did not want to wear church shoes. He wanted to wear slippers. Not just any slippers, his Scoody Doo slippers. That is where I drew the line, I refused to let him wear slippers to church. He would spend the next 20 minutes throwing a fit about the slippers. He refused to go to church. What could we do, let him scream through church? I stayed with him, Mallory was sleeping, might as well let her have a good nap before church. Five minutes later, he freaked out because he wanted to go to church. We waited til Mallory woke up about 45 minutes later.
By the sheer grace of God, I had to take Mallory out of my class because she was getting fussy, and it was then that I heard a very familiar sound. Cry. Scream. Yes, it was David. He didn't want to color, then when it was time to put the crayons away, he felt cheated that he didn't get to decorate his page. I took him out into the hall and all the doors started to close. He was loud! Ed heard him from primary and came out to help. Thank goodness. I went to get the stroller, and by the time I got around to the other side of the building, David was fine. I decided to take him home. There were only 5 minutes of church left anyway. In hindsight, I probably should have just let him wear the slippers to church.
People keep telling me one of these days I will look back and laugh. Today is not that day.
I love you so much, David. Thanks for keeping it interesting.

Comments

Mak said…
Thank you for posting this! maybe it is the day they were born, or the exact age, but you could be describing what we go through with Wren EVERY OTHER DAY (at least).

Nice to know that it is at least normal for our almost-3-and-a-half year olds1

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