twenty-one.1

The number twenty-one has always been significant to me—it’s my favorite number, I was born on the twenty-first day of June some twenty-one (plus) years ago, I often see the number—ie; in times, I always look at the clock at 4:21, 6:21, etc., and my first agent code when I became a State Farm agent was 6”21”4. I have always thought it to be lucky and I literally always smile when I see the number.  November 9, 2017, made me smile at the irony of the number even more.  I gave birth to Alexander Sean McClain that day.  He made life from the very beginning very interesting.  You see, we weren’t expecting to have a third baby…although, I never did get rid of my maternity clothes or baby stuff because I always wanted three.  When we went in for a scheduled induction on November 8^th, we weren’t in any too big of a hurry to get there.  I insisted on going to our “big kids’” parent teacher conferences that evening.  I needed to hear how they were doing.  Of course, going to those 9 months pregnant always means there will be tears.  They were all joyful tears, though.  Because our big kids are joy spreaders.  They are uniquely different, however, they share hearts which are overflowing with love and they both are givers of that love (again very uniquely).  Then, Rob and I chose to go eat at Olde Tyme—our last dinner together before the new baby was to arrive.

We got to the hospital around 8 p.m. and the nurses had us settled in very quickly.  Dr. Padgett (he will have his own post some day!) was there soon to start my Cervadil.  He stuck around for a while, which was good because Alex decided he didn’t really like the Cervadil.  Dr. Padgett decided to remove it and monitor Alex’s heart rate for a while.  He spoke to me about having a cesarean section.  Which, I was totally against.  I remember lying on my side (that is how Alex’s heart rate seemed to do best) and crying—trying not to let the nurse see me.  She did.  She stroked my head and said it would be okay.  I busted out, “I DON’T WANT A C-SECTION!”  She kindly agreed with me and said they would do everything they could to not have one.  She also told me how tough I was.  That made me feel good.  From that point, things get blurry.  Rob describes it very well, but it isn’t too important to the message.  I remember Dr. Padgett sitting on the end of my bed, and all of a sudden standing up and saying, “get her in surgery, NOW!”  I cried.  It was a blur going down the hall to OR.  The room was crowded and bright and cold.  There were people scurrying everywhere.  There was no Rob.  What in the world was going on?  I remember them transferring me from the bed I had been in so comfortably to a cold, metal table in the OR room.  I remember this sweet nurse named Sallie.  And, I remember John Allen’s comforting voice above my head.  John and Sallie just kept telling me everything would be okay.  What was going to be okay?  Then, I remember Dr. Padgett looking me in the eyes and saying, “if you are going to do this, you have to push really hard now, okay?!”  I said, Okay and pushed.  I remember Rob coming in and standing by my head and grabbing a leg.  I remember pushing one more time and everyone scurrying even more.  The baby had been born—but, I heard no cries.  I looked at everyone’s somber faces and kept asking, is the baby here, is it okay?  Rob was crying, no one answered me.  Sallie stroked my head and said, “it will be okay, it will be okay.”  I remember seeing Tim Garrett and knowing he would take care of my baby.  I remember Dr. Padgett asking for more help.  It was frantic.  Finally, I heard a baby cry.  You could see relief come across so many.  It was a BOY!  They were taking him to the level 2 nursery, but a super sweet nurse held him up for me to see.  I knew at that moment, I knew.  I told Sallie, but Rob didn’t hear me.



They moved me back to the comfy bed, and rolled me down the hall.  They rolled me into the nursery and let me hold Alexander.  He was perfect!  Our first picture together, he signed “I love you,” and that is exactly what my heart was doing…loving him!  Pretty soon, the pediatrician met Rob and I in the room where it all started.  He explained because of Alex’s physical characteristics, they would be transferring him for an Echo-Cardiogram.  I immediately asked if that would be to Champaign, and Rob chimed in with a yes.  I remember before Dr. Sam left the room, he asked if he could pray with us.  It was a beautiful moment and one I will always cherish.  We were told he would go by ambulance, but later a nurse told us by helicopter.  That seemed to make it more critical to me.  Rob didn’t understand why he needed an echo and I said something about Alex having Down Syndrome.  He said how do you know.  I said I just saw it—he said no one has said it.  And, later, we found it odd, no one mentioned Down Syndrome to us, I only knew because I saw it.


There were several more blurry moments.  Rushing around to make sure we had clothes and a pump so I could get the boy some food.  And, then it hit me, Alex needs to be baptized.  I asked the nurse if this was okay and she gave me a look that wasn’t too assuring and said, “if we can get someone here in time.”  I said, “I know David McNabb will come.”  Rob called him.  He, of course, dropped what he was doing and came to baptize our Alexander.  It was beautiful, and he let Grant help with the ceremony.  Grant was proud like only a big brother can be.  We took family pictures and kissed on our baby.  Soon, we heard the helicopter coming, so my sister and the big kids rushed outside to watch it land.  (there will be a post about my big sister too!)  The two flight nurses entered the nursery and began preparing Alex for his big flight.  They were amazing!  They worked so well with Alex’s nurse Emily (who also deserves her own post) and because of their knowledge, and confidence, I wasn’t even scared about sending my brand new baby with them.  They had us speak to the NICU doctor, who also was awesome (reminded us of Dr. Einhorn) and eased our flight fears even more.  Pretty soon, Alex was carted away in his flight bed.


The flight crew texted us from the air to let us know how close they were to Champaign several times.  They also called us when they landed and had Alex in his room.  How comforting that was!  As soon as Alex left Olney, we gathered our belongings, and headed to Champaign.  My mom drove our car so Rob and I could rest.  She took us to Dairy Queen for some lunch on the road and off we went.  Rob and I didn’t rest too much.  Soon, he decided he should drive!  So, he took us the rest of the way!  When we got to Champaign, we checked into our awesome room at the Guest House which is provided by Carle’s Foundation.  This wonderful resource will have its own post some day with a plea from us to support them!  Then, we went to see our son.


We were welcomed to the NICU by an awesome staff and saw the most wonderful nurse caring for our boy—Miss Leslie.  She was tremendous.  I remember her greeting Alex with a, “Hi sir!” every time she came in.  She treated him like the handsome man he is.  She was so good at her job, that we felt like we were exactly in the right place.  In fact, never once did I doubt that we were supposed to be right there.  We were treated with respect and like we were royalty.  They cared about Rob and I just as much as Alex (which was a lot!)  The doctor came in and for the first time mentioned Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) to us.  He said in order to confirm this diagnosis, he will have to send off blood work and it can take 10 business days to get the results.  He seemed confident with this diagnosis.  He was a very gentle man and assured us that everything would be okay.


The next few days went by at a snail’s pace, but now that I am writing about it, it seems like it flew by.  We were cared for so well, Alex did exactly what he needed to do to get discharged, and after 11 days, we were headed home!  We headed home with the most beautiful boy who changed our lives forever.  We have already learned to love more, our hearts have been stretched even more, and we have learned to trust God.  There will be a post in the future about all of the God winks we have had.  It’s really quite amazing.  The developmental pediatrician who met with us on our last day in Champaign told us some very insightful things.  First of all, he said we have a very healthy boy and with everything that could have gone wrong, we missed all of them.  Next, he told us only 1 in 6 babies with Down Syndrome are born (for one reason or another).  He told us that Alexander is a gift from God and was put on this earth for a reason.  He told us it’s our family’s job to figure out what that reason is.  And, so, here we are…ready to discover with our sweet boy what that reason is.

And, now, twenty-one has an even more special meaning to me.  Because my most precious Alexander has an extra twenty-first chromosome and he is a gift from God!