Special Delivery

Alright everyone… I’m proud to announce… If you didn’t know, that my wife Susan and I heard the first cries of our baby boy Pierre James (PJ) Bibbs, last Wednesday at 4:02 a.m. at Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital in Glasgow.

It occurred to me that my son is a miracle in a sense. I don’t use the term lightly.

I’ll take you on a little journey of what my wife, myself and our mothers (Doris Bibbs and Nancy Fauth) went through.

Monday at about 10 p.m. (basically deadline day for writing) Susan told me that I should probably shower because she thought the baby was coming that night.

After that we took a late night trip to Glasgow in hopes that they may admit us.

They ran stress tests on Susan and the baby. To the machines everything looked normal, except Susan was in a lot of pain.

Seeing that Susan was not dilated enough they advised us to stay in Glasgow overnight.

One problemo… All of the hotel rooms were booked. We went back to the hospital but they couldn’t provide us with a bed for my wife, who was in tremendous pain.

So at about 2:30 a.m. or later, we decided to suck it up and drive home. Susan did not sleep a wink due to the pain and I slept one-and-a-half hours.

Tuesday for the paper is our day to put it all together and print so I woke up as usual to get things done. All of a sudden my phone rings and rings and rings… Turns out the doctor was calling us in, due to the fact Susan was in excruciating pain still.

I frantically gather my work. Sleep deprived. Drained. But determined, because at that time I was concerned that my wife and unborn child were both in danger.

So, I drive a little faster than I typically would that day, but not too fast (hitting a deer in a sedan probably isn’t fun.)

We get there and they check her again… They send us around town to walk for two hours.

Aw, finally some progress on the dilation, but the baby still wasn’t fully engaged.

They advise us to walk for another two hours. In our sleep deprived state, that wasn’t fun. I actually ran out of things to talk about… (Anyone that knows me, knows I can whip up a conversation out of anything.)

Finally. Susan is finally in the “active labor” category.

They check us in. After they checked us in, they sent us on another walk. By this time, we were encouraged knowing that at least we were in, this walk went way better than the last and it was only 45 minutes.

Next they hook up Susan to an IV and gave her fluids and something to speed up the dilation process. After several hours they realized things weren’t moving how they wanted them and after I got the feeling back in my hands, thanks to my wife squeezing hard, they gave her an epidural.

Now we’re into Wednesday morning, 3:00 a.m. to be exact. I woke up to hear our wonderful doctor, Ann Millard and nurse Sue give Susan options. Option A, a labor induction (only a 40% chance of working) or a Caesarean.

Susan looks at me and says what do you think? I respond, whatever it takes, lets get that baby out of there.

After talking to our mothers and waiting for them to prep Susan, they sent me in… minutes later our 8 lb, 3 ounce boy was born.

It turns out he couldn’t drop lower, because A. he had his umbilical chord wrapped around his neck. B. he tied his cord in a double knot.

It doesn’t take a doctor to realize things could’ve went terribly wrong.

You may say it was just the doctors doing their job. But I believe in God’s provision. After all the prayers we prayed, I know without a shadow of a doubt God was there for us this whole pregnancy. Fo Real.