Zack

17 years ago a long awaited for baby boy was born.

I have no idea what he weighed or how tall he was, all we thought about at that time was for him to survive.

Backtrack to a difficult pregnancy, a much wanted and delayed pregnancy. Sabrina had been living with Frank for 7 years and then married hoping to have a child. (She did keep her maiden name) Nothing happened very quickly for that girl and then finally she had to be very cautious during that time period.

So we are at the hospital, a fairly new hospital, very nice and well oiled in care and doctors. Her doctor happened to be working in that hospital only.
Run or owned by a religious group the only complaints I ever heard about them is that no coffee or cafeine was served, but very healthy food with tons of vegetables.
For the life of me now I forget the name of the church.They do honor Saturdays as the day for rest and the Sabbath.

Sabrina is ready and I am to be with her trying to hold hands and ignoring the pain in my baby. The doctor comes and goes, often, I have camera in hand or so does her sister we film the whole episode. Finally I hear the doctor tell the nurse to get the team ready we will have a cesarean section. Nurse looks at him and said something I will NOT forget :"Doctor, we do not have a staff ready, so and so has to come from Fairview and so and so from another town". He does not answer, you can see that he is very annoyed. He orders: I need to see how this baby is doing bring him the equipment NOW.......he mentions what he needs...he waits..goes down the hall.
No one ever came. He tells Sabrina that every time he tries to get the head the baby retracts back in. The doctor is quiet but does not leave us. I smell trouble.
Another nurse comes in and there are looks to each other but there is a quiet in the room besides Sabrina's complaints.

No one comes with news of a team nor machinery.
It dawns on me..it is Saturday!!!!
We are here with a skeleton crew.

Doctor and nurses gather around the end of the bed, one has a blanket ready, the baby finally comes with a cord around the neck, color is not normal, cut the cord quickly and the nurse grabs the baby wraps him up and runs down the hall.
I follow....she goes into a room and someone shuts the curtains in front of my nose on the window. We know nothing.
I know nothing. I did not hear a cry.
I am thinking this is all over with and I want to just sit on the floor in a corner and weep.
Mother in law comes from the waiting room and who ever was there I have not a clue anymore we form a circle in the hall in front of the nursery and pray, we pray out loud, we want this baby, Lord how we want this baby to live.

A nurse comes out of the elevator trying to get a smock on while she runs, it is Rhonda's friend she is a specialist for lungs here and they called her to come in.
Rhonda tells her while both are running that this is Sabrina's baby. She answers I will do my best.

I do not remember if we saw Zack that day, every time I went to the nursery someone would shut a curtain. Sabrina did not see him and we were told that he would be ok
but needs some help with breathing.

The angst was enormous it was several days before Sabrina could nurse him in the nursery, he was not coming out of that place for awhile. They did not go home for days.

In the end he was saved by the crew in the nursery but we all know and have the video still that it should have been cut and dry a cesarean section.

Zack was a big baby, cute as a button, he smiled all the time, he was our joy rarely had a fit so by week 6 he was on the road with us selling Santas and loved to ride in the car except for one town "Augusta Ga". It did not matter how old he got he would scream all the way from Augusta to home some 3 hour ride.
We almost gave up the Augusta shows but we always sold out there, he just hated that town and he could not even speak.

Today Zack has another challenge , he hardly had an aspirin in his 17 years, he is a man, 6 feet 5" and he HAD cancer, a fast moving nasty cancer. So now he is on the mission to stop it from coming back and has a severe regime of chemo for one year.
It is hard to be 17 ,treated in pediatrics, not being able to do the football, not being able to be with his palls in his senior year, could not go to the yearly fair, can't go to the games....and on and on.

An infection now or catching anything from a sick person would be very dangerous.
So far he has needed numerous blood transfusions to keep going. His hair is gone but his spirit is very high. He gets angry now and then and has a right to but it does not last. He is so liked by the nurses and doctors. He has the right attitude.
The world needs Zack and he will be your best mechanic as this is where he will go to school next when this battle is over with.

Happy birthday ,my baby bear, you will never know how much joy you have given me already so do keep it up!!!!Meme loves you !!!!!!!!!!!!