Nine years ago....

From this......

To this!

Where to start? In honor of Alec's nineth birthday, I will tell the story of his arrival into this world.

How excited we were to find out we were having another baby. We had pretty much given up hope (there are 5 years between Jensen and Alec). So, we were starting over.

When I was 4 months pregnant we moved to Arizona. Not an easy transition, especially when I have pregnancy complications. So far so good with this kiddo, until 23 weeks along.

Valentine's weekend and I awoke hurting and feeling different that normal. The on call Dr. was not concerned and blew me off. A week later and still not feeling great I saw my Dr. He was less than pleased. I was in pre-labor. Are you kidding? I never went into labor with my girls. Why now?

We had been in Arizona for 5 weeks. No real support system. I was put into the hospital for 3 days. Sent home with a pump in my leg and a contraction monitoring machine. I was officially on bed rest. That meant on the coach for the entire day. Not fun! Especially when your girls are 6 and 4. Oh, man!

The ward thought we were inactive, we pleaded with family to come for a week at a time to help out. I had weekly trips to the Dr. Numerous tests, ultrasounds and a couple more stays in the hospital. The goal was to make it to 36 weeks. In late March they threatened to put me in the hospital for 5 weeks. That was more than I could take. I had 2 little girls and there was no way I was going to be gone for that length of time.

When we found out that the baby was a boy, we were shocked. Mackenzie and Jensen cried. They did not want a brother. Scott and I were pretty excited. Although, I was not too sure about the boy thing.

Alec's due date was June 12th. They wanted to get us to the middle of May. It took a lot of prayer, help and fasting. I was on bed rest for 3 months and it was a long 3 months. The girls learned a lot in that amount of time. Sorting laundry, making PB and J for lunch and pretty much taking care of mom.

On May 16th we arrived at the hospital. Eager for this little guy. The c-section was delayed 2 hours and that was not a good sign.

Finally we were taken into surgery. The girls were with Grammy in the waiting room anxiously awaiting the arrival of their brother.

When Alec was born he was not breathing. He was quickly rushed to the side and put immediately on oxygen. Upon further examination they decided he needed to be in the NICU. I was not able to see or touch him and sent Scott to follow him.

It was not until later that night that I was finally able to get a peek at this little boy. He was under an oxygen tent. His lungs were not fully developed. Oh, man! We had been through so much already.

Alec spent a week in the NICU. He had to be put on a ventilator and medicated to sleep. Twice he pulled out the tube. Determined at the very beginning. Eventually they were able to ween him off of oxygen and he was able to breathe on his own.

The girls decorated his bassinet and brought him stuffed animals. The nurses were awesome! It was a great day when we were able to finally hold and feed Alec. He was so tiny.

The hardest day was when I had to leave the hospital and Alec was still in there. It was not easy emotionally nor physically.

It was all better when we were able to bring this little guy home. He had TONS of black hair and was weighing in at 5 lbs. 12 ozs. He was a great baby.

We are so blessed to have Alec in our family. He is our little miracle and we are thankful for him. We love you birthday boy!!