Narrative Essay

Emily Burleson

Mr. Neuberger

English 101-132

06 September, 2012   

Narrative Essay
“The Beginning of Baby Gunner”

Isn’t it funny how life doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. It’s almost as if we have our plans and life has its own. Some would consider it luck, others destiny or some could even think of it as fate. Whatever it is, it’s not what I had in mind. If you would have asked me four years ago how I pictured my life at the age of eighteen, it wouldn’t be where I’m at now. No, not me. In my mind it was much different. Everything I have ever done lead to where I am today. Every good, bad, stupid and smart decision I have made lead me to a part of my life I never thought I would experience, at least not now. I wasn’t expecting to be a mommy of a precious baby boy or a soon to be wife. But, this is where fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it led me. It led me to the most amazing thing I have ever seen, the start of my beautiful family.

            Senior year started much like any other only I was legitimately excited to go back to school because I knew it was the last year I had before college. I seemed to have my life figured out. I started a job at McDonalds, my boyfriend and I just had our Two year anniversary together, everything was going great and we couldn’t wait to live life. Unfortunately, that feeling and mind set didn’t last too long. Two months after I started my senior year we found out I was pregnant. That’s when everything got really complicated.

            It seemed the farther along I got in the pregnancy the worse things got. At around six weeks I started bleeding. I was rushed to the hospital and the doctors weren’t sure if I was going to continue on. From there, they referred me to a high risk specialist. I saw him and he suggested for me to take it easy, so I did. Things got better for a few weeks until I was thirteen weeks along. I started having tremendous amount of pain in my stomach, so again, I was rushed to the hospital. The doctors announced the baby's heart rate was extremely low and called in the specialist. From there I found that the placenta was tearing away from my wall. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

            A week after suffering a placenta prevail (placenta tearing from the wall), and my mom kicked me out. The following day I was diagnosed with preeclampsia at a routine doctor’s appointment and put on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Everything just seemed to be happening so fast. It felt like all of a sudden nothing was right anymore.  The last month was more hell than all of it put together. He stopped growing, stopped moving, his heart rate dropped way down with every slight contraction and movement. I begged the doctor for weeks to make sure he was okay because I never felt him move. They didn’t believe me and kept throwing kick count sheets at me as if I wasn’t already doing them myself. I knew something was horribly wrong and if they wouldn’t listen then what would I do? If I couldn’t help my baby then what good was I? Better yet, if the doctors wouldn’t listen then what good were they? I had so many questions going out but, no answers coming in.

            Luckily my doctor went on vacation on my 38th week, and I was having ultra sounds done. I had had those two weeks prior to that and the ultrasound technician agreed that something wasn’t right too; he hadn’t gained anything in three weeks. (Although honestly if you ask me if she did her job like she was supposed to then she would have seen something was wrong the first week). Anyways, she sent me to another doctor that was on call for my doctor. He looked at everything for two days, the fluids, the placenta, the umbilical cord. I mean he looked at everything more than once. The second day he told me he would have to induce me or my son would die. We decided to have him that day. I had a 2 hour notice before I went in to be induced. The only thing I kept thinking of was my son’s life. I just kept praying to god to let my son be ok. I went home and gathered mine and his bags and went to the hospital.

            I arrived at the room and got in the gown and went to the bed. They put the IV in my arm and thirty minutes later started the oxytocin. I could hardly take my eyes off of the monitor. With every contraction his heart rate just went lower and lower. It was the worst thing in the world to see. The doctor came in and broke my water to try to get him to move along. I was in labor for twelve long hours before I got to meet my baby boy. His daddy cut the cord, and my baby boy came out just fine. Once the placenta was delivered it was 95 percent dead. The doctor said if I would have waited any longer my son would have been dead too. Gunner Lea Terrill arrived at 1:35am on June 23, 2012. He was 5.8 pounds and 19.5 inches long. He was bald headed and had the most amazing cry I have ever heard.             

            I thank God every day I look in that little boys eyes that he came out ok. I might not have been ready to be a mommy just yet but that little boy is my world. He is everything to both me and his daddy and has brought so many people so much closer than they were. So no, this isn’t where I pictured myself at four years ago. I might not have always made a wise decision or been the smartest person in the world. Call it what you may, luck, fate, destiny, whatever it is this is where life has chosen to take me. I am the proud mommy of a beautiful baby boy and the soon to be wife to the love of my life. This is where I’m supposed to be and this is what I want to be the rest of my life.