Today is Jeffrey Andrew’s Birthday, and honestly it is hard to believe it has been 39 years since the day he was born. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a pink hospital, St Francis to be exact. There wasn’t a name back then to describe what Jeffrey was to me. But there is a name today, he was my rainbow baby. I just knew he was a gift that was hard won.
Even after he was born it was rocky, he was born with water on his lungs and taken right into the NICU. Where he stayed for six days, those were some of the longest days of my life. I had to go home without him, fun fact, we were between homes and living with my cousin Cindy, it was a nice place to be able to land. I honestly don’t know how I would have handled it without her and being able to talk to her.
We brought Jeffrey home to Cindy and Mark’s home, we were waiting for our house to be built.
I will tell you this story and maybe a lot of parents can relate to a sleep deprived story.
I was nursing Jeffrey and the hospital did not tell me they were supplementing with formula, so when we brought him home it was a nightmare situation. I would literally feed him for an hour, he would scream for an hour then wake up and do the whole thing over again.
One night Jeff told me to go to sleep and he would hold him for that hour he was screaming.
The next thing I know I am waking up to Jeffrey screaming and Jeff frantically looking for him. He had fallen asleep and was yelling that he had killed the baby because he fell asleep and could not remember putting him in the bassinet.
So here we were tearing up the bed looking for Jeffrey, and he is just screaming his head off. All of a sudden I stopped and said wait, if he’s dead he couldn’t scream. Then I looked in the bassinet, there he was, I started to feed and Jeff said he had had enough. He got dressed and went to the store and bought a can of formula.
We made a bottle and Jeffrey drank 6 ounces and slept for over 7 hours. He was starving, he was used to that bottle after me feeding him and he was not getting enough to eat.
Sleep deprivation is a real thing, he was fine and then finer after the formula.
Jeffrey I love you so much, and as much as I miss the little you, I love the man you have become.
I hope you have the birthday you deserve, you are an incredible man, father, brother, son and husband to your wife Amanda.
I pray that your life is everything you ever wanted and more.
Happy Birthday Son! I love you so much!
Angie World 