In January 2004, our family was extremely excited to find that we would finally be expecting our second child. Presley, our three-year-old daughter, had been begging for a brother or sister for quite some time. After seeing the heartbeat at around eight weeks, we broke the news to her. She was finally going to be a big sister!
July 1st, 2007, my mother’s birthday and also the day that changed our lives forever. We were celebrating my mother’s birthday and also planning my wedding the following year. While driving home, replaying conversations during the barbeque, I made a stop at CVS for a pregnancy test. The longest two minutes of my life, it was confirmed when I saw those two lines.
My son Brody Tucker was born prematurely at 34 weeks gestation on April 25th, 2007. It was after a six day stretch of being on bed rest in constant labor. So when he was born looking relatively healthy and normal, everybody was ecstatic. We were discharged after just a few days, with his weight at only 4.3 pounds. One week later, he was shipped to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO.
I'm a strong believer that things happen for a reason. My husband and I were living the good life we planned: we had purchased our first home, had a child named Miranda, and were now expecting our second. The day after Christmas 2006, was the day I was scheduled to find out the sex of our baby. My mother attended this appointment with me, to hear the news and help with our then 18-month old. Nothing could have prepared us for what unfolded.