He Was Supposed to Be Mine...

Brandon and his big sister, Kaylan
December 2012

Disclaimer: I have several male viewers and just for them, I have toned this post down a little. Can’t have em heaving up their dinner, now, can I?

See Stats at the end of this post.

Yesterday was my nephew, Brandon’s, 15^th birthday. He is the most lovable and handsome young man I know. He still gives his Aunt LaLa big hugs. Did you know that he was supposed to be mine? His mama, my baby sister, pulled the rug completely from under my feet.

I still hurt.

I should have gone to therapy!

To preserve my side of the story and for posterity’s sake, let me tell you what happened.

On the morning of January 20, 1998, I was getting ready to walk out the door to take my girls, Emily and Whitney, to school. They were going to school in the next town over from ours and we needed to keep some semblance of a schedule to make it there on time. Just as we were about to leave, the phone rang. (Pre-caller ID). We were already running late, so Whitney asked me not to answer it.  But, SOMETHING told me I had to.......

Hello? ........OMG! All I could hear was screaming coming from the other end.... it sounded something like, “alone with Kaylan, Wade already gone to work and getting ready to have a baby!"  My baby sister, Mandy, was the one expecting a baby, but when I heard the screaming, I thought it was another of my sisters, Carla.  I said, "Wait, Carla, calm down, calm down, where is Mandy"?

And just as calm, as if nothing was happening, she said, "This is Mandy".

What in the world?

Then she told me what happened.....She had gotten up to go to the bathroom, felt something, reached ........"OMG it's a foot! The baby's foot has popped out and Wade's gone and I'm by myself!"

So she called ME! Her big sister. Oh, joy!

I told her to just calm down, I was on my way.

OK, so now I go into mild shock. My mind is saying.......get to her, and that’s it.

Now, mind you, I had raised my voice so that Mandy could hear me over her screaming and my husband, Cliff, heard all this. He came to see who I was talking to and when I told him I had to go to Mandy and that he needed to take the girls to school, he asked, “Have you called an ambulance”. Stunned, I asked ever so calmly, "Do you think I need to call an ambulance?" "YES, what are YOU going to do!?!", he asked. Oh, I hadn't  thought about that. So he called EMS and told them that I would meet them and they could follow me.  It was easier than trying to give directions to Georgetown County EMS who needed to go deep into Williamsburg County. I mean, we’re talking boondocks, y’all.

Of course, I felt the need to drive fast. I met EMS and told them to follow me. I wish I had a video of what happened next. I’m pretty sure I would win some kind of award for the footage. Ha!  I drove a Town and Country Chrysler van at the time and let me tell you, I had that gas pedal on the floor. You should have seen that mini van and ambulance flying down back country roads, hitting pot holes and dips in the road. We were rocking and rolling.  Thank heavens it was early in the morning and there was hardly any traffic on the roads. We skidded up sideways in the yard and nearly took out a couple of mail boxes, but we made it.

So many miracles happened that day.

1) The first, when I felt like I had to answer the phone.

2) The next was that the Georgetown County EMS followed me into Williamsburg county to take Mandy to the hospital in Kingstree. Normally, they don’t cross county lines. But, since EMS didn’t have an address and was following me…they had no choice.

3) The next miracle was that when the EMS and I got to Mandy's and walked in, I could hear her phone making a funny noise. It was off the hook so I hung it up and as soon as I did, it rang. It was Mandy's doctor calling to give the EMS instructions to take her to the nearest hospital. Otherwise, I’m not so sure that they wouldn’t have taken her to the hospital in their county. This would have taken at least 20 minutes longer. Things may not have turned out so well.

EMS got Mandy loaded into the ambulance and left for Kingstree. All the important phone calls were made and I was going to stop by home to change my clothes before going to the hospital.

By the time I got to the hospital, miracle number 4…..little Brandon had made his entrance into this world. I think they said that 7 minutes after Mandy arrived at the hospital, Brandon was born. I cried then, when I found out they were OK.

A few days after she and the baby had been discharged from the hospital, Mandy developed an infection and had to be hospitalized, again. Apparently, one of the EMS guys had tickled Brandon’s little foot before loading Mandy into the ambulance. She had to have a c-section, so Brandon’s little foot was pulled back through…..EMS finger germs and all. Bless it!

I was so privileged to get to keep Brandon, while Mandy was in the hospital. He stayed with me for a week. I took him to see her one day. He was indifferent. But then, of all things, they wanted me to take him back home to Wade when she was ready to come home.

What? I thought I could keep him and make him mine. I cried, again!!!

Reluctantly, I drove Brandon home. I drove slowly. I was in denial. In my mind, he was already mine. I thought....If I take long enough to get there, maybe they’ll forget about it and this won’t have to happen. Wrong…..When I arrived at Mandy and Wade’s, there stood, Wade, his daddy with open arms. Oh man! Do you have to look so happy to see him?

I gave him back. Bunch of Indian givers!!

I left Brandon with his daddy and drove away. Tears came like someone had opened the flood gates. I took myself home and off the road before I ran into a ditch or hit a tree. And then and there…cried some more!!!

End of Brandon’s baby story. However, a few years later, when he was acting out about something, Mandy called to ask me if I wanted him now.  So I said, “Not now, you have to suffer the consequences of your actions”!   HaHa!!!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Brandon. LaLa loves you! And always remember, you were supposed to be mine!

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For those of you who read my blog and didn’t know…..I spent this weekend at a blog party. It was a huge opportunity to grow my blog audience. Let me just say……I. Am. Overwhelmed.

I’m overwhelmed at all the visits. The sweetest comments were left for me and best of all, I have new followers! The stats as of this afternoon….

Pre-blog party - 560 views and 5 followers

Post-blog party (Currently, because they keep coming! Yay!) - 1229 views and 49 followers.

I owe a great deal of gratitude and appreciation to Vicki for the monumental task of pulling the blog party together. I will never be able to thank her enough!

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Oh wait, before you go……and in case you were wondering:

Ran 2 miles today…the knee felt ok. I knew I needed to keep the miles low. But can we say, Log Legs? Gah…..

High Temp today….64 degrees F

Watching on TV…The Presidential Inauguration 2013

Clouds I’ve been on….1229

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon,

Laurie