Looking Back

It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since Titus was born. We saw the hand of the Lord so mightily before and after the time of his birth. Remember the insurance situation? or maybe you've not heard the story. Since this blog is all about the stories of our life...
...Here's the story.
In March of 2005, the Hayden's, once again, move away from a place we called home. (We've done it 12 times now, but we never said we liked it!) We moved to faaar away Dayton, Ohio to pursue a future in the restaurant business. When we moved to Ohio, we didn't have insurance right away. The insurance we had in Washington would not transfer to Ohio. So, we checked into what type of prepay programs the hospital and doctors would offer for a cash paying customer. Let me tell you, it was no deal that they were offering! We finally found out that we could get on to a corporate insurance plan, but would have to wait for the "open enrollment" period, which wasn't until June! (Keep in mind that Titus was due August 26th) We decided to go ahead with that plan. Since I have a history of having my babies early (Sophia - 3wks, Ethan 5 wks.) We began PRAYING desperately that I would not need any special medical care before the insurance would go into effect on AUGUST 1ST!! My parents arrived on July 6th, however, I didn't get to go and meet them because I was resting on my couch while having contractions. By the end of that night, Praise the Lord, they had subsided. Everyday, and sometimes every hour we prayed that the Lord would hold off Titus' birth until the insurance was in effect. In the end of July, I was still pregnant and dying of the HOT summer heat. Misery was my name and weight was my gain!
Sunday night, July 31st, just after midnight, my braxton contractions seemed to be getting a little harder. Hmm, I just need to get some sleep. It had been Sunday and I was on my feet a lot. 2.a.m. grr I can't sleep, these contractions are annoying, but I'll keep trying.
3 a.m. Okay, I can't sleep! What can I do? Oh, I know, I'll paint my toe nails ! (No, I couldn't reach them very well, but everyone was sleeping so I just contorted myself so that I could. It wasn't modest by any means, but they looked great!)
4 a.m. Well, these aren't going away, I guess I'll walk around and see what happens. So I walked all around the house, and even went outside in the backyard.
4:30 a.m. I guess I could pack my hospital bag. Okay, nightgown, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant. Oh, I'll get a card game to play while we wait. As I opened the game closet and reached up to get my Dutch Blitz cards I became very clear that these contractions were about to get very serious.... My water broke all over the hallway and me!
4:40 a.m. Honey, I think you need to wake up...my water just broke in the hallway
WHAT?? REALLY?!
We got to the hospital at 6 am on Monday, AUGUST 1ST
Titus was born at 12:10 p.m., August 1st after our insurance went into effect at 12:01 a.m !!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!
After Titus was born he was having difficulty breathing. He was breathing too fast and wasn't getting the oxygen that he needed. Because of this he was whisked away to the Special Care Nursery (ICU) and put on monitors galore and oxygen. After my time was up in the hospital, Titus was still not doing well. So, once again, I had to leave the hospital without my newborn baby. That is something that I will never be able to look back at and smile. It is a horrible feeling. Even though I knew, and still know it was the best place for him to be, it still doesn't make up for the empty feeling that it left me with. The feeling that I had left my sick baby, that there wasn't anything that I could do to help him, and that I just wanted to hold him. I know that he was in the Lord's hands and he was given the best of medical care and I knew it then. It is just a heartwrenching feeling that cannot be stifled, even now, it still makes me cry.
Finally, 6 days after Titus was born, on Sunday afternoon, August 6th, we brought him home.
You can imagine the hospital bill that we racked up during those 6 days, or maybe you'd rather not. I can say with experience that healthcare costs are beyond reasonable, but for the life that it saves, I'd pay even more. Once all the bills were in we found that our bills came to an amazing total of over $ 35,0000 !!!! And because this is getting so long I'll have to tell you that story tomorrow. :)