Truett’s Story: In the Words of His Mother and Father
It’s been almost two months since Truett was born and since
he met Jesus. We are so grateful for each person that has prayed, loved, cared,
laughed, cried, comforted and reached out to us! You guys have totally blown us
away. We have received so many calls, texts, messages, cards and gracious
gestures by so many people. We seriously cannot say thank you enough.
Everything has meant so much to us. Truett was born at 10:55am on Tuesday,
April 7, 2015. He passed away in Kristen’s arms at 11:58pm on Friday, April 10,
2015 at our home. He lived an amazing 85 hours and 3 minutes. We are so
thankful for every minute we had with him.
Kristen was very anxious, as was I, the few weeks leading up
to Truett’s birth. It wasn’t an anxiety like you would think. Kristen was
deeply concerned for the staff at the hospital, particularly the nurses. Doctor
Million told us at an earlier appointment that the doctors have high-risk
meetings to discuss patients that fall into that category. Of course, because
of Truett, Kristen and I were considered high-risk. All of the doctors were
familiar with our situation because of those meetings. However, how many of the
nurses knew? What were they going to think? How would they respond when they
saw Truett? Those questions really began to cause Kristen some stress. Around
8:00pm on April 6th Kristen checked her messages on Facebook. She
had a message from someone we didn’t know. The message was from a labor and
delivery nurse at North Florida Regional Medical Center. Her name is Jaime. She
told Kristen that a mutual friend had told her about our story a few weeks ago
and she had been following along. She stated that she had arranged for a nurse
named Liz to take care of us the next day. She also stated that Liz had
previously taken care of a family with a similar diagnosis several years ago. I
can’t tell you what this message did for Kristen. It was as if a weight had
lifted from her. She was able to rest because of this message.
We arrived at the hospital at 8:00am Tuesday morning. I
dropped Kristen off at the roundabout and parked our car in the garage. I met
Kristen inside where we gathered up our belongings, got on the elevator and
headed to the third floor. We made our way to the nurse’s station to let them
know we were here. When you have a C-section scheduled it’s almost like walking
into a restaurant. The lady that checked us in turned to her right and asked a
nurse, “you ready?” This nurse (Liz) then walked us to our room. I felt like I
was at Texas Roadhouse being taken to our table. I almost asked for some rolls
with cinnamon butter. I don’t remember everything that Liz told us in the room
that morning. What I do remember is a nurse that did her very best at putting
us at ease. She said they were going to make us as comfortable as possible and
were going to try and be as accommodating as possible. They even gave us a
second room next to us for family and friends.
We had no guarantees with Truett. We didn’t know if he would
live an hour, 3 hours or if he would even be born alive. All we knew is that we
wanted to capture as many memories of him as possible. We were very fortunate
to have Kimberly Farris of Gator Bride Videography and Matt Whytsell of MattWhytsell Photography there at the hospital that day. We contacted Kimberly about
a month prior to Truett’s birth. We wanted something to look back on and also
something we could share with other families that are facing a diagnosis that
is “incompatiable with life.” Kimberly graciously agreed to document Truett’s
story. Matt Whytsell is a longtime friend. He has been there to capture all of
our family’s moments. He even hid in some bushes when I proposed to Kristen. We
are so very thankful for both Kimberly and Matt being there with us. We had
already been told that the hospital wouldn’t allow a photographer in the
operating room during Truett’s birth. However, Liz consulted the team of
doctors and they graciously allowed Matt to join us in the operating room. Matt
Whytsell (wedding and family photographer and no children), you are now up to
bat.
We had tons of family and friends begin to show up as early
as about 8:30 that morning. So many people there loving on us and praying over
us just moments before I left for the operating room. I remember some of the
staff saying they had never seen so many people for a delivery.
I remember waiting to go in the operating room. Kristen had
already been taken back and I was just waiting. God was so good to us this
entire time. Doctor Million told us that she would guess there is a 50/50
chance that Truett would be born alive. I have to admit though as I sat there
on the couch I began to freak out a little bit. I was scared for my wife. I was
scared for my son. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or how things were
going to turn out. Not knowing is something I really do not like. I sat on the
couch in the hospital room with my head down crying like a baby. Matt sat next
to me and put his arm around me and began to pray. He’s a friend before he’s a
photographer.
While I sat on the OR table, Dr. Million, Liz and myself
chatted about various different things. I’m sure they were trying to take my
mind of things, but I remember being so nervous. Liz held my hand and comforted
me as best she knew how through every minute of it. Little did I know the
friend she would become days later.
They finally called Matt and myself back to the operating
room. Matt was there with his camera and Kimberly had me mic’d up so she could
capture the birth as well. Truett was born and I remember Dr. Million saying
that it isn’t as bad as she thought it would be. We had our little boy. The
staff quickly brought Truett over to the table. His heart rate was in the 50s
and his color did not look good. I was able to go over and see him, touch him
and kiss him. I told him how much his mom and dad loved him. Within about an
hour Truett’s heart rate came up and his color began to improve. Our family was
allowed to come into the room not long after we returned and soon after them
our friends were allowed to meet Truett. Somewhere around the third or fourth
hour I started putting a hash mark on the dry erase board in our room. It
became something that we looked forward to. We always got excited at the 55th
minute because Truett had lived another hour.
I remember hearing his cry for the first time. Something I
will never forget. When Harry brought him over to me we both just cried; tears
of joy, tears of peace, tears of the unknown, tears of worry, tears of anxiety.
Like Harry said, he was a little blue, actually, a lot blue. I didn’t know what
to think. I of course was thrilled he was in my arms, but I was so scared. Is
he going to pass away any second? What does it mean for him to be this color?
What am I suppose to do? I had a baby before but I felt like I wasn’t sure what
to do with this one. I remember passing him back to Harry fairly quickly.
Questions and worry filled my head. I smiled through it, I didn’t ask anyone my
questions right then, I just prayed. Then it happened. It was like his color
was changing before my eyes. Within a few minutes his color started to become
“normal” and by the time we got back to the room his heart rate was in the
140s. God heard my prayers; then and many other times the rest of the week.
The next couple of days are kind of blurry for me. We had so
many family and friends coming by to see us. All of our nurses were wonderful.
We even had nurses and staff from other parts of the hospital come by to meet
Truett. Truett also got to meet a special mommy and a very special little boy.
Brittany and Jaxon Buell drove up to Gainesville to visit with us. Jaxon and
Truett have similar diagnoses. You can read more about Jaxon and his family here. Some of our family stayed with us
each night in the hospital to help out with Truett and to allow us some rest. I
don’t think Truett ever slept in his bassinet. He was always being held and
loved by someone.
On Wednesday we met with an agency that provides hospice
care. We began looking at our options in case Truett survived our stay. We
really felt strongly on Wednesday and Thursday that we would make our new home
at a local hospice facility. However, when Friday morning arrived we decided it
would be best to take Truett home (with hospice care). We left the hospital
around 7:00pm Friday night and headed home. Truett made it home. Something no
one thought he would be able to do. But God!!!
To Be Continued…. J
Harry & Kristen
God is still God, and God is still good. To God be the
glory.
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