Skip to main content

February 18th, 2011

Happy Birthday!

The day had finally arrived! Chris and I woke up at 3:30am, got everything together, and headed to Vanderbilt University Hospital. My c-section was scheduled for 8am. By the time all of the iv's were put in, all my meds were administered, and everything was set, it was almost 9 o'clock when I was taken back to the operating room. As the doctors were preparing everything and I was getting my spinal, a million thoughts rushed through my head. Finally, I heard a doctor say, "Here he comes!" and then "Happy Birthday!" At 9:32am, Christian Taylor Buchanan made his big debut. After just a few seconds, he began screaming. That was the best scream I had ever heard! I asked the anestesiologist at my head to peak over the curtain and tell me what color his hair was. He said, "blonde," but he was wrong. Ha ha! The doctor asked me if I wanted to see the baby, and I immediately said "Yes!!" They held him over the curtain just for a second to let me see him, then they took him over to the table to clean him up and check his APGARS. While the doctors finished up, I listened to him cry and waited to see him again. Before he was taken to the NICU, they held him down beside my head. He was crying, so I started talking to him, and he stopped and listened to me. The nurse started to take him and he started crying again, so she brought him back down to me. Again, I talked to him saying, "Hi baby! I love you!" and anything I could think of 2 minutes after giving birth. He stopped crying again and listened. Finally they took him to the NICU and I was taken to recovery.  It was 4 o'clock that evening before I was able to get up out of the bed and make the 1/3 mile trek to the NICU. Our baby boy was finally here!!! But things were not as we expected. We knew about the cleft palate and lip, we knew about the club foot. What we didn't know before Christian was born was that he would be born almost completely blind. The best day of our lives had turned into the worst.





Comments

  1. cendawanpinkMay 10, 2012 at 6:45 PM

    love u christian..
    may god bless u..
    u are the most precious gift to ur parents.
    T___T

    with ❤ from Malaysia..

    ReplyDelete
  2. summerAugust 18, 2013 at 6:14 PM

    You made a perfect stranger cry. Your so strong. I thank God everyday my kids were born the way they were. Hes beautiful, I dont care what anyone else says. <3

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Experiences with Bullying

For anyone who follows us on Facebook, you have probably, at one time or another, seen someone make a rude or hateful comment on a photo I've posted of Christian. It has been happening pretty much since he was born. In fact, much of the reason that I decided to make the video that went viral was because of all the negative comments that we would receive, whether through social media or face to face when we were out in public with Christian. And I have to say, I am tired of it. I sometimes find myself unable to deal with a hateful comment on a particular day, or exhausted with the idea of checking my email and finding another rude comment left on my YouTube Channel. So this blog is my outlet to vent my frustrations and share my wisdom on the matter. I consider myself a professional at handling bullying, after all, considering all the bullying I've dealt with over the last few years. At first, the comments hurt. I remember the day that I first took Christian out in in public...
117 comments
Read more

Why I Won't Allow My Toddler to Have Cosmetic Surgery

It strikes me as odd that I have been asked many, many times if I will have Christian undergo cosmetic surgery to repair his birth defect. Apparently, it's not an odd question to most people, because I could not tell you how many times I've been asked. The number literally lurks somewhere close to 500, if I had to guess. I am not AT ALL offended by the question, and I enjoy explaining my answer, but still, I find it odd to be asked. Imagine your beautiful child that you simply adore. Her little button nose, those ears he got from his daddy, that little smile with that one not-so-straight tooth right up front, those freckles that dot her cheeks, that bright red hair, or that jet black hair. As you imagine that, I am sure you have a few emotions that go along with it: adoration, admiration, love. You probably think that your child is the prettiest thing you've laid eyes on. Well, when I look at my child, with tissue in the place of where eyes should be, and a crooked s...
102 comments
Read more

If it Was Easy

Last week we visited Tennessee School for the Blind. This was a trip that I have been hearing about for about a year. I’ve known it was coming, but I had no idea what to expect. There was some anticipation with a touch of dread mixed in about this trip.  The purpose of this visit was an evaluation. That single word is too small to really describe what all took place, really. Christian was evaluated on pretty much everything. His vision was checked (no brainer, but they did have an ophthalmologist just take a look, to confirm his vision impairment. It’s always good to have it documented on paper.) The school AKA TSB also brought in physical, occupational, and speech therapists, vision teachers, orientation and mobility specialists, assistive technology experts, a psychologist, and just an entire array of specialists to do this evaluation. He was ranked against other blind children his age to get a more accurate measure because it doesn’t really give us a good picture to try t...
242 comments
Read more