Faces of Loss, Faces of Hope

Bobbie

Mom to Johnathan JT Thomas Michael Poling

August 29th, 2006 - May 17th, 2007

 We were blessed with the birth of our son on August 29, 2006. He was born 15 weeks early, and weighing a whopping 1lb 15 1/2 ounces and 13 1/4 in. We name him Johnathan Thomas Michael Poling,  JT for short. His name was a long as he was. We laughed about that. My husband didn’t want a Junior but, me and his mom threw the Michael in there. My husband’s name is Michael Thomas, so, either way you put it, he was a junior in a round about sorta way. JT was also named after his great grandfather whose name was Johnathan Thomas. I had placenta previa complete with JT and my placenta abrupted and I started bleeding uncontrollably, So, after being in the hospital for 2 weeks it was emergency c-section time.  

I remember the first time I seen him. All I seen was a little knee lifted up in the incubator and I totally fell in love with that knee. From that day forward I promised him that I would do everything I could to make sure that he was loved and would one day come home healthy and whole. Well, the Lord had other plans for JT. JT was born with 2 holes in his heart and was on a ventilator for breathing. He was over 3 months early and oh boy did he fight everyday of his life. At 5 days of life he had a failed heart operation to close a pda and at 10 days of life he had an operation for NEC which is Necrotizing Entercolitis. This is basically dead bowel. He came through both surgeries like a champ. He also had several other surgeries, another heart surgery and 3 other bowel surgeries and 2 surgeries on his eyes for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). JT needed a small bowel/liver transplant that was never to be because he had not yet gotten his hole in his heart fixed and we learned that it wouldn’t be able to be fixed because if they closed it, he wouldn’t make it through the surgery. On May 17th our precious boy left us. He went home healed and whole. Our prayers were answered but, not the way that we wished them to be. Through out his short life, we were blessed beyond measure. A little preemie that wasn’t supposed to last the first 24 hours of his life, we were blessed with 8 1/2 wonderful months. God was there for us and with us and holding us up through out this time. He sent many angels into our lives to help us also, whether it was prayer, financial, friends we had never had before, support and love. And with out any of the them, I am sure the orchestra that was JT’s life wouldn’t have been so rich with the blessing we received.

I miss my Bubba's everyday with everything I have.  My heart broke into a million pieces that day.  God answered my last prayer and that was when it was time for him to go that he not be alone and not alone he was.  He was surrounded by so many  family and friends that there wasn't much room in that room we were in.  I thank God everyday for that.  For giving me the opportunity to be a mother to him for the last time and supporting him in passing away from this world to the next.

Bobbie blogs at siscaboo.wordpress.com and siscaboo.blogspot.com 

You can contact her at siscaboo1512@sbcglobal.net