Mel -Bells Day

Happy Happy Birthday Melanie. This last year and one month have been very eventful for you and I am sure this year will be just as exciting, It won’t cost me as much as it will you, but the things to come will be very exciting.

Melanie was born in Provo Utah, our first child. We were very excited and very nervous. We had taken the Lamaze birthing classes because I was terribly afraid of needles, especially something that wound go in my back. We still had 2 classes to go and 3 1/2 weeks of pregnancy, but for some reason I read ahead in the manual and finished the material after our class. That next morning I had an appointment and the Dr. said I was getting close. Well close I was, because that night my water broke at midnight, so off we went. Mel was born 8 hrs later and without any needles. We were so excited, she was a beautiful baby girl. Healthy and crying and ready to be ours.

We already had a named picked out. Melanie if it was a girl. I grew up and often tended the cutest little girl named Melanie who I just adored and I also loved the name and so did Kim. It wasn’t very common and good thing her adorable face fit the name.

We went home 2 days later. Then our first crisis began. She would not stop crying, and would not eat. I just thought this must be normal, and this is what babies do. We were both exhausted and so was grandma. Then the next day my friend came by in the morning to see us, and looked at you and asked, “why is she so Yellow”? So off we went to the hosp. for a billiruben test. When we got home the phone was ringing and it was the hosp. telling us to come right back that you were sick. Your level was 22 and anything above 15 was critical.

They whisked you away and the next time we saw you, you were covered in IV lines and had blood and other fluids running into your tiny body. One thing about it at 8lbs. 2oz you were the biggest NICU baby there. We just sat around for hours and finally someone said “If she makes it through the night she should be OK” WHAT? We didn’t really even know what was wrong with you yet. But it turned out you had a very serious blood infection; you had “E-Coli Septicemia”. You were sick with bacteria that are normally found in the bowl, how you got it no one knew. My Dr. wondered if maybe when you got your little Vit-K shot your leg may have had stool on it. So we waited, and you did, obviously, make it through the night. Leaving the hosp. without you was a very tearful and emotional day, as were the days that followed, I would come up every 4hrs and dad would come a couple of times a days. After 10 days you finally got to come home.

I can’t go into all the details of you life right now, there are too many to count, but know this, that we love you. You are very talented in everything you try, very smart, both book and common sense, you have made good choice throughout you life and we have always been proud of you. You are stubborn to the core, and have the best memory of any one I know. You are loyal to your friends and vote in the wrong party. You love music, but listen to a strange radio station. You are happily married and you are moving in all the right directions and we wish you the most Happy Birthday.