One Woman + One Man: Their Story

During the summer of 2002, a young lady chose to do a walk for the unborn. During this summer, they walked the East Coast of Florida, then up the West Coast, through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and finally ending in New Orleans where they took buses to Toronto Canada to celebrate World Youth Day with the Blessed Father.

During this walk, the group of young people went through Jacksonville, Florida. While there, a group of young adults held a party for them. During this party, a man, a bit older than the young lady, arrived. From what she was told, the host of the party told the said man to "check out that hot red head!" From then on, the man, was determined to get ahold of that red head. He interviewed her for an article he wrote. He sent cards while she was in the hospital after being bit by a snake. The list could go on and on...

Finally in October of that year, he made a trip to Mississippi, where she lived, to visit her - under the pretense of a race! The girl knew it was not true, but she allowed him to believe that he was really going to race! During this trip, NEVER did a race, but they spent the entire weekend together. Every waking moment they were together, getting to know each other little better. At the end of the visit, the man asked the girl if she was open to wherever God was taking this. The girl and the man agreed...

After many trips between Jacksonville and Jackson, it was decided that the man would move to Jackson, Mississippi, away from all of his family and friends, in order to be closer to the girl. They were both thrilled at the possibility of wherever God was taking this, but even more excited at the possibility of seeing each other every single day!

Shortly after the man moved to Mississippi, on Good Friday 2003, he asked the girl to marry him. He proposed at the ice skating rink, the same place they had their first date during that October visit. The girl never saw it coming, but was thrilled! They were both thrilled!

Shortly after becoming engaged, they learned the Catholic Church required a 6mth waiting period before they could marry. There were also counseling sessions with the priest and an Engaged Encounter weekend. Knowing they had to wait 6 months, they looked at the calendar for the first Holy Day and found it to be All Saints Day. The date was set and all of the preparations were made...

The wedding day came and went. It was full of memories, family, faith, and fun. It was an incredible celebration of love! After the wedding, the couple went to the mountains for some getting to know you time. This was followed by a brief trip to Jacksonville, where the new bride learned to call her mother-in-love Mom!

When they returned home, it was time to make the move - the new bride moved in with her husband and together they began their life...

In January, 2004, they bought their first house. It was a precious little bungalow, complete with a white picket fence! Together, they fixed it up and made it their own!

In August of that year, they received joyous news! They were to become parents in early May of 2005!

Together they made preparations to the house to welcome this incredible addition. The gender of the baby was to remain unknown, but during one ultrasound visit, the sonographer mistakenly named one too many body parts! They were joyous awaiting their son!

The remainder of the year passed quickly. That Thanksgiving was spent with her family in Mississippi and Christmas was spent with his family in Florida. The new year came and with it, much anticipation and excitement as they awaited their new arrival...

Then on April 8, 2005, the young mom felt the need to get an appointment and see her doctor that day - things just did not feel right. Her husband brought her to the doctor where they attached the toco monitors. It was then that the problem was spotted... The baby's heart rate was extremely low. They had her change positions, tried oxygen, nothing worked. The doctor looked at the couple and told them to get to the hospital NOW for an emergency c-section. They were very scared as she was just 36wks along and never thought a C-section would be in the plans, so were completely unprepared...

They arrived at the hospital within 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter, their Parish Priest arrived at the hospital and prayed them. While they were praying the soon to be new mother's family arrived - but only 3 of the 9 siblings and her parents! Soon thereafter, she was rolled to the OR where they would soon meet their son...

Once in there, the soon to be parents began to seriously discuss names. They talked and talked and tried to forget what was happening behind the blue curtain! Within minutes, the doctor looked over and said "You Have A Son!" Not long after that, he said that he now knew what the problem was...

The baby had a velementous cord (nearly always fatal) AND was having a 'silent' abruption, both of which are fatal on their own. Together, who knows what would have happened...

After this realization and shock, they were asked about a name. Brought back to reality, they looked at each other and announced Robert Edwin, III after the brand new dads father, who passed away shortly after his parents realized that he was going to enter their family!

Robert Edwin III weighed in at 6lbs 7oz and was 21in long!

3 days later, the family went home to begin this new life. How wonderful it was to go home and learn life as a family of 3!

Life went on. Everybody thrived. Things were great...

Then, when the Robert was 4months old, his father was offered a job in Jacksonville, FL. They prayed about it and decided to let God lead them. The house was put on the market and they gave it 2weeks to sell, if it did not, then they were not to move. Less than 12 hours of listing it, it was sold for full price! They decided that this was God's decision and proceeded to make the move...

It was quite difficult move for many reasons - they had a newborn. They would be living with his mother an unknown amount of time. She had no job. Then, the hardest of all, she would be leaving her parents and siblings behind for the first time ever...

They forged on and settled into a routine in Jacksonville. She found a job and after 6long months, they found a hose to call home! Shortly after moving into their house, in August of 2006, came more joyous news, they were to become parents again!

Once again, time passed quickly. They found out that they would be welcoming a baby girl into their humble abode, once again around early May 2005. This time, there was trouble. The mom experienced many episodes of pre-term labor requiring many hospitalizations and medications....

2004 ended and 2005 came and with it, the final preparations for the arrival of their daughter. Then on March 22, 2007, at just 35wks+, major complications began. The mom was in excruciating pain and having many other symptoms that things were not right. The dad came and picked her up and together they went straight to the hospital. Once there, she was immediately taken to the OR for another emergency C-section. Within minutes of entering the OR, Hannah Elizabeth entered the world, weighing in at 6lbs 7oz and 20in long!

Shortly after her birth, she had to go to the NICU for a bit of deep suctioning and breathing help...

While the mom was in her hospital room recovering, a NICU nurse came in and told her that the baby was doing better. All of the complications were do to the nearly total abruption...ABRUPTION AGAIN! She had no idea this had happened. Her husband was gone and nobody was in there when she learned of this news...

Finally, after many hours, Hannah Elizabeth met her mother! What a joyous time it was. She was ever so beautiful!

Once again, 3 days later, the family of 4 went home and began a new life together...

Time passed and everyone continued to grow! Life was good for everyone. The kiddos were thriving and mommy and daddy's jobs were great! Life could not be better!

However, they were quickly outgrowing their 2 bedroom house, so the decision was made to try and sell the house and purchase one a bit bigger in a different area...

For the second time, they put their house on the market and within 1week it sold with a full price offer! The young family was so very excited and on Mothers Day weekend 2008, they moved into their new house!

They learned to call this house home and made met their neighbors. Unlike their old neighborhood, this one was full of families with young children! It was just what they wanted!

Shortly after moving into their new 3 bedroom house, life threw a curveball - they were expecting #3! They were scared. After nearly losing Robert and Hannah, who knew what would happen this time. They immediately contacted the doctor and had an appointment for the next day...

At this appointment, it was decided that there some blood clotting issues with the mother. With this news, she was started on twice daily heparin injections, tons of aspirin, and twice weekly progesterone injections. All of this worked until March 2 2009 at just 32 weeks...

While at one of 3 weekly visits, she began contracting. The doctor came in and immediately sent her across to the street for admission. IV's were started and drugs were administered. The contractions continued, despite all of these efforts and within 30 minutes of arrival, the baby, whose gender was unknown, began to show signs of severe distress...

Within moments, the mother was wheeled into the OR for a 3rd emergency C-section. The baby was born and the room was silent. There were no cries. There was no noise. You could have heard a pin drop it was that quiet. Then, before running out of the OR with the new baby in tow, it was announced that the baby was a boy!

Wesley Keegan spent the next 33 days in the NICU learning how to breathe, stay warm, and the suck, swallow, breathe combo. It was a hard time for the family, but they came together and made it through...

The day Wesley Keegan came home was a joyous day. It was the first time his brother and sister saw him! They were in complete awe of this LITTLE 4.7lb baby that was at their house! What a day...

In 2010, the decision was made to HomeSchool the children. Their mother quit her job in order to stay home full time with her children. This would not be at all possible if the father did not make the sacrifice to work long hard hours in order to provide for his family - how very, very lucky they are to have him!

Over the years, life has gone on. Sadly, there have been now more babies to add to our blessed chaos, but God has blessed us abundantly with the children we have...

The roller coaster of life continues and while they might not enjoy every moment, they cherish them for what they are!