Nathaniel's Story

After a routine appointment I was sent to labor and delivery on Thursday, February 6. I was going to be induced. They broke my water, which was really painful, and then the baby's heartbeat went down. They had me try all kinds of positions and it finally came back up. They had me sign consent forms for an emergency c section in case that might be needed. They were going to start my induction and get me an epidural ASAP. When they started the pitocin baby's heartbeat dropped slowly and then was gone. After changing positions a couple of times it was decided that I needed to deliver right away so I was rushed to the OR. Dave was told that he had to stay behind because I was going to be put under.

I was rushed down the hall to the OR and prepped for surgery within about 2 minutes. At 3:07, about 7 minutes after I was brought in, Nathaniel Willis was born. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. I have been told that he was very pale and not breathing and had no heart beat. They tried to revive him for about 45 minutes, but we're not successful. I was told all this when I woke up in recovery about an hour later. Dave was next to me. Neither of us had seen Nathaniel yet. After I was told what had happened they asked if I wanted to see him, then brought him and laid him on my chest. He was beautiful and perfect and just looked like he was asleep.

We got to spend as much time with him at the hospital as we wanted to. We were there with him for three days. I even kept him in my room overnight one night when Dave went home to stay with Abigail.

Though he never lived outside my body he is having a big impact on so many people. While we were in the hospital Dave and I had so many conversations with doctors and nurses about our faith and how were able to be so strong in our unexpected and terrible circumstances. We keep looking back and seeing the hand of God at work in little strange things that happened along the way in the pregnancy.

I think we overwhelmed the people at the funeral home with how many people came to the memorial service for Nathaniel. They ended up setting up an overflow area outside of the chapel. We warned them there could be hundreds of people coming. I know there were some we never saw and didn't have a chance to talk to.

Nathaniel Willis Cooksey never took a breath, but I believe that he will leave a huge legacy and I am excited to know what that will look like.