JIMMY'S SURGERY

     As I sat reading my Bible this morning, it brought to mind all the things in my life that have thrown me a curve. Those things also brought me closer to GOD. Now I don't claim to be a story teller and even use correct grammar, but I like to write down the things in my life that I love and am grateful for due to the grace of GOD.
     My first child was born on February 22, 1965 and he was a joy to the whole family. I went to the hospital about 5:00 o'clock in the morning of February and it was Monday. My dad was off from work on Monday's and every other week, he would pay his bills. Since we didn't have a phone, Marvin had gone next door to wake up our neighbor and call my dad. He came to our house and drove us to the hospital. I didn't know who else was there but later I found out that many of my family were in the waiting room. Aunt Sybil, Aunt Josie, and Aunt Doris as well as Evelyn and my dad sat patiently in the waiting area. Aunt Totsie was a patient down the hall and came to check once or twice to see how I was progressing. My mother-in-law, Ruby, was there. She had taken off from work in Dalton and came all the way to Rome for the anticipated birth. About 4:29 pm James William Burns came into the world. He has always been called "Jimmy." We were expecting a girl so the boy was a surprise. We didn't have a name picked out so he has the first name of Marvin's father, James Jefferson Burns, and the middle name of my father, Noble William Beall. He has names of three of our grandfather's. James Guy Beall, James Edward Burns, and William DeLay Jones. And how beautiful he was. Dark hair and blue eyes weighing 7 lbs. and 9ozs. He was 21 inches long. Everything went fine. I went home in three days.
     About the 4th week of Jimmy's life, he starting throwing up his milk. Being a new mom, I wondered if this was normal. I knew that babies would spit-up when they burped but this was different. So I called my dad and he drove to Calhoun to pick my up and take Jimmy to the doctor. By the time we got to his house, it was late so Evelyn called her pediatrician at home. Dr Methany said he would meet up at the emergency room. I was so scared, I just knew that he was going to die. Evelyn told me that she thought he had rickets and that made me more afraid. By the time he was examined, I was told that he would be admitted and they would start an IV. I panicked!! What was wrong with my child. He was too young for an IV. How would they find a needle small enough for him. His weight had gone to 6 lbs. and 14 ozs. since he was born. He was so small that they wanted to put the IV in his leg. This did not work and they tried his head. They could not get it started. They were telling me that they would have to do what was called a cut-in and this entailed cutting a small incision in his leg to insert the needle directly into a blood vessel. Before this could be done, Dr Methany came in and got an IV started directly in his head. He made it look so easy and scolded the attendant for being clumsy. I was then told that he would have to have surgery. My goodness, how much more could this child stand. The problem was called "pyloric stenosis" which is a blockage at the opening of the stomach and intestine. I was numb. All of this going on and on a baby! I sat down and cried. Since an IV was started, the drip to put him to sleep was added and they took the bed out of the room to the OR. I went to the chapel to wait and pray. He was in GOD's hands. About 6 hours later, the Dr came and told me that everything went fine and he was in recovery. They made a small incision on the side of his stomach and clipped the muscle that wasn't working and he would pass it probably the next day. There weren't any stitched. Just held together with a spray plastic. Well after that, he started gaining weight and growing as what we refer to "like a weed." He never had any more problems in this area. I was told later that according to all statics, this happened to the oldest child's first child of the male gender. It never happened to girls. I just wonder how many families were checked to make this comparison.
     I have many more stories about my children that they will read later. Many of these stories have never been told as I was saving them until they were grown. Each of my children have different personalities but in many ways, they are the same. But they are far from perfect, yet I love them dearly. We all make mistakes and sometimes we learn from them and maybe not!!!