This is for you!

I wanted to take the time to call some people out for the amazing roll they played in Maggie's success. This is going to be an ongoing post, so please don't be offended if we haven't featured you in this section. We will hopefully get to you soon and if we never do please know that we are so unbelievably grateful for everything that people have done to help. We truly have an amazing community around us. 


The very first person I want to thank is Katie Meerdink. You may be wondering why I am thanking Katie first over countless numbers of deserving family, medical professionals, and friends. I mean Katie wasn't even our delivery nurse. Let me tell you why.

I have a few key images in my mind from the delivery. The first and probably most disturbing image is that of my newborn baby completely blue/black/brown and totally unresponsive. In my mind I believed her to be dead. I won't ever forget that image. 

After a whirlwind of doctors and nurses I came across a new image. This was the image of Katie pumping air into the lungs of my little girl. Katie was literally breathing life into Maggie. Katie continued to pump that air into little Magnolia Raine for what felt like a lifetime. My best guess is that it was a 1/2 hour to an hour, but it could have been much shorter then that or much longer. All I know is when Maggie left the delivery room Katie was breathing for her and when I went into the Nursery she was still breathing for her. Things were happening all around Maggie. There were four, five, or even six people at a time moving frantically around Katie, but she stayed strong. 1, 2, 3 pumping the air. 

Katie, I am not sure how often you get to do something like that, but let me tell you that this time what you did for Maggie, Myself, Maryanne, Porter and countless others who love and care for Maggie will never be forgotten. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for you being there that night. 

Thank You,

AJ