Sweet Baby Grace

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12)"

It was really just a regular Saturday. Two birthday parties...plans to go Father's Day shopping...no idea what I was making for dinner...messy house...laundry...the normal Saturday stuff. We had finished one Star Wars birthday and moved onto the second Star Wars birthday party. The boys were in heaven! And then the most normal thing occurred, a little boy accidentally ran over Grace. You have to know that this really is the most normal thing at The Hooks House. Grace gets run over on an almost daily basis by Jacob and Jude. At the party she bumped her head, and she hit it HARD, and she cried, and then she seemed ok. She's always ok...toughest little lady I have ever seen. We played for another hour maybe. And that is the end of a story about a "normal" Saturday.

When it was time to do cake and ice cream, Grace didn't look so good. She looked sick. We made it to the bathroom just in time for her to begin vommitting. I took her outside to call her doctor and waited for the on call nurse to call back, making the decision with Corey to head toward the Cooks Childrens Urgent Care Clinic. As we spoke with the on call nurse, Grace lost conciousness and was unresponsive to shaking, poking, jabbing or a screaming panicking mommy. We were instructed to pull over and call 911. My heart was being wripped out of my body and I could not regain control or explain things to the 911 dispatcher or do anything for that matter. Seconds were taking an eternity and she was still unresponsive.

We would race to Care Now when we realized an ambulance had not been dispatched and get doctors to help us get an ambulance for our sweet baby who was so so quiet. When the ambulance arrived EMTs gave Grace an IV, put a back board on her, a neck brace, poked her and moved her all around and she still did not respond. They loaded my baby into an ambulance and I watched her precious little feet as the doors closed behind her...and she had not made a sound. I was ushered into the front seat of the ambulance and waited for the voice that yells down the hallway every morning, "Mommy! Grace awake!" During the ambulance ride, Grace would come in and out of conciousness. In the end we would go from an ambulance ride, to screaming sirens breaking through the most silent time in my life with Grace.

I made a call for prayers on the way...have no idea what I said. I spoke to the EMTs and have no idea what I said to them...I apologized alot...for what, I don't know. I closed my eyes and I could feel my baby's back, her tummy, her chubby little legs, her precious crooked feet, her sweet baby curls...every inch of her. She is...my baby. And I prayed. I begged. I pleaded...don't change her. Don't take her. Don't make this Saturday, the day that my whole life fell apart. Let it just be a normal Saturday.

After reaching the hospital and getting a cat scan there was a moment where Grace just turned back on, and said the sweetest words a mommy could have hoped for, "Where's my bow?" And then she fell asleep. Grace slept curled up on my lap on a hospital gurney for over an hour. And I was so so so happy. We would walk out of the hospital that day, hand in hand, with Grace telling me all the colors she saw on the floor. It is still so surreal. From normal to trauma to normal all in one Saturday afternoon. It was an emotional overload.

We believe it was the power of prayer and God's sweet angels that brought our baby back around unharmed. What a beautiful sight it must have been from heaven to see Princess Grace in the hands of angels. It's nearly impossible to imagine as you are living in a storm, but it is true. His angels are there...holding us...holding our children. This is the daily miracle that we take for granted and every so often we are reminded how miraculous our lives truly are and how vulnerable we are and how blessed we are to live lives with little princesses that are cradled by angels.