Michael Silas McGehee

Silas joined our family 4 weeks ago tonight, on Sunday, February 28 at 6:48pm.  He weighed 6lbs and 15 ounces and was 20" long and absolutely perfect!!  That Saturday had been an extremely busy and tiring day for me.  I had helped give two wedding showers and then worked at daddy's helping Becky continue to clean out and pack up.  I did notice on my way in the house for the night that the moon was FULL!  After showering, getting on my pajamas and curling up in the bed for what I hoped would be a good nights rest.. my phone rang.  As I picked it up, I saw it was Sunny and that it was 10:30pm.  "Mama, I think my water broke" were the next words I heard!  To be perfectly honest my first thought was, "oh please..not tonight, I am SO tired" but that quickly turned to..."oh how wonderful, we are about to have another beautiful baby!"  So, Bill and I threw on clothes, grabbed a suitcase and threw things in it and headed to Jackson, praying for Sunny, Bud and Silas and for a quick and safe trip for us!  We arrived at River Oak Baby Suites about 1:00am and were greeted by a very nervous but excited son-in-law who led us up to the labor and delivery suite where our Sunny was all hooked up to the monitors but having very few contractions! The doctor on call decided to let her try to get into active labor on her own over night with the plan to start labor inducing med in the morning if she did not. Bud's mama and daddy had arrived shortly after Bill and I so the four of us along with Bud spent the night in various places and positions in the hospital.  Sunny did not begin having regular contractions so early on Sunday morning the potocin was started.  It has been amazing for me with all three of the girls to see how differently things are done than when they were born.  There were lots of people allowed back to visit her all during the day while things were progressing.  We have pictures of her with just about every member of both families, including her nieces and nephews! As the day went along the potocin did it's job and she began having contractions and dilating. Around noon(I think) the anethesiologist came in and gave her an epidural... ah, relief.  I agree that epidurals are a marvelous thing but I have seen them slow down the progress of labor many times and that is what happened.  Something else I have witnessed, that  happens with epidurals, is the mothers are so numb that when it is time to push they cannot feel their muscles to use and it is very hard... this happened with Sunny as well.  After turning her potocin up and getting the contractions going strong again, sometime around 4 the doctor said it was time to push.  Oh, let me back up and tell you about the doctor.  Dr. Donna Breland has been my ob-gyn for about 15 years so naturally when my girls needed to start those visits they all went to Donna.  She is in a group of wonderful, Christian doctors there at River Oaks and has been such a blessing in  my life.  Donna has delivered one of all 3 of my girls babies now!  She delivered Mylie for Sydney, Will for Sarah(they were living in Vicksburg) and now Silas for Sunny!  We were so thankful that she was able to come in on a Sunday afternoon when she was not on call and deliver Silas!   Now, back to pushing.  I will not go into all the details but just let me say that it was definitely a group effort getting Silas to enter this world!  And it took about 2 1/2 hours.  Sunny was amazing!!!  I could not have been more proud of her!!  And how blessed am I that I have been in the delivery room when all SIX of my grandchildren have been ushered into this world, wonderful  and healthy!  God absolutely amazes me with His unbelievable love, grace and mercy to us.  He amazes me with the blessings that He continually pours into my life!  I cannot help but PRAISE HIM!!!  Yes, life has it's troubles and things do not always go like we want them too... but OH MY the blessings FAR outweigh the troubles and I am SO thankful!! So, baby Silas decided to be a February baby instead of a March baby and is one month old today!  Sunny and Bud are amazing parents already and they as we all are, are totally in love with our youngest blessing.  So, now.. there is the story of Silas' birth, which by the way resembles the way his mother was born a whole lot...I went into labor around 11pm one night, there was a full moon and Sunny arrived the next day....and we are trusting God day by day for his future, praying that more than anything this sweet baby boy will grow up knowing how very loved he is, by his family and by His God.  And that as soon as he is able to understand, he will ask Jesus into his heart and spend the rest of his life, knowing, loving and serving the One who gave him life!!