Our second daughter Allison Morgan Reid was born March 1st, 2002.   She was born at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina on her daddy's birthday, happy, healthy, and BEAUTIFUL!!!  We brought her home, and 19 days later, something went terribly wrong.  Allison began to breathe heavily, and didn't wake up to eat.  Her skin became very "mottled" and she was unresponsive.  I was never one of those parents who took their child to the doctor for every little sniffle, and I thought it was just "baby stuff".  Our oldest daughter was 3 1/2 at the time, and it seemed so long since I had experienced the strange things that babies did!!   Well, she had a little angel looking over her, (and you know who you are.....) and because of certain events that occurred, I decided to take her to the doctor.

Within 5 minutes of arriving at the doctor's office, she had an I.V. in her arm, and fluids running through her veins.  10 minutes after that, she had antibiotics going through the same tiny little veins.  She was rushed via ambulance to the pediatric ICU at Wake Medical Center, where she was poked and prodded.  They did a spinal tap and diagnosed spinal meningitis.  (This COULDN'T be happening to OUR little girl!!!)  The first night in the hospital, she crashed.  She quit breathing on her own and was placed on a ventilator, she was given a catheter, and an IV in each arm and leg.  She was given antibiotics and anti-seizure drugs and a host of other things to help keep her alive.

The second day she was in the hospital, the doctor told us to be prepared for the worst.  She wasn't responding to any type of stimuli....touch, light, even pinching.  That ripped our hearts out.   With the love and prayers of everyone around her, Allison started to fight back.   She improved a little bit each and every day, and after nearly 5 weeks in the PICU, she is home with us. 

She is in for a long road ahead.  She had at least 6 strokes while sick, and there is quite a bit of brain damage.  We are prepared for many years of physical therapy, developmental delays and hearing loss.  But that is all fine....she is alive and home to hold, kiss and love on. 

Thank God for those few years that we had with our little Angel....