Thursday, June 5, 2008

Happy Birthday Carter!!!



Happy Birthday my sweet precious boy!! I can’t believe you are 1 year old. What a year. You have been such a blessing, and brought such joy into our lives. Your smile can brighten any room. I am so proud to be your momma. You are such a fighter, and you have proved that since day one. You have kept us on our toes since long before you were born. We have called upon many prayer chains on your behalf and you have given us many scares, yet we are so thankful for who you are and the blessing you have been to us.
When I was only 24 weeks pregnant with you I started having contractions and that was the first of many scary days. At 38 weeks I was induced but you decided you were not ready to meet the world and you stayed where things were cozy for 2 more weeks! You made your grand entrance with another scare when you decided to wait a minute before you would start breathing. You were born at a whopping 10lbs 3 oz and 23 inches long. Are you sure you needed to stay in there for those 2 extra weeks??



Of course we fell in love we you the minute we saw you. You were the talk of the hospital because you were almost twice the size of the other babies. The nurses laughed because they didn’t have any outfits big enough for you. Your big brother has always been so proud of you. He is a much better big brother than anyone could have ever imagined. I love watching him talk to you and play with you. He was so scared the first time he held you. I will never forget when he held you and you started to cry, he thought he hurt you and was so scared he was going to get in trouble.




When you were born your big toe nails were buried into the top skin on your toe, and a couple months later they became infected and off the toe nails came. I was so scared as I watched them take you away from me and into the operating room. Little did I know that that was one of many procedures and no big deal. You never showed pain from that and again showed us that you are tough.





At four months old I noticed your soft spot on your skull was very small. I cried as they did a cat scan to see if you were going to need surgery to fix it. I praised the Lord as the results showed it was no big deal and you were just blessed with a funny shaped head! So many prayed for us during that difficult time and so many rejoiced with us when we got the good results.

Carter, I would not trade these crazy moments for anything in the world. God has taught me so much about prayer, faith and trust through you. Its so amazing that such a small person can have such an impact on the world around them. Through every trial you have been so brave and full of joy.

Throughout the winter you were constantly sick with a cold and a bad cough. You would often cough and throw up all over us. We started to learn when this would happen and even got used to it. You had such a crazy cough and when people that were not used to it would hear it they would look at me like you were going to die. Little did I know then that the cough was due to the tumor pressing on your lungs.

May 2, 2008 was one of the craziest days of our lives. I knew something was really bad when your doctor told us to get to her office soon and she would explain everything to us. We were so blessed with great doctors and nurses that cared about you. Everything happened so fast which I am so grateful for. Only four short days after learning you had a tumor it was removed. I will never forget the look on the surgeons face when he told us it was definitely cancer. I already knew it was but hearing it for sure was so scary. Seeing you after surgery was the worst part of this whole ordeal. You were again proving that you are a fighter as they had to restrain you because you were trying to sit up and pull your breathing tube out. What a strong little boy you are! We were so surprised by how quickly you recovered and were back to the happy little boy we know and love. What a miracle!!

Through all the bad there has always been good. We have seen God work in your life over and over again. I can't wait to see what kind of strong man you turn into. I know God has amazing plans for your life, and look forward to watching them unfold before me.

We are learning that you have no limitations. You do not understand the word no, and have no fear. We know that you will never give up on anything and no one will ever tell you that you can't accomplish something. I so often took your life for granted, but now I cherish every moment.

I love to listen to you "talk" when you wake up in the morning. Those are the sweetest sounds on earth. I love it even more when your whole body gets excited to see me. You have blessed my life more than words can express. I look forward to sharing many many more birthdays with you. I pray they will all be cancer free! I hate that I am a mother of a child with cancer, but love that I am your mommy. Carter Jay I love you so much and I hope you have a great first birthday.

Love, Your mommy

4 mo.
2 mo.

8 mo.
6 mo.
12 mo.
10 mo.

To my faithful blogger friends:

Thank you for sharing in this journey with us. I hope you rejoice with us in celebrating Carter's first birthday. Sorry for boring you with the long letter to my son. I wish I would have wrote letters to Evan on his birthdays, but I think I will from now on. Don't forget about Carter's party on Saturday, June 7, at SHBC at 2 p.m.

Please pray as we go back for a check up next Wednesday, June 11 in St. Louis. I am confident everything will be clear, but I am still nervous. Please pray for peace as the day approaches.

We appreciate all of you.

In Him,

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Carter!

We'll be out of town on Saturday but we wish you the best during your celebration. We'll be by to play and talk sometime!

The Myers Family

Jenelle said...

Happy Birthday, Carter! What a year! Your letter wasn't so long, Gina, and what a great idea. I'll be copying off you in a few days. Give your sweet boy a birthday kiss from me!

jenny said...

Happy Birthday Big Boy! I can't believe you are a year old when I first met you you were around 3 to 4 months old. You have one of the sweetest smiles I have seen. I might see you on Saturday but if not I love ya.
Your Big Sis,
Jenny Elliott

Rachel said...

What a sweet letter to your boy - go Gina :) He sure has had an eventful first year, hopefully like you've said before he has all the excitement out and he remembers as a teenager that he already wore out your nerves :)

See you guys on Sat - hugs to the fam and a birthday kiss for Carter!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Carter!

Thanks for the wonderful blog Gina. Your little boy already has a huge and wonderful testimony of God's mercy and grace! I'm so glad you are all home and doing better. I will pray for you all next Wednesday. Keep us updated.
Mason and Sarah Bigler

Anonymous said...

To a very brave and courageous soldier of the Lord, Carter Jay,

Really far away, on the other side of the world, from the tip of Africa, in South Africa, we have been following your inspirational story and can tell you that you have a wonderful family and a mommy, especially blessed with expressing her love for you on your blog.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO YOU BEAUTIFUL CARTTER !!!! We hope you have a wonderful birthday and that you get to do all your favourite things today and at your party that Mommy, Daddy and your big brother have planned for you. Mommy is correct when she says you have taught her so many lessons, even though you are still so young. I know........ because I have a beautiful and adorable grandson, nearly 2 years old now, Deqlan Ross Higgins (www.deqlanhiggins.blogspot.com)who was also diagnosed with neuroblastoma (Stage IV) and the lessons he has taught me are the greatest of my life. We rejoice in our miracle that Deqlan is NED (No Evidence of Disease) and we too have faith in our Healing Saviour Jesus, that this will remain for all the days of his life.

I understand only too well many of the fears your Mommy has, but her faith, trust and hope in the Lord will see her (and your family) through all and any challenges in the days ahead.

God bless you always, little Carter and remember God knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)
With lots of love
Aunty Bev

(Nanna to Deqlan Higgins (aged 22 months) and to Keaton du Plessis aged 4 months)

Harris Family said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Harris Family said...

Gina! Blessings to you sister! It's so great to see your blog and I'm grateful to God for your children! I hope to stay connected now!
Love,
Cristi (Clark) Harris

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a year. Such a huge blessing. Miracle after miracle. Carter is a miracle in himself. I'm sure he feels as blessed as we see him. You are both wonderful parents and so faithful to God. Thank you for sharing your journey. We love you so much.
Continuing to pray for Carter-
Terri Lipe

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!


Sweet boy it was so good to see you and Evan and mommy and daddy tonight! You are such a little trooper and love to keep people on their toes! We love you and will continue to pray for you...~ Larry and Traci Froelich

Deqlan said...

Happy 1st Birthday Carter! What a fantastic celebration! Wow, you are a real blessing to so many people and I can see how much your mommy loves you and what a lovely big brother you have. God definitely has big plans for you and has already used your beautiful life to show and teach people important things! Congrats and have a lovely birthday!
God Bless
Samm and Deqlan
www.deqlanhiggins.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Gina,

This letter brought tears to my eyes. It's so awesome to see how the Lord is giving you and the Bayless' strength in your time of need. I pray for you, Carter, and the Bayless' family every single day...often several times a day. I'm so grateful for both of your blogs so that I know how to pray. God is amazing and I just praise Him for hearing and answer our prayers for both of these precious boys.

In Jesus' love,
Brooke Walters

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a lot has happened in a year! I remembered them all, but still... What a blessing!

The Franciscos

Anonymous said...

Happy, Happy Birthday... and many, many more!
The Lackey family

Anonymous said...

Gina, what a precious letter to your sweet baby boy. Thank you for sharing it with us! I hope his birthday was wonderful...I can't believe he is already a year old! I have prayed for him many times since I found out that he was sick, and will say extra prayers for all of you on Wed as you go for his check up~ Love, Cammie

Stimpson6 said...

Gina and Mike, Carter and Evan,
Happy #1!!!Praising the Lord with and for you! Gina, i just read through your entries (catching up) and prayed for you and Carter and Granton. I loved your letter. It is a privilege to lift you up in prayer. Thank you for sharing your journey. Your faith encourages me. Hope to see you soon. Peace in Him, Jamee' S.