On January 27, 2005 my sister Fran went into labor when she was 25 weeks pregnant with Kayden. They lived in the suburbs of Houston, TX. It was a frightening night to see little Kayden arrive. As happy as everyone was to see her, we were terrified she wasn't going to ever leave the NICU. Weighing a little less than 2lbs, Kayden's body could fit in the palm of your hand. Kayden spent the next three months in that NICU. She was the strongest baby the nurses and doctors had ever seen. The odds were stacked against her, but she proved everyone wrong and left the hospital before the warm summer months approached.
A few weeks after Kayden was discharged from the hospital, Fran and Mitchell decided to move back to our home town. To my surprise, they were living with our dad in the green and white trailer. Finances were getting low for them, so my sister was needing to get back to work. Since summer was just around the corner and I didn't have school, Fran called my mom to see if I could babysit Kayden. Mitchell offered me a ridiculous amount of money, I just couldn't turn down. The catch was, I had to stay at our dad's house to watch her.. The thought made my stomach turn, but in reality I needed to make money and I loved babies.
Kayden was my first real baby to take care of by myself. At five months old, Kayden was not much bigger than a newborn baby. Due to her traumatic premature birth, she was given a heart monitor by the hospital. The heart monitor was crucial to use at night. Kayden's heart could stop at any time and we needed to be on our toes. Fran worked as an exotic dancer and Mitchell went with her, so I was left with Kayden all night. At 12 years old I was given detailed instructions on how to hook Kayden up to the monitor and what to do if the monitor went off. If for some reason I couldn't get the monitor to stop beeping, my job was to call 911. Imagine being a 12 year old kid in charge of not only a baby, but a baby that is required to wear a heart monitor at night, because at any minute her heart could stop beating. If Kayden moved, I woke up. If Kayden coughed, I woke up.
If Kayden sneezed, I woke up. Some nights I didn't sleep at all... I was terrified something would go wrong. That summer I learned what true love is. I learned how to put others' needs first. I learned how to love a human more than myself. Little did I know that would be the last summer I spent with Kayden until she turned 7 years old.
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