I heard a voice, faintly, awakening me from my slumber. "It's baby time!" My eyes opened to see my mother standing above me with a great big smile on her face. I stayed lying down until I realized that she was not kidding, my sister-in-law was going into labor.
As this realization hit me I jumped up and started to throw clothes on. I glanced at the clock and saw 12:30 am. I walked in my bathroom, joining my mom, and began to put make-up on. My brother, after accepting that this wasn’t my mom’s idea of an April fool’s day joke, walked out and stood there; we were all laughing and making jokes.
When everyone was ready we went to the car and crawled into our seats; Dad in the driver's seat, Spencer in the passenger, and Mom and me in the back seat.
The drive to the hospital was long and far from silent, filled with laughter and my mom's voice retelling my brother's phone call. We walked across the cross walk, took the elevator to the fourth floor and followed the signs down the long winding hallways to the birthing place.
The waiting room was to the right and the first thing I spotted when I walked in was my brother, Adam. He has been there for about 30 minutes, waiting to be allowed into the room where his daughter was going to be born. Anticipation filled his body as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, just waiting.
Finally, a nurse came in. "Adam?" He looked up and began to follow her out. A while later my sister-in-law's mom was called back into the room. We all sat in silence, watching television, reading, trying to sleep, but mainly thinking about how this is going to change our lived. How wonderful the years following will be with a niece/granddaughter in them.
About an hour later another nurse walked into the waiting room. "Margaret?" My mom excitedly stood and followed the nurse out of the room, into the back.
When she enters again, about an hour later, she is not as excited. I can tell something is wrong when she walked in stone face, glistening eyes, motioning for me to scoot over and allow room for her to sit. Her voice is filled with sadness and tears fill her eyes as she repeats the news. "They lost the baby."
Suddenly the entire world seemed silent and I felt my face getting wet. She then explained that when they took my sister-in-law back they could not find the baby's heartbeat. When they hooked up the ultrasound machine they found that the baby was not moving.
My first thoughts were those of disbelief. 'Maybe the doctors are wrong, they will find the heartbeat.' Next when I finally accepted that this wasn't the case, I hoped and prayed for a miracle. 'Dear God, please, let her be alive. I will do anything if only you bring her back.'
After this failed I began to wonder why. Why would something like this happen to a couple as great as my brother and sister? There are thousands of people around the world that give away their children, even more who do not want them, so why would this happen to the two people who wanted her more than anything and would love her with everything they had?
These questions crossed everyone's mind at one point during the next couple of weeks, and even now they still surface seven months later, but cannot be answered.
The next couple of days blurred together: filled with tears, hospital rooms and sleepless nights. Kaylee Grace was baptized and had a beautiful memorial service. It's amazing how much love she brought into this world even though she never got a chance to breathe her first breath, learn how to ride a bicycle or look into her loving mother and father's eyes.
Now, looking back, I realize that it only takes one second for everything to change. One second for the world to come crashing down around you. It doesn't take long for the happiest day in your life to turn into your worst. You should not take things for granted because you never know when they are going to be taken away from you.
You should live every moment as if it is your last; cherishing every last thing and person you come into contact with.