In April of 1999 I received a phone call from my sister with the news that she was pregnant. I was not thrilled with the news since the father was married and she already has one child with no father. Eventually our family excepted this and became excited about a new baby. We found out that she was going to have a boy, which made my whole family over joyed since all the grandchildren are girls. My mom and I went shopping and bought socks, bibs, and other little baby boy things. Shawna had become very large and the doctor was afraid she might have diabetes. After several tests and hours of waiting they came back negative. We all were very relieved. We knew the baby was going to be rather large. On November 3, 1999 my mom, aunt and two cousins made the three-hour trip to be there for the birth of my nephew. I had to work so I was unable to make the trip. On November 4, 1999 at 1:00 PM I called the hospital to find out how she was doing. She was fine and not having any contractions yet. I talked to her for almost twenty minutes. I told her I loved her, said good luck and I'll see you and my new nephew this weekend. Right after I hung up with her she began have contractions. They began to come faster and harder. My aunt and mother were in the room helping her along when the alarm went off on the baby monitor. My mom had to run down the hall and get the nurse. The nurse told them that it was just a malfunction of the equipment and she reset it. They were relieved and figured she knew what she was talking about. They continued to coach Shawna when the alarm went off again. Again the nurse said it was a malfunction and reset it. Shawna couldn't stand the pain and requested and epidermal. The doctor came in and she was ready to push. During the delivery the doctor lost the heartbeat and began to suction out the baby. They got him out and started CPR. My sister laid there in horror while they worked on her son for twenty minuets to revive him. His heart finally started beating but it was unclear on how much damage had been done. Darrien was born at 3:58pm on November the 4th. My lunch hour was at 6:00pm and when I walked through the door my husband told me I needed to call the hospital something went wrong with the baby. I was hysterical. I finally got a hold of someone and they explained what happened. I wasn't able to make the drive until the next day. There was no way of knowing that this would be the worst day of my life. We arrived at the hospital only to find out that my 10lb 10oz perfect baby nephew was brain dead. He would need life support to live and they were not sure if that would keep him alive for long. I never cried so hard in my life. It felt like a really bad nightmare and I wanted to wake up. I made my way down to neonatal intensive care to see my nephew for the first time. He was beautiful, perfect baby. He looked like he was sleeping. I remember thinking God's not this cruel, why is he doing this to my sister. My sister made the decision to take him off the life support. She felt that it wasn't fair to Darrien to make him live this way. Our family gathered in the hospital room as the nurse laid my sister's son in her arms. We watched as they removed the breathing tube from his mouth. I can still remember everyone crying and asking why. Everyone was allowed to hold him and say their good-byes but I just couldn't. I felt if I held him I wouldn't be able to let go. He was gone in forty-five minuets. I kissed his forehead and his little hands and told him I couldn't wait until I seen him again. This was the very first time that I ever seen tears roll down my dad's face. My whole family was torn. Shawna was able to donate his heart valve to another baby. After Darrien was gone his doctor came in and went over the terrible events with my sister. He pulled out a chart that showed her son being in distress for twenty-eight minuets. My sister is always worried about what she's going to do next when disaster strikes in her life. All she could talk about for the next few days was how she was going to pay for Darrien's funeral. We assured her that she had enough family that would help. He had a beautiful service. It was really hard to say goodbye. Everyone visits his grave often and asks him what games are he and God playing today.

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU DARRIEN!!
Mommy, sister Sierra, Grandma, Papa, Uncle Mike, Uncle Mark, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Sherry and your cousins Michelle, Maica, Katie, Danielle, Heather and Julianne

My family and I feel that the hospital where Darrien was born was at fault. My sister is currently filling a lawsuit and we are spreading the word about this kind of negligence in hospitals.
 
 

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