Tracy's Son's Story   — tracy west, OR, USA

My first child was born May 31, 1994. It was a scheduled C-section due to his breach position. He was a healthy 8 lb, 11 ½ oz. baby boy. When he was 9 weeks old it was a very hot summer day. My mother was holding him and said that he felt hot. I was only 19 at the time, so I said it’s just plain hot. It was 105 degrees that day. I figured if he had a fever he would cry or be unhappy. One hour later he started crying and wouldn’t stop so I put the thermometer under his arm, but he was crying so hard I stopped after 5 seconds and it had already shot up to 101 degrees. I was very scared at that point. I had to find a ride because his father had the car and was out firefighting. By the time we got to the hospital he was screaming in pain. The lady behind the desk took his temperature. It was 104 degrees. She took him over the counter and rushed him to the back, and then they came and got me. I was so worried, but kept it together for my baby. They started drawing blood, urine, and then they said I needed to go while they did a spinal tap. I told the doctor I would be fine that I would not leave him. The doctor said now would be a good time to contact the father. Everything started spinning. I was thinking to myself this must be bad. So I called the firefighting place in hopes they could locate him. By the grace of God his crew had just walked in the office. I told my husband about our son, and my husband drove faster than I ever thought possible to get to the hospital. After two days the doctors confirmed that what my son had was group B strep sepsis and informed me that if I would had waited 1 more hour before bringing him to the hospital he would have died. We spent 5 day in the hospital and then we took him back for 5 days of IV antibiotics. For the next 6 years he was always getting infections with high fevers and seemed to always be on antibiotics. The doctors said it was probably due to group B strep sepsis wearing his immune system down. Now he is a healthy “ADD” 17 yr. old getting ready to graduate and go off to college. GOD was by his side.