Kathleen Cooper - Living a Miracle

Chapter 1

The Beginning

I t was just a normal weekend in the Cooper House. None of us had any idea our lives would change forever this weekend. It was Labor Day weekend 2018, and we were all planning our weekend as normal. We had plans as a family to take our long weekend vacation in Michigan or possibly go on a motorcycle trip. We couldnt decide if we wanted to go quite as far as Michigan for just a five-day weekend, so we figured maybe a motorcycle ride through the Natchez Trace in Mississippi would be a better fit. It was another hot August weekend. As the week progressed, the weather station said there was a chance of rain, so we decided it would be best for us to just stay home instead. It was our undecided plans that convinced our son to take the weekend and make plans with his friends to go to a mud park to go four-wheeling and watch concerts.

We have had many trials, situations, and life lessons throughout our lives together. We are a family even with all the trials that we would face, we would pull through and end up coming out on top. Just like our God has promised. He would see us through all of them, even when we didnt deserve his help. He blessed us, although we never gave him the praise he deserved. We have sinned so much in our lives and ignored God when we shouldnt have. We were selfish, inconsiderate, and somewhat greedy. God would try to pull us close, and we would turn our backs, not even realizing it. We didnt study the Lords Word or promises as we should have. It took us up until this last year to really find the truth and follow the Lord. We didnt know or understand, but eventually, God would make it very clear. Im going to show you just how much our God loves even the sinners like us.

Let me go back and start from the beginning. My name is Kathy, and my husband is Aaron Cooper. Weve been married for fourteen years at this time. We were very young when we met. Our lives together officially began in January 1999 when we found out we were having a baby. I was only fifteen at the time, and Aaron was nineteen. We had only been together for less than six months when we found out I was pregnant. Still, being a girl in high school and not having been married was a very difficult situation to face. What were people going to say? Was I going to be able to continue in high school without being ridiculed or shunned? What were my parents going to say? Were they going to shun me from the family? These were all the things going through my mind when I found out the news. Was I really capable of having a child because I was really still a child myself? I was going to have to put my attention into someone else when I hadnt even figured out my life yet. One thing we were certain of was we were going to get through it together. We were not going to give this child up for abortion or adoption. Aaron and I had decided that no matter what the consequences, we were going to fight through it together. This was a very big decision to make for such a young couple, even though we had only known each other for eight months. Was this man really going to stick by me, or was he going to break under the pressure when the baby comes? With all the situations, you would see more often than not a young teen mom left to raise a child on her own. Was I ready for all this? Ready or not, the minute I heard my babys heartbeat, I knew I was not changing my mind. Alone in the world, I didnt care. I decided I was going to have our baby. Aaron stayed by my side, and he attended the first appointment with me. We got to hear our childs heartbeat together. Aaron was actually the one who convinced me we could do this, and we would get through it. I was going to take that chance anyway, but if he was willing to be there with me, that was even more comforting. This was the first trial we would face in our life together.

Everything was working out as if it was all supposed to happen. Aaron stuck by my side through the whole pregnancy. He worked a full-time job and got us our first place to live. He encouraged me to continue through school. He was supportive and a great man who seemed ready to have a family. I still carried that pesky thought in the back of my mind. Would he leave after I had the baby? Did he really understand the sacrifices that would be involved in this? He was young, so would he change his mind when things got tough? I was young too, but I already knew that I had to grow up. My family accepted my decision, and instead of giving up on me, they stood by my side through it all. My high school treated me as if I was just another student. They did not turn their backs on me. I had amazing support from all my teachers throughout my pregnancy. Yes, I did end up losing some of my friends because we drifted apart. I dont blame them, and I understand my life was different now. I wasnt going to be able to do the things normal teens were doing, so I grew to understand and accept it. There were a few of my friends, though, that stood by me, and I will never forget them. There was one of my closest friends that I had lost, and I had really hoped we would find our way back to each other. We were best friends for years, and we were inseparable. I wasnt sure if I would be the same without my sidekick. It hurt to know she didnt want to be a part of our lives. I wanted her to be a part of my life and get to meet my child. I had all the support I needed to get through this, though, and at least I wasnt alone.

I went to school full-time and continued my life as much of a normal teen girl as I could. I got a part-time job working as a hostess at a small hometown restaurant called Whiteheads. I was only allowed to work so many hours since I was only fifteen, so I did what I could to help the man who worked so hard to support his new family. Aaron worked overtime, and he did everything a man could do to support me when I was pregnant. He would work a lot of hours to cover our bills so I could finish school. He supplied everything we needed. It was during this time that it was the first time I thought about it, and I knew God brought us together, and we were right where we were supposed to be. How did I get so fortunate to have so much love and support? I could only reflect on the girls out there who werent as lucky as I was and didnt have support at all. Im so thankful for everyone in my life, good and bad. It either taught me about blessings, or it was life lessons. I never really gave the Lord praise for anything back then. I didnt fully understand how life really worked. I did believe in God, and I was taught the most common biblical stories, such as Cain and Abel, Noahs ark, and the birth of Jesus. I didnt know any details and never studied the Bible. It had been years since I went to church, so I just lived life like we were in control of our own destiny.

On Friday, September 17, 1999, at three oclock in the morning, I woke up. My water had broken, and I knew it was time. We were going to have our baby boy. I woke Aaron up, and all he could do was make a joke. What? You peed on me? All I could say was There is no way I could pee that much, and I knew it was my water that had broken. He still makes jokes to this day about me peeing on him. He thinks its funny, but I dont. Its just his normal sense of humor, though, and that is one of the things I love about him. I remembered the doctors explaining what would happen. I called my mom to tell her it was time so she could follow us to the hospital. We got packed and headed to Cadillac Mercy Hospital. That is where my doctor was. I wasnt due for another week, but it was close enough. I wasnt having any contractions yet when we arrived, but I did have some back pain. When I got to the hospital, I was only dilated to one centimeter, so they began Pitocin, a medicine to induce labor. It had been a long weekend, and with every hour, contractions would grow stronger, but I wasnt dilating. Friday night, they had to stop the medicine and would resume Saturday morning again. Although contractions were getting stronger, my body wasnt dilating properly. My contractions grew minutes apart on Saturday from the medicine, but I only dilated to three centimeters. The pain and contractions were so bad they gave me an epidural in the spine. The contraction pain stopped, and the contractions stopped completely. The medicine was stopped again on Saturday night. My water had been broken for over forty-eight hours at this point. It was getting dangerous to have the baby in there for so long without the fluid sac for protection. Sunday morning, the nineteenth of September, is when the doctors decided it was time to do a cesarean section. The babys heart rate was getting weaker, and the risk of infection was increasing. With me being so young, there was always a high risk of birth complications. Of course, we had concerns. We had to sign papers and prep, and then away, we went to the operating room.