Three Days is a Lifetime

Page 19

James continues -

Day Three

Friday came, and I knew in my heart this was the last day.

My parents were on their way, I told them not to wait for their luggage but to get to the hospital a quickly as possible.

At about 1:30 they arrived. They spent time with Matthias and about 3 p.m. Matthias’ breathing became labored. The alarms were sounding more often and the nurses had to resuscitate him frequently. Our time was growing short. We were placed in a private room and had the monitors silenced. Sometime during the week, Dr. Carrol explained that babies seldom die like they do in movies, they don’t die suddenly. Knowing this helped me greatly. I knew he was passing away; but I didn't know how long, nor did I care. I was going to hold him all the way through. No more nurse checks or monitors, just a little boy in my arms. Somewhere between five and six he passed. I kept telling him that it would be ok. We prayed the glorious mysteries over Matthias while we held him. We held him in our grief, snuggled him, and he looked at us as if to say, “It will be ok.” My internal prayer was that it was now ok for God to take him. Exactly when Matthias passed away, I am not sure. He looked at me the whole time. He never shook or quivered as he slowly moved into Jesus’ arms.