Seve and Caleb

It is with a very heavy heart that I post the passing of Caleb Smith son of Seve and Scott Smith on May 12th, 2008 at 8:05 am. I will let Seve tell you in her own words about the short, yet remarkable life of little Caleb.

I have the birth story of Caleb. First off I would like to thank everyone who has said prayers in our behalf. We would not have the peace and comfort we feel without them.
I was scheduled for the c-section on 5/12/08 at 7:30 am. I came to a Dr.'s visit on 4/30 to have an amnio and drain the excess fluid off of Caleb. The Amnio made me have contractions 4 min. apart. Luckily after 2 hrs. of trying they got the contractions stopped and told me I was not returning to Bozeman, I had to stay on hospital bed rest for as long as possible. I made it to May 12th. However, not to 7:30 am.
I woke up at 5:30 am having very strong contractions every 2 min. At about 6:00 my water broke, a bad thing because the babies were both breech and I was completely dilated and was ready to push. During all of this my room became chaos. I was rushed into the OR and I had pushed 3 times before they put me under General Anesthesia and did an emergency c-section. David was born at 6:41 screaming, and rushed to the NICU. Caleb was born at 6:42 with more of a whimper and was taken back to the NICU where Scott got to spend an hour with the boys as I recovered. At about 7:30 I was wheeled into my recovery room and Caleb was brought in. Scott, his Dad and brother gave Caleb a blessing. After the blessing Caleb was placed on my chest, I stroked his hair, checked out every inch of him. He had bi-lateral club feet, I call them his patty-cake feet, he did have the shorted arms and legs, chubby little cheeks, perfect little hands, a cleft palate and the most beautiful navy blue eyes. He took his last sigh at 8:05 am. He stayed with us for 1 hr. 23 min. the most precious 20 minutes of my life. We got to have him with us until 8:30 pm. We got the chance to bathe him, so snuggle with him, to get tons of pictures, including all 3 of my boys together and getting kisses. We were in the NICU with him and David, David started to cry, we laid Caleb next to him, he grabbed Caleb's hand and instantly settled down. Now when I hear David cry I wonder if he too is morning the loss of his brother.
Caleb was 13" tall and 6 lbs. dark brown hair, dark blue eyes.
David is 18" tall and 4.8 lbs. dark brown hair, and dark blue eyes.
Although they are not identical twins you can definantly tell they are brothers.
David has followed in his older brother's footsteps and looks just like Ethan who looks just like Daddy. Caleb has more of my traits.

Thank you for all the kind words and support.

Please visit Caleb's Collage and pray for Seve and her family. They will need a lot of support in the days and years to come. http://www.astfurtography.com/Calebcollagenilmdtsresized.jpg