Claimant says: "I became pregnant after about 3 months of being married in 1985. It came as a shock to several individuals. I began to notice that our new son didn't look right in his eyes & his hair, which looked straw-like (Yes, he was born with a full head of hair like his younger brother was). I began telling my mother & father & spouse, anyone who I thought would listen really, that there was something wrong with my baby! They all thought I was nuts. This really hurt my feelings & I began to think there might also ”
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Claimant says: "I became pregnant after about 3 months of being married in 1985. It came as a shock to several individuals. I began to notice that our new son didn't look right in his eyes & his hair, which looked straw-like (Yes, he was born with a full head of hair like his younger brother was). I began telling my mother & father & spouse, anyone who I thought would listen really, that there was something wrong with my baby! They all thought I was nuts. This really hurt my feelings & I began to think there might also be something wrong with THEM. Because: ARE THEY BLIND!?!?
The first chance I had I told the Chief of Staff, who was my pediatrician. There were several other staff in the room & they began laughing insanely at me saying that I was just a new mommy who was hysterical & to go home & enjoy being a MOM. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE ELSE SEE THE SAME THING OF IT THAT I DID!?!
We were living in the house my mom bought us to try to help us have more cash (with no paying rent) but that didn't work out as planned. I woke up one morning early & went around the corner to the next bedroom to check on our baby. He was too still. He was totally motionless & I cried out for my husband who bound into the room & picked him up. He was definitely DEAD. My husband told me to run up the road to call 911. We didn't have our phone installed yet. It was pouring rain.I ran to the only house I could see that had a car in the driveway.Everyone else was out. I called 911 & out I went running back home. On my way, I was stopped by someone getting out of her car asking if I was okay. I kept in a trot & shouted back that our baby was dead. She fell in behind me & ran into our house with me saying she was a trained EMP & took over the mouth-to-mouth my spouse had been administering.The ambulance arrived & the lady who helped offered us a ride to the ER. We had no car.
(a car was an on-again-off-again thing with us- we walked a LOT) He had been revived but he was lost en route to the hospital. This totally tore me up. It tore us all up. In the ER staff came to my husband & I standing there in tears & said they wanted to contact authorities & report it as a MURDER! He stepped up with; YOU NEED TO GET AN AUTOPSY!
No one could say that I hadn't said anything, never mentioned, no clue whatsoever because I did. I was hurt, shocked, mortified, angry & more, all in one. I went into crack-up before the funeral but family helped me through it.
My spouse couldn't bring himself to place the tiny casket in its grave. We had no graveside service. We were so washed-out. That night, after the funeral, we decided it'd be best for us to sleep in my old room upstairs at my parent's house. In the night, in a state of trance (my husband said the next morning), I got up & went to a rocker in the room & sat, acting as if I was holding a baby & rocked in the rocker. I returned to bed after that.
THE NEXT DAY MY DEPRESSION WORSENED & MY PARENTS & JOHN DECIDED THAT I NEEDED TO BE HOSPITALIZED. they loaded me up & took me to Boone County Hospital in Columbia, Mo. I basically was forced to sign myself in willingly. I didn't want to & everyone knew it. During this hospital stay, I got on the nerves (it seemed) of the woman who minded the unit - took calls etc, (possibly the receptionist but night shift so maybe not - maybe by some other job title.All I ever saw her do was read a paperback novel) She told me several times that I needed to stop crying. It had already made me sick but I couldn't stop. She called for a PRN & in came 7 ambulatory females who scooped me up & started across the floor with me. I began thrashing to make their task harder, which didn't help matters, I realize that now. It was the first time that ever happened to me & I really had no clue what was about to happen next! They dropped me onto a single bed in a room with nothing else & began tugging at my pants. I noticed the hypodermic in one of their hands & I hated needles. I calmed right down & looked them in the eyes. I watched as the projectile neared my bare skin over my shoulder. At the last possible moment, I twisted & the one with the hypo jabbed herself in the hand. They left me lay there & I was asleep before they returned with another one. John told me our next phone call that they had called him AND my mother & informed them that one of their staff had to be sent home that night before her shift was up & why. They were kind of upset about it. The worst part of that was John could only visit me when my mom could, due to no car. It was a terribly lonely time that way. No husband 24/7 all strangers for the most part. Thirty days later I was home & on prescriptions. THEY KILLED OUR FIRST SON BY NEGLECT. THEY COULD HAVE AT THE VERY LEAST HUMORED ME & CHECKED HIM OUT. HE'S IN A TINY GRAVE AT CROWN HILL CEMETERY, IN THE BABY SECTION. 2 weeks later (we'd gotten our phone in by then) The phone rang. It had been warm so I had the front door open. The sky was so yellow. I don't remember it ever being so yellow. I answered & a female voice said SAY HI TO MOMMIE the phone line was a little crackly & as I stood there in a sort of weird shock-mode a little voice said hi & it began to rain very gently outside. The phone went dead & I placed the handset on the phone cradle. I didn't cry. I felt a brief moment of warm peace come over me. He would always be with me. My little angel.
The autopsy results said he died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) that we lived so close to the train tracks never was figured in as a possible cause.
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