The Holiest Day

There are so many circumstances that led up to these moments but those are for another post. This holy day will forever be the most important.

Our baby boy, Robert William Reep, was born on February 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm. He met Jesus face to face on February 7, 2018 at 6:43 pm. The day he passed away was almost too surreal to believe. Most wouldn’t believe what truly happened if they didn’t believe in our loving God.

Early morning February 7, Will had a surgery that put him on life support. We spent that day waiting around and praying for a miracle. The doctors and nurses did a scan and let us know that our worst fears were reality… Will had no brain activity due to being born not breathing. We were keeping him alive with machines. We knew that was not fair and not a way of life. We prayed for many years for Will and we now had to prepare to return him to our Creator.

This was Will after he was put on the ECMO. Our families had been waiting with us since Monday. Our parents went and told our extended family while we went to be with Will.

He had been in the NICU for the past 48 hours and receiving visitors 2 at a time. This is where God intervened. We let the doctors know that we wanted our family to have time with him. They shut down the NICU and allowed around 30 members of our family to come back all together.

These two pictures are when I was finally able to hold my baby. The nurses were so delicate with him.

The following pictures are some of our family coming to love on us and Will.

The few moments Coy and I had to gather our thoughts before we said goodbye, we prayed that the Holy Spirit would fill that hospital and flood us with His protection. It’s a feeling I will never forget. So many of the moments surrounding Will’s birth and short life, I don’t remember. But that afternoon, I can recall everything. God came into that room and held us. He knew we needed to be held and loved. And that’s exactly what happened. Our family was there, we held our baby, and we smiled and cried. It’s crazy to see some of the pictures, but I’m actually smiling. I know that was purely a God thing.

The pictures above are as Will was passing away in our arms and meeting Jesus. I know without a doubt we will see him again and spend eternity together. The longing I have for Heaven is real. With each passing day, it seems a little harder to go through life without Will. But, I know what we have to find joy in the mourning.