19 years ago
Janet's whole body felt like it was falling apart. She was in the middle of her labor pains. She had been in labor for almost 16 hours. She was wanting to give up, but Jack was right beside her, urging her on. She would have laughed at him if she wasn't in so much pain. Instead she grabbed onto his hand and squeezed when the next pain hit.

"Owwww, Janet my hand.."

"You think that hurts buster, try going thru this for 16 hours and then we can talk about pain. I am never doing this again." Jack Jr. entered the world shortly after. There had never been two happier parents. Life was good to the Tripper family.

She could look back on it now and smile. She was pretty bad that day. She could blame it on the pain she was in. After the baby was born Jack kissed her and she smiled.

"The next one had better be easier than this one, or I really do give up."

"I thought you said this one is the last one?"

"Men! Don't you know that women always say that? Besides, he needs a little brother or sister. Make that a sister, I hate being outnumbered by Tripper men." Janet smiled and kissed her husband.

At that memory Janet lost her smile. Their next baby was a little girl. However, she was born too early. She only lived for 4 hours and then they lost her. Janet thought back on that time.

16 years ago-

Janet was pregnant again. She was never happier. They had just bought a house and were looking forward to filling it with more children. Jack would kid that he wanted at least 5 kids. Janet would look at him with a look that bordered on horror and just shook her head. She would look at him and ask him how many of them he was going to have. He smiled and said that maybe they should stick with 3. Janet would roll her eyes and laugh at him.

Janet was 8 months pregnant when something went horribly wrong. They were asleep when the first pain hit Janet. At first she thought it was her imagination. Then the pains got stronger and stronger. At about 3 a.m. they called Terri to ask her to watch Jack Jr. They arrived at the hospital. Janet was rushed into a room. Jack was left in the waiting room. He was desperate for any news about his wife and baby. After about 3 hours the doctor came out to talk to Jack.

"Mr. Tripper, I am afraid we have a situation here. It seems that the baby is in distress. The baby's heartbeat is seriously low. We need to perform a C-Section. I need you consent on the medical release forms."

"Have you spoken to Janet about this?"

"Mr Tripper, your wife id under sedation. She is in extremely critical condition. If we don't take the baby soon, we could possibly loose them both."

Jack had to make the hardest decision of his life. Finally he signed the consent form and they took the baby. She was extremely small. She only weighed 4 pounds. They have her less than a 10 chance of surviving. Janet woke up soon after she was born and they stood at that NICU and looked at their daughter. A nurse approached them.

"Would you like to touch her? It would be good for her to know her parents are there."

Jack and Janet moved closer to their little girl. They had tears in their eyes and they touched her little hands. The doctor came in to talk to them. The news wasn't good.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tripper, I wish I had better news. It seems that she is a very sick little girl. All of her major organs are failing. We can't determine why. It could be the fact that she is so small and so premature."

Jack asked a question her wasn't sure it wanted to here the answer to "How long before..."

"It could be hours or it could be days. She is on machines right now. They are breathing for her. She could last like that for awhile."

"Can my wife and I talk in private? We need to discuss some things."

"Certainly Mr. Tripper. Take all the time you need."

Jack and Janet talked about it for a few minutes. They decided that it wasn't fair to their little girl to be kept alive and in such pain. The wanted the chance to hold her without the machines attached to her. They told the doctor of the decision. He was very understanding and arranged for her to be taken off the machines.

They took turns holdin their little girl. It was bittersweet for them. They knew this was the last time they would hold her. Tears were streaming down the cheeks of everyone in the room. Janet held their little girl as she took her last breath. Madison Ann Tripper went to be with the angels.