Thanks everyone. I just got back from over there about an hour ago. Here's what I know. They took the baby for a scheduled checkup last week and she was fine. They checked on her about 12:30 this morning and she was fine. They checked on her around 4 this morning and she didn't appear to be breathing. They called 911 and at the same time got my sister-in-law over there. She lives across the road from them and is a nurse. She preformed CPR while waiting on the ambulance. I think the EMTs tried to revive her without success.
Keep in mind that all of the above is what I've been able to piece together. Everyone is understandably upset so I didn't try to get details. My sister-in-law is taking it real hard. Mom said that she kept saying, "I was trying to breathe for her, but it just wouldn't work."
Since she was a healthy baby they sent her to be autopsied. The detectives showed up about an hour after I got there. I understand that they are doing their job, but it was a bit unsettling.
My problem is that I really don't know what to say in situations like this. I don't see anything that you really can say that will make much difference. My younger brother always tries to be mister tough-guy. This was his first grandchild. I watched him closely. He was trying to put up a strong front. I finally was able to get him off sort of by himself and told him not to keep things bottled up trying to be Billy Badass. To let it out if he needed to. He told me that he had to be strong for them. I told him that I could completely understand that and I expected him to be strong for them, but he didn't have to be around them every single minute. If he needed to let it out he really needed to find a spot and let it out. He said that he'd been doing that. That if I had been watching he had gone across the road every so often to his house.
As for my nephew, I admit for the last 15 years or so that I haven't been the best uncle in the world. A few years back I helped him get his first truck. When he was doing his Navy Reserve training I called and told him how proud I was of him. Other than that though, they pretty much stay in their part of the world and I stay in mind, but when he was younger I did spent a lot of time with him. At around the age of three or so I'd pick him up almost every Friday, we'd get a pizza, and I'd take him to mom and dad's to spend the weekend. He used to love trains and tractors. I happen to have a friend who owns a logging company and is a model train buff. I took him one Saturday to my friend's house. He got to play with a huge model train setup. Then he got to crawl all over a big logging tractor (a skidder). He was in hog heaven. Back then his reaction to that kind of stuff made me feel like a superhero. Today I felt like anything but a superhero. When I got to their house this morning. I hugged his neck and told him that I loved him. He started crying a bit, and it was like someone had ripped my heart out and stomped it flat. I told him before I left that there was nothing that I could say or do that would make this any better, but if he needs anything all he has to do is call me day or night.
My biggest regret is that I never got to see Emma Grace except in pictures. I had went over there the day they had planned to induce labor, but they changed their minds. They finally did a C-section on the night of the 7th. Since I can't see at night I didn't go. After that I decided to give them some time. I figured they would be crowded for a few days with family coming and going to see the new baby. My wife and I had talked about going over there today to see her. Then we got that call this morning.
The good news is that yesterday she was well and happy. She got to visit with my sister-in-law's family the first part of Thanksgiving day and with my family at my grandmother's the last part of the day.
I do thank you for your prayers, and ask you to continue them. Below is Emma Grace the day before she left the hospital.
