My name is Tori Lewis and I am a 14-year-old teen mother or was. I would like to honor my 3-month-old son, Payton, by telling you my story in hopes that you will put it on your website. I got pregnant when I was 13 and most of my family looked down on me for that. I had a rather complicated pregnacy. I had to see two different doctors because when I had an ultrasound done my doctor saw something abnormal in my precious baby's head! It scared my really bad and when my doctor sat my mother and I down in a small room, I feared for the worst. In the small room he began to tell me that my baby had a serious problem and may not live after birth. I couldn't help it but I just broke down right then and there. This year had really been a bad year for me. That day when I went home we canceled my baby shower and everything. My mom called all of my family members then and right away all of them started praying for me and my unborn child. Finally the day came to have my son. I was admitted into the hospital at August 7, 2001 at 3:08 p.m. I had Payton at 2:45 a.m. on August 8 , 2001. I couldn't believe it but my son that they said was going to have problems came out perfectly healthy! The doctors even said that it was miracle, and it truely was a miracle. All of those prayers for my baby really worked! He weighed 8 pounds 0.5 oz. He went home with me when I went home. And was a very healthy baby . Up until the month of November.
He started having trouble breathing. My mother and I took him to doctor . The doctor said that he had a type of infant asthma and gave him a breathing treatment. Yet again that night his breathing continued to weeze a bit and he'd start to cough in his sleep! We took Payton to the doctor the very next day and they said the same thing that they had said the day before and gave him another breathing treatment and some medications . I gave hm all of the medicines at the right time and everything but it didn't seem to help him at all. We had to take him back to the doctor for a check-up on November 20. Which was on Tuesday. Well Friday night of November 16, 2001 he went to sleep at his regular time around 9:30 p.m. I stayed up and played the Playstation because I knew he'd be up at about 1:00 a.m. to eat . Well 1:00a.m. came around and I went to check on him and he was sound asleep. I just knew that he'd be up so I stayed up a little bit longer. I kept hearing him cough and every time he'd cough I'd go check on him . My mother was afraid tha he would start choking in his sleep so she propped him on his side.The last time I remember seeing him alive was when I went to check on him at 4:30a.m. on November 17, 2001. I went and check on him gave him a kiss on his forehead and went to the living room where I fell asleep. That morning I woke to my mother screaming and calling 911......my baby Payton had died in his sleep. The corner said he had affixeated (suffocated) himself in his sleep. Mine and my mother's worst nightmare had come true. Now this would have been his first Christmas and I miss him more today than yesterday. It gets easier in time but everyday is a struggle to get through without missing him. I know God has plans for small children and I know Payton is in a better place.
Tori Lewis
