*hospital photos were taken by Bella Baby Photography
The start of a new millennium was a scary time for many people – remember Y2K? But as millions were preparing for the worst, nothing could phase Sarah Bagwell – not even giving birth.
“It was my fourth child, so I knew what I was in for,” she recalls. “I just stayed at home and labored, even watched a movie!”
Sarah told her husband not to go to work on Jan. 1, knowing what was to come. However, even he seemed pretty relaxed with the scenario at hand.
“He came in and asked if we were going to the hospital and I said, ‘Yeah. My contractions are about three minutes apart.’ He told me OK, but he was going to fix a sandwich before we went, so he did,” she laughs.
The pair made it to the hospital a little before 2 p.m. that day – which happened to be just in time. Only 20 minutes after arriving, Sarah gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
“The way she tells it, the doctor had just enough time to walk in and catch me,” says Sarah’s daughter, Crystal.
Her birth was the first of the new millennium for our ministry – a huge milestone! To celebrate, the Bagwell family received a few commemorative gifts and little Crystal’s hands and feet were memorialized permanently in a plaque that now hangs in the maternity ward at Bon Secours St. Francis Eastside.
It’s no wonder then that Crystal wanted to return to the same hospital when it was time to deliver a child of her own. In fact, Crystal says her mother insisted on it.
“We wanted her to be in the same room even, but that’s since been turned into the nursery,” Sarah says.
Plenty of things were still the same, though, including several of our team members who were excited to help celebrate the arrival of the next generation.
“I was really happy to be there,” Crystal shares. “Everyone was really nice to me, and it was nice that everyone was coming in my room, but they kept telling me ‘Hey, I know you!’ and I’d have to say, “Well, I don’t know you, because I was just a baby!’”
Crystal welcomed her own baby, Alexander Cole Alam, at 12:56 p.m. on June 15, 2021. He measured in at 8 pounds and 21.25 inches.
In addition to typical newborn photos, Crystal made sure to get some additional shots of her growing family beside our commemorative plaque. She shares it will be a fun story to share with her son, and who knows, potentially a family tradition he’ll be able to continue one day.
Alex is now 4-and-a-half months old and doing great! He loves to play with his feet, laugh and roll around like crazy. He can even sit up on his own. Other highlights include a trip to the aquarium for his first month birthday, a visit to the Greenville Zoo and dressing up as a duck for Halloween. He even got his first shots and wasn’t scared at all.
“He almost bounces out of his bouncer, he’s so crazy,” Crystal laughs. “He is truly the happiest baby you will ever meet. And he is so calm and chill.”
Learn about the maternity and birthing care services we offer at Bon Secours.
