In their last hour together Sunday, Shawn and April Barrett talked about the baby daughter they'd just lost, and the war Shawn will face by the end of the week.
Then, in the skies above Nevada and California, in the cabin of a Lear Jet loaned by a friend, the young couple talked about the future that lay ahead.
"We talked about how he's going to finish school," April said Monday. "How he'll get a good job and we'll have more babies and live happily ever after."
It is a remarkable attitude for a young woman whose infant daughter died three weeks ago and whose husband is headed for the northern front in Iraq as a member of the Marine's 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. Even her last night with her husband was stolen.
But 23-year-old April said Monday she is simply grateful. Grateful the military let her husband have as much time with their baby, whom they call Katy, as they did and grateful for the possibilities ahead.
"There were no 'goodbyes,' " she said, "just 'see you laters.' "
When April was eight months pregnant, Shawn received his activation orders. The West Valley couple, who met their first day of high school in an LDS seminary class and have been married almost four years, weren't surprised. With Shawn's expertise and the foreign tensions escalating, they'd been waiting for the call.
But it was a tough time for Shawn to leave. Their baby was to be the first grandchild on April's side and the first Barrett girl for 33 years. The military delayed one of Shawn's departure dates and doctors induced April's labor.
Twenty hours later, on March 11, Kaitlyn Dawn Barrett came into the world. She was a healthy 6 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 inches long. "She was was perfectly fine, then the Group B strep went through her body and shut it down," April said.
On a Sunday morning, a few days after they came home from Cottonwood Hospital, Kaitlyn fell asleep after nursing. Shawn was scheduled to leave for California's Camp Pendleton the next day, so April passed the baby off to her mom so the couple could get ready.
But the baby looked strangely still. April and her mother realized the little girl wasn't breathing. Shawn performed CPR on his daughter until a Life Flight helicopter landed in front of the house, scooped her up and flew the child to Primary Children's Medical Center.
Shawn was given an emergency leave while the baby struggled for her life. She lived on life support for a few days, then died on her original due date, March 18.
"It just meant everything in the world to me to be able to spend that time with her," Corp. Shawn Barrett told KSL television.
Little Kaitlyn Dawn lived one week. Aunt Trachelle Hilton, Shawn's big sister, wrote the baby's obituary in a poem:
" . . . We all love you, precious one
and thank God you have come.
What a joyous blessing you are,
our serenely angelic star.
With a turn too quick
you are suddenly sick,
to the hospital you fly,
moments ticking by.
We gaze at your tiny body and know
that it is almost time for you to go.
As you peacefully sleep,
we mourn and we weep."
The funeral was held at the Marcrest 2nd Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in West Valley City. The couple dressed the baby themselves and painted her tiny fingernails the sweetest color pink. Shawn was the only pallbearer, carrying little Kaitlyn's casket by himself.
"He's been a really strong rock through the whole thing," Hilton said of her brother. "It's hard to believe the strength of those two young people."
Shawn was supposed to head back to Camp Pendleton Monday morning but received an emergency call Sunday to say he had to be back on base in California by 6 p.m. There were no commercial flights available, but the Fugal family of Provo came to the rescue, donating use of their Lear Jet and a pilot's services to whisk Barrett to an airport in Carlsbad near Camp Pendleton.
April, Shawn and both their mothers were able to ride along.
"It was a very happy scene," said RaeAnn Barrett, Shawn's mother.
Mid-flight, the jet's pilot allowed Shawn to share the cockpit, an exciting surprise for the pilot-in-training.
"So, the ride didn't end up being a downer. It was kind of an upper," Rae Ann Barrett said.
The plane landed just before 6 p.m. Sunday. A Marine buddy picked up Barrett at the airport. The families took some photos. Someone said, "Go get Saddam!" and the Marines told the group that's what they planned to do.
Two hours later, his Marine unit shipped out for the Middle East.
"Those kids are amazing," Shawn's mom said. "And they have such a great attitude about the fact that Shawn is serving our country."
April is left with a collection of 700 pictures of her baby and husband taken in the last month. She has moved back in with her parents, and the two families, who live five minutes from each other in South Jordan, are sticking close to her. She has the pink nail polish Katy wore and puts it on when she feels sad. She is busy helping to plan for her little sister's wedding.
It is a nice distraction, she says. "But we thought the baby would be here with us."
By Lucinda Dillon Kinkead
Deseret News staff writer
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