Former teen mom finds new purpose supporting new mothers at Life Choices in Roxboro, N.C.

Over a week, Susan Esterline found out she was pregnant, got married and then had to go back to high school. 

Every morning for a week in late January 2001, 17-year-old Susan, would wake up sick. What she thought was sickness from eating too much junk food at a Super Bowl party continued for longer than a stomach bug should. 

In the small town of Amherst, Virginia, she went to the CVS all the way across town to buy a pregnancy test, not wanting her pastor brother and his wife, who she lived with at the time, or anyone else in town for that matter, to find out she thought she was pregnant. 

Susan had a shift at Golden Corral that evening. Before clocking in, she went straight to the bathroom, promptly threw up due to morning sickness and took the test which came back positive. She broke into tears, waterworks flowing in the bathroom stall she occupied long enough to gather herself and be excused from work. 

Back at home, Susan called the baby’s father, Josh Bailey, to tell him the news. He was in Blacksburg, Virginia, a freshman at Virginia Tech. They weren’t even officially dating anymore as Susan was still a senior in high school and they had broken up before Josh went to college. But they had reconnected over Christmas break that year. 

On the phone with Susan, Josh got choked up, but managed to reassure Susan of the situation. “Well, we’re going to get married,” Josh said, “I guess it’s just sooner than we thought it was going to be.” 

On Feb. 9, 2001, Susan and Josh were married in a small, family-only wedding. Susan in an off-white dress and Josh in a suit. Exactly 7 months to the day later their first son, Will, was born on Sept. 9. 

Susan and Josh arrived at the hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the evening of Sept. 8, 2001. They had only lived together there for about a month. When they got married Susan needed to finish high school before joining Josh in Blacksburg. 

By all accounts the labor was slow and steady. Only two hours of actual pushing occurred, but at 17 everything feels like an eternity, like time stretches out just when you need it to speed up and get to the part where time flies and you actually wish it would slow down. 

As Josh cut the cord, he marveled at the miracle before him. 

The road to get to that moment was littered with potholes and things that should have run them off the road, yet here they were - newlyweds, 17 and 19 respectively, with a newborn. 

All Susan ever wanted was to be a wife and stay-at-home mom. Even before getting pregnant as a teenager, she never planned on any other career than being a mother. 

Susan could not have planned that when she met her high school sweetheart that two years later, they would have two kids. She also could not plan the future that was about to unfold, the emotional fortitude needed to endure, the physical changes that would occur through multiple amputations or the new purpose she would find now in ministry helping women with the many needs of pregnancy. 

“Paul was stubborn from the time he was born…” 

The next October the couple welcomed their second son. Paul met the world with intensity. Susan laid on the hospital bed only having been in labor a couple hours, exhausted from a hard pregnancy, exhausted from pushing as hard as she could to no avail. 

The doctor got out the forceps to assist the delivery, pulling so hard the nurses and Josh had to hold Susan down to the bed. It seemed as if the baby’s head would pop off with the next pull. 

Josh looked on with a paling face, becoming increasingly queasy with each push and pull he witnessed. 

“Are you okay?” said a nurse in the room, “You need to sit down, come over here!” Every nurse swarmed to his side, sitting him down, tending to him lest he lose consciousness. 

“Hello, I’m having a baby here!” Susan said, “Worry about him later!” 

Every nurse went back to Susan to help deliver what would be a healthy baby and Josh fortified himself to see the birth of his youngest son. 

Super mom…

Their first experience with childcare was in taking care of their own. Susan and Josh learned to change diapers and care for their children all while Josh got his degree in wood science. 

After Josh graduated in May 2004, he got a job in Roxboro, North Carolina, where the family lived for a year or so until they felt the pull to move to Florida so he could attend boat repair school at Marine Mechanic Institute in Orlando. Finding cheaper housing in Leesburg, Florida, about 45 minutes north of Orlando, Susan remained a stay-at-home mom as Josh went to school full time and worked full time in Ocala, Florida which was another 45 minutes north of Leesburg. 

Josh would leave at 5 a.m. to go to school in Orlando and then drive straight from there to Ocala and work 8-hour shifts, arriving back home in Leesburg around 11 p.m. Susan did not mind this arrangement because even though it meant the kids would only see their dad on the weekends, it afforded her the ability to care for Will and Paul at home, full time, her dream realized. 

“I prayed that the Lord would use all of me, my whole body…” 

Susan’s faith has always been vital to her. Being raised in a Christian home by a father who was a pastor and an older brother who was also a pastor as well as attending Christian schools growing up helped her grow in her own beliefs. 

While in Florida, Susan deepened her relationship with God, enjoying services and worship at Calvary Chapel of Leesburg. She continually felt God calling on her to ask for big things. 

“I prayed that the Lord would use all of me, my whole body,” said Susan, “I would lay prostrate on the ground and literally pray that. And I thought that meant we were going to go live in China and be missionaries, but I had no idea having no legs was coming.” 

The unexpected… 

In May of 2007, Josh finished his boat repair education and the family planned to move back to Amherst, Virginia to be with family and buy a home. 

While packing up in Florida, Susan was driving their Chevy Blazer to get boxes from a friend's house with Josh’s mother, grandmother and both of their children. A truck T-boned them as Susan did not see a stop sign and blew through it. 

No one was seriously injured, though Josh’s grandmother spent a few days in the hospital. It is speculated that the car accident left Susan with an internal injury of a tiny hole in her colon which leaked E. Coli into her bloodstream causing her to get sick later that year. 

It was tough to find a house back in Amherst, so Susan, Josh and their sons moved into Josh’s parents’ basement as what was meant to be temporary, but lasted for the next year.

On July 19, 2007, a Thursday evening, she came down with what she thought was a stomach bug. A few days later, July 22, Susan’s fever spiked, blood pressure dropped and she began to hallucinate, running around their home, speaking as if she were sleepwalking. It felt unreal, a dream-like state, an event told back to her rather than tangibly remembered. 

Josh called 911 which took 45 minutes to arrive. Will and Paul were sent outside to ride their bikes and watch for the ambulance. 

When help had arrived, Susan had calmed enough to tell her sons goodbye “It’ll be okay, I’m okay, I just have to go get some medicine, I’ll be back,” she said to them repeatedly. 

Susan’s condition declined over the evening, and she was admitted to an ICU in Lynchburg, Virginia. Nurses told Josh to contact family in the event goodbyes needed to be said. 

About 24 hours after being admitted to the hospital, they discovered Susan was septic meaning she had an infection, in this case E. Coli, in her blood. Her organs were beginning to shut down, her blood pressure was low, they were fighting too many battles and had to prioritize.  

To fight the low blood pressure, nurses gave her vasopressors to constrict blood vessels and raise the pressure. The vessels in her feet and legs closed off completely though, allowing no blood to flow, leaving the tissue dead, creating yet another issue to contend with. 

Josh was by Susan’s side the entire time. When she was unconscious, or even conscious but unable to speak, he would hold her hands. Cold as they were, he would hold them, sitting in the peace that no matter what happened to Susan it felt like a win. If she were to die, then she would go to heaven and be with Jesus and if she were to live, then they would get to enjoy her a little longer. 

The vasopressors kept her alive, but her feet and legs didn’t recover. The doctors knew she would need to have something amputated, but a bigger issue came up as Susan was relying on dialysis 24/7, a treatment the hospital in Lynchburg could not sustain.  

A bed was found at VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, where they could keep her on dialysis around the clock. Susan was taken in a medevac helicopter on July 26 with Josh and his father following in a car. 

Soon after arriving, it became apparent that Susan’s feet and part of her legs would need to be amputated. Josh gave the go ahead, wanting her to have the best chance at recovery. 

Josh and his family went to a conference room in the hospital to pray for the duration of Susan’s surgery. After a couple hours, a doctor comes in. 

“Good news: she survived the surgery,” said the doctor, “Bad news: there was more dead tissue than we thought, and we amputated at the knee on both legs.” 

Relearning…

Susan had a long recovery road ahead of her, relearning how to do physical things such as eating, drinking and walking with prosthetics, as well as basic parenting things. Josh remained her full-time caretaker for an entire year after Susan lost her legs and the family remained at Josh’s parents which helped them balance caring for Will and Paul as well as Susan’s recovery.  

Susan regained her independence through said prosthetics, and Josh started working outside the home again which led him to a job in Roxboro, North Carolina where the family moved in 2016.

Over the years, Will and Paul took on more responsibility, helping their mom in whatever ways they could. But the boys say the increased responsibility they had to take on helped them now that they are college students. No matter how far they went, they worried for their mother and how she would cope with their absence. 

New purpose…

As her youngest son went off to college in the fall of 2021, Susan found herself an empty nester at 37. The timing could not have been better. 

The executive director at Life Choices in Roxboro, North Carolina was looking to retire in late 2021 and thought Susan would be a great fit as she had worked as the administrative assistant at the ministry for a couple years already. Life Choices works with mothers and fathers in need to support them however they can, in whatever capacity is needed. That includes free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, baby supplies or even parenting classes. 

“Really for my whole life the Lord has been preparing me,” said Susan, “but I didn’t know that until a few months ago when I started this job.” 

Susan takes everything from her past experiences into her present job because while her day-to-day is mostly working with donors, networking and advertising, her passion for the job still lies in helping women the same way she wished she had had help 20 some years ago. 

“Enriching these girls' lives, their children’s lives, and their futures is such a rewarding thing,” said Susan.