The Story of Nicholas' Early Arrival: 5 Months Old

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

5 Months Old

Nicholas is five months old today and almost home! They want us to do our rooming in Mon., Tues., or Wed., and he will be home the day after. He had an echo today and he has a small opening in between 2 parts his heart, but I can't remember what it is called. It doesn't cause any problems and should close up. He will get another echo in 3 months. I got to try to breastfeed today. He didn't really do anything but I will try again. They will let me try once a day. He will get another vaccine tonight. He also has a hearing test coming up and he has to pass the car seat test. We have to bring the car seat in and he has to sit in it for an hour and not drop his sats. He is almost done!

1 comment:

The Adventures of DJ and KatelynApril 9, 2009 at 3:02 PM
I am just so HAPPY for you guys!!! DJ and I are doing a little happy dance for Nicholas. How exciting you got to try and breastfed. I was able to pump for 6 weeks, but dried up...it was painful. We tried again when DJ came home, but I had nothing to offer. When we did the car seat test I had to leave. You can't touch them or anything and have to let them sit for an hour and half...DJ did fell asleep. The nurses made me go get something to eat. He passed. I think Nicholas will do fine, you have him sitting up and how did he do in his bouncing chair. The classes for the monitor and oxygen and CPR were easy. The hardest part for me was the sleep over....It is like your almost there, you can taste the finish line, but yet it goes by so slowly. I just wanted it to be morning and by that time I was ready to go of course it took the doctors, nurses hours to process us. They even lost DJ's chart during shift change...lol. But finally that moment of walking out the door with you little one. I had seen so many mothers leave with their little ones and finally it was us walking thru those halls and thru the door with our little one. It is the best walk in the world. Lots of Love!!!
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Preemie Experience

The Preemie Experience
The preemie experience is the shattering of all your dreams
For a normal, healthy delivery,
Of the ability to carry home a beautiful squirming bundle
After a short stay in the hospital.
It is lying there in your hospital room listening to
The happy sounds of whole families joined
Together by the birth of a grandchild, cousin, niece,
or nephew, and knowing that your
Child is miles away and may not survive long enough
For you to see or simply touch.
It is that first glimpse of a skinny, scrawny, not much bigger
Than a Barbie doll child
And feeling, fear, awe, and joy for such a fragile soul.
It is sitting by your baby’s “bedside” day after day,
Week after week, month after month,
Alternating between the emotional high of “Look, his eyes are open,” or “he’s crying!”
And the lows of “I’m sorry, something has shown up in the ultrasound,”
Or even “There is nothing we can do…”
It is hearing the alarms go off for the twentieth time in less
Than fifteen minutes because your
Child’s heart rate keeps hitting zero.
It is watching children dying around you, wondering if
Your child will be next.
It is hearing your child’s cry of distress as the nurses
Insert yet another IV and do another
Round of daily blood tests.
It is meeting other parents of children who are doing far better
And wondering, “Why me?”
And meeting parents of children who have just died,
And praising God for His mercy
To your child and feeling guilty because your child is alive
And someone else is grieving for theirs.
It is days of nightmarish testing and coping with less
Than positive results to the tests.
It is days of joy at seeing the first eyelash appear,
The child gain a whole ounce in one day,
And two bright shiny eyes look at you and into your soul,
And knowing that your child now recognizes you as Mama or Dada;
Or perhaps looks at you and does not see you at all…
It is that final hurdle before coming home!
It is the sorrow of waiting for the monitor company Representative to show you what to do
If the alarm sounds when your child is choking,
Gasping for breath, or simply dying.
It is the joy of just being away from all those nurses
And tubes and wires and beeps, and
Walking into the nursery you hastily prepared because,
after all,
The child wasn’t due for another four months!
It is thinking the nightmare is over…only to realize it still Continues in the form of
Such acronyms as PVL, RSV, BPD, CP and numerous others.
It is the final realization that those developmental delays
Have to be dealt with,
That reflux is a normal and unfortunate
occurrence in most preemies,
That the constant fight to gain weight is in direct proportion
To a preemie’s ability to do so.
It is watching a child struggle to pick up his or her head, sit, Crawl, or walk.
It is witnessing only silence when the child should be babbling,
Because the child cannot hear.
It is the mental images of a child running and playing
And communicating with others in a
Perfectly normal manner that are marred when you face years of therapy
In order to simply get the child to eat by himself or herself,
To talk or walk and then run.

The preemie experience is a journey…A journey through your soul in order to find the faith and strength to cope,
A journey of the mind when you face the emotional weariness,
A journey of the heart…to accept that, no matter what,

This child is yours,
And you will love this child no matter what.

The Story of Nicholas' Early Arrival

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

5 Months Old

1 comment:

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