The Story of Nicholas' Early Arrival: Happy Easter!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Nicholas is still doing well. Mark couldn't get Tuesday night off so now we will be rooming in on Wed. night and going home on Thursday. Nicholas had his hearing screen done today and he failed in both ears. Hearing loss and deafness is another complication due to extreme prematurity. So now we will have to go to a hearing clinic about a month after his discharge for a more in depth test. He seems to hear us talking so hopefully he just has some hearing loss and is not deaf. He will have an MRI and an eye test done tomorrow.

3 comments:

Grandma TerriApril 12, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Happy Easter to the three of you! This is Nicholas' last weekend in the NICU. How exciting! I know the hearing tests didn't come out like you had hoped or even expected since it seemed as though Nicholas did respond to sounds. Lets focus on the positive news which is his homecoming this week and hope that in a month you will get more definitive encouraging news from the hearing clinic. Love to the 3 of you.
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DonnaApril 12, 2009 at 8:44 PM
What a beautiful picture! As happy as Nicholas looks, he must be anticipating the "Big Day" as much as his mom and dad! My prayers as Nicholas faces a few more tests and the two of you prepare for his homecoming.
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The Adventures of DJ and KatelynApril 12, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Sorry about the hearing test. DJ failed the first time he took his. They told me that the slightest thing can throw them off and they wont pass. With DJ it was feeding time and he was hungry and was fussy, also the babies on each side of us had visitors and there were alot of distractions. So the we had them come back two days later and re do the screening after he ate and moved him to a quite section of the NICU.
I am so happy for you guys!!! Take Care!!!!
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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

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

3 comments:

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