A Miracle in the Flesh

A NICU mom from one of the Facebook groups I'm a member of posted a wonderful story recently. Her mother went to church to pray for their new preemie addition. She began to cry and a nun approached her to inquire why. She shared the news of the preemie's birth and how scared she was. The nun replied with a big congratulations, exclaiming how excited she was for the family. The grandmother was taken aback. The nun said, "Your family is blessed to experience a miracle in the flesh." 

I love when people ask how Alexander is doing. It's not an easy question to ask on their part, but I appreciate it. It's not always an easy question to answer either. I've been overcome with worry about Alexander's future, what struggles and obstacles he will face due to his prematurity, how we are going to handle his feeding struggles and how we are going to resume a somewhat normal family existence. 

Today I was reminded there is an easy answer - "he's amazing, he's our miracle in the flesh."

We had our first follow up with the University of Iowa and our favorite physician, Dr. Klein. Our team couldn't have been happier with Alexander's progress since coming home. "He's just a normal baby," exclaimed Dr. Klein. I think I was literally floating on air. After weeks of stress about feedings and weight gain, we were told to take it easy a bit. They did increase the calories of his recipe (we mix breast milk with formula and protein powder to make it higher calories), and that should help him decide how much he wants to eat and still get the calories he needs to gain appropriate weight. 

They told us to just enjoy having him home and reminded us to not treat our home like the NICU. Basically quit stressing so much. They even said that it was okay to leave the house - as long as we didn't go to places that were crowded or where people would touch him. They recommend getting netting to place over his car seat so that people don't reach in and spread germs. Him getting sick would be a HUGE set back and could place him back into the hospital. 

He seems to be moving along just fine with this development, but we are still in the early phases.

He was also able to be weaned on his oxygen, so now he's down to 3/4 of a liter of oxygen. We will see how he's able to handle this moving forward. Dr. Klein reminded us that he's the boss and will move at his own pace. We go back in July for our next appointment.

After our appointment, we went up to the NICU to say hi to our favorite nurses and staff. Many were there working today, including our favorite, Mary. It was great to see everyone and fun to show off our fat, little guy. We also stopped into parent group and were able to talk to a bunch of parents who had that same scared, hopeless look I had 6 months ago. I like to believe that showing off our little miracle gave them hope that they too would be going home at some point. 

I know it's not the homecoming we all planned or dreamed about, but a miracle rarely is. 

Happy

Just after I had Alexander and was home one afternoon during my recovery, I happened to be watching Ellen (probably when I was supposed to be sleeping). Pharrell performed his new song "Happy". It went like this:

It might seem crazy what I’m about to say

Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break

I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space

With the air, like I don’t care baby by the way

[Chorus:]

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do

It was the perfect time for me to hear a song like that and it became my theme song in my own head for the months to come. 

I can finally say that happiness is here at 1940 Cromwell and it's here to stay. We couldn't be happier to have sleepless nights, hear baby cries or have a winey 2-year old. 

We've survived our first 11 days at home. The breathing treatments, monitors, oxygen, feet of tubing strung throughout our home and our new schedule is all becoming quite normal. Even Andrew told his daycare, "My brother has cords," which we have repeatedly warned him not to pull on or touch. 

His monitor alarms have gone off several times - and no matter what it's like a heart attack, but thankfully they have been minor and he has self corrected. 

Our biggest challenge is trying to get Alexander to eat enough to continue to gain weight and to give Andrew enough attention that he quits morphing into a 14 year old girl (ie crying fits for no apparent reason). Alex is weighing in at 11 lbs 11 oz as of Monday. 

We have a nurse that comes twice a week for an assessment and weight check. She's helping us with his feedings too. We are working on trying to get into more of a routine but it's slow. I'm sure we will get there - one day at a time. 

One hard part is being confined to the house and not being able to have visitors - this is to avoid germs. Alexander is very susceptible to colds and infections so we want to avoid illness at all costs. But it's hard to not be as social as we are used to. Andrew has become OCD about washing his hands and loves using the "special sauce" - otherwise known as sanitizer. 

Alexander is a great baby - smiling and cooing at us. He sleeps and eats and poops and is just a joy to be around. He likes being held and enjoys watching Andew run around like a crazy man. 

Everything we have gone through in the past 6 months helps keep us grounded and reminds us to focus on the small, funny, happy smiles throughout the day. Happy - it really is that simple sometimes.

Most favorite sleeping position in the same cradle his mommy had. 

Brotherly love. 

First walk outside - yes it's still May and still cold!

Passed out on the floor of his room - where I've spent several nights. 

Meeting Nana for the first time. 

 

These two are going to be trouble!!