Perspective

I’ve been meaning to post a link to this video up here for awhile now.  It made the rounds on Facebook and some of the national news shows, so there’s a good chance you have already seen it.  But if not, take seven minutes to watch.  And if you have, watch it again.  I always do.  Every time I watch it, I get the big crocodile tears running down my cheeks in about the first minute and a half.  These parents had a little boy who spent over 100 days in the NICU.  Nothing compared to our easy three weeks.  But still, it tugs at my heart and reminds me how very lucky we are with Parker and Henry.  I hated the NICU.  Before entering into the patient area of the floor, parents and visitors had to wash their hands in these huge sinks with this terrible soap and little plastic scrubber brushes {think of when the doctors on Grey’s Anatomy are always scrubbing in before a surgery}  I know it was important for everyone to go into the NICU with clean and sterile hands, but I just hated that stupid soap and those industrial sinks and the whole process.  The smell of the soap and the very fact that we had to scrub up to our elbows just to go see our babies was just a reminder to me that they weren’t at home with us and that we had to drive back and forth to see them for a few hours at a time, when the were tethered to their beds with annoying cords and beeping alarms.  We are blessed to have our NICU days behind us.

Ward Miles - First Year

Click above and then scroll down into the article to see the embedded video.

Homecoming

Henry came home from the hospital on November 11, when he was 13 days old.  Having him at home with us is like a party every day, a party that I was waiting to throw for the two long weeks since he was born.  It is bittersweet though, since Parker is still in the NICU.  Knowing that Henry is with us all day every day, getting snuggles and kisses, while Parker is still in his little bed at the hospital gives me plenty of tears and heartache.  Now that we have Henry at home, I can’t go visit Parker as often, since we can’t take Henry back up to the hospital.  So either Mark and I go one at a time when he is home from work, or we get our parents to come stay at the house with Henry while we go up to the hospital.  This means that we really only get to see P for a few hours each day.  It tugs at my heart for sure.

Well we just got some great news that will hopefully be putting all this behind us for good!  Parker’s nurse practitioner called to let us know that they are taking his feeding tube out today (!!!) and letting him try all eight feedings a day on his own (!!!)  If he can successfully eat on his own for 48 hours, he gets to come home!!  So that would mean Parker will be home with us on Tuesday.  Henry had the same process when he was discharged and passed his 48 hour observation with no problems, so I just know his brother will have the same results.  After a month and a half of being at or going to the hospital daily, the thought of being at home with our whole family all day is like Christmas come early. {Side note: I don’t even want to think about how much we’ve paid the hospital in parking fees alone.  No free parking over almost 50 days of visits, eek.}

So please pray for our sweet Parker, that he has no problems over the next two days, so we can get him out of there for good and at home with us!!  Henry is anxious to show his brother the ropes of living at home.  And these two boys haven’t been side by side since they were in the womb.  Now that they are nearly three weeks old, I can’t wait to get them back snuggled up together.  I think Parker owes Henry some kicks and jabs :)

And now, to celebrate Parker’s upcoming homecoming, here’s some pictures from when Henry came home last week!

Even though I’d been walking in and out of that hospital for the past ten days, they still had to wheel me out in a wheelchair holding Henry when it was finally time to leave.  

3/4 of our family

Dad buckles him in for the ride home!

Mom rides in the backseat, to keep an eye on Henry during his first car ride

Like a champ.  Slept the entire way home.

And Then There Were Four

Well, turns out having two kids keeps you kind of busy, so this blog has been a little on the quiet side lately.  Henry and Parker are still in the NICU, where they have been since I was discharged from the hospital one week ago.  But we got the very exciting news over the weekend that Henry will be coming home TOMORROW!!  So we took a big chunk of today getting everything ready to bring him home (nothing like waiting to the very last minute) and then went out to dinner with Mark's parents to celebrate his homecoming, as well as our last night as a couple without kids at home.  We went to Kona Grill, where I filled up on all the sushi I had been missing in the last nine months.

I am, of course, thrilled that Henry will be home with us tomorrow.  But my heart breaks when I think of leaving Parker behind at the hospital.  We've pretty much always known that Henry would come home first because he has been making quicker gains than Parker from the get go.  But I can't even imagine the scenario of taking Henry and leaving without Parker, so please say some prayers for me tomorrow.  I feel guilty when we leave town for the weekend and leave my cat at home alone, so just imagine how I'll react when I have to leave my boy behind.  I know he doesn't know what's happening and won't realize that Henry has left, but that doesn't help this mama's heart from hurting.

Now on to some pictures!  Our stay in the NICU has been a positive experience, even if it is not ideal.  I'm not going to lie, it's not easy coming home from the hospital without your babies.  Being at home with all this new baby stuff and a cute nursery that is just sitting empty is very.... lonely.  And going back and forth to the hospital multiple times a day to see them is draining for both Mark and me.  But giving the boys the time to grow and get strong enough to be at home has been worth the trials of having them there.  But we still can't wait to put this time behind us and have both our boys at home with us!

Parker Alan, our little Baby B

Henry's bed and cords that monitor his heart rate and breathing - the boys are hooked up to these constantly, so they can only travel so far away from their beds :)

Parker, snoozing away.  Both boys have feeding tubes to help them eat when they tire out before finishing a bottle feeding (Henry got his tube out on Friday!)

Henry Alan, doing what he does so well... sleep!

Parker with his signature furrowed brow

Feeding Henry

Our family of four on Henry's last night in the NICU.  I can't believe we get to take him home tomorrow!  And I just know his brother won't be too far behind.