Lots happens around here everyday and I would like to stay current enough to at least share some funny stories along with the milestones of family life. One recent milestone was Griffins' 1 year birthday. It was a great day for many reasons!! BTW, I am so glad this is not a web cam because I don't think I could journal, talk or even think about what this means to me without starting the waterworks.
It is such an amazing time when a new baby is born! There is great excitement and trepidation. You can't wait to see what they look like and how it will feel to hold and kiss your new arrival. When we arrived at the hospital on April 17th 2008 these were the thoughts running through my head. I was being induced, as I have been with every baby. I was 39 weeks and ready to be done. Things went really fast and in 2 hours we had a 7 lb. 9oz. baby boy! He came out screaming and things looked great for about 15 minutes. Then it all went downhill from there! The pic above shows the retraction in his chest that the nurses noticed as they were cleaning him up. He was taken to the NICU for respiratory distress and then life-flighted later to U of U Medical Canter for a believed pulmonary embolism or hole in his lung. It was not the ideal situation by far! We were living in Shelley, Idaho at the time and we were moving 10 days later from our house because Ry had accepted a new job in Colorado.
Ry went with the life-flight team down to SLC and the next morning my parents drove me and our vehicle down. Ry and I spent the week at the NICU and I don't think I have ever prayed so hard in my whole life! I saw many amazing things there and felt the angels that walk the halls and kneel by the bedsides of those little miracles. I didn't get to hold my babe until he was a few days old and that was difficult but I felt like we were so blessed to have him here. He recovered quite quickly, much faster than we or his doctors thought. He was only hospitalized for a week and has done nothing but grow and develope perfectly.
As I made Griffins' birthday cake, a memory came to me. When I finally got to nurse Griffin it was so great!! He did really well and we were on the road to recovery and taking him home. As I finished nursing him I noticed all the comotion across the hall. Things are generally pretty quiet in the part of the NICU Griffin was "parked". It is a kind of cubical for each space and it houses 2 or 3 babies each. As I sat in my blissful state rocking my baby and thanking God for his life, I could not help but feel the tension from the staff and doctors as they were trying to keep a baby from slipping to the other side. I had seen the Mom around, at the pumping stations or getiing some lunch. She looked weary and worn from the strain of enduring the emotional roller coaster that is a sick baby. My heart ached for her as I stared at her slummped shaking shoulders. That image came to me as I stirred the chocolate frosting for Bubbys' cake. All at once I realized how incredibly blessed we are to have our little Bubby still with us. Life truly is a precious thing! I am grateful for the chance I had to learn that lesson. Heres' to many more birthdays!!
1 comment:
I can't even imagine what it is like to have a sick baby. This is so tender and sweet. So glad Griffin got better quickly and you are blessed to have him in your life.
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