3 Years Ago

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog hiatus for this very special post (sorry, hopefully life will let me get back to blogging soon)........

3 Years Ago today after 6 LONG weeks of bedrest, 6 VERY LONG weeks (40 days to be exact...reminiscent of the time Jesus spent in the desert) in the NICU, we were FINALLY able to bring our precious miracle home!! It was the best day of my life...I was finally being able to walk through those hospital doors with a baby in my arms and not with empty arms and a heavy heart!! She weighed a whopping 5lbs 2 oz when we left the hospital and now today weighs close to 28lbs...the kid likes to eat!! It was very scary to think that she was home and no longer had all those monitors hooked to her so I knew if she forgot to breathe, to know if her heart was beating to slow, etc. but it was also very JOYFUL!!

Pictures taken right before we left and taken right after we got home!!

Our time in the NICU was great (if you can say that about having to be there)!! The nurses were absolutely wonderful as were the doctors that took care of me and Karlee!! It is very hard to be on the NICU roller coaster as it is called!! I literally LIVED there....got there for her 9:00 a.m. cares and left at about 1:00 a.m. after her midnight cares!! While I was there, I had lots of support from my friends and family and thankfully I didn't have any other kids at home as I don't know how I would have done it!! There is a new website that was just started for caring individuals to register to help a family that has a child(ren) in the NICU!! It is called Survival Mode Parent (the name could not be more fitting...I was/am often asked how I did it and my response always was that Survival Mode kicked in and you just do what you got to do) and it is for individuals to sign up to help provide the basic needs of parents with kids in the NICU!! Please visit their website and sign up to be a volunteer in your area!! You can have the opportunity to make a families life a little easier during a very difficult time. It can be providing something so simple as a meal at the hospital (I would have given anything to have a home cooked meal brought to me vs. having to always eat cafeteria food) to helping with childcare for the other kids the family may have at home!! Please, if you are able, visit the site and sign up as there are lots of families out there that need help!!

I am closing with one of the most amazing pictures of GOD's work I have ever seen! I took this picture of Karlee at just a mere 5 days old! I kept this picture with me the whole time she was in the NICU to remind me that if she can be smiling while going through it, so can I!!

SMILE, GOD loves you!!