It’s been quite awhile since my last entry, but I’ve been coaxed out of early retirement and hope to post somewhat more regularly moving forward. Man oh man…where to begin? I’ll leave the updates to Mommy and give you my perspective on this our second pre-term birth and NICU experience….
As I sit here and stare at my lovely wife holding our 4 day old son, I’m reminded of how amazingly precious life is. When JT was born, he looked fantastic: color, temp, sugars, breathing, etc. Quintessential c-section birth with fantastic results. However, over the course of the next few hrs, it became clear that little man would struggle. I say that with the caviat of being here 4 days later with very positive signs, so I have the benefit of looking back now while being in a good place. In all the confusion, craziness, and chaos, one thing is crystal clear; my kids are fighters. I am incredibly fortunate and grateful to have a wife who has such patience, strength and resolve to make it through any challenging situation. Of course I had hoped that we would never have to endure this type of experience again, but here we are. I’m a firm believer in God giving you what He thinks you can handle and if that’s true, then He’s got quite a bit of faith in this little family. Chenoa and I have been the best of friends for 10+ yrs now and we’re only brought closer together when we are put to the test. Now, we’ve added our little Sofie to the mix and she’s helping us cope at home in a major way. She may not realize it, but her hugs and kisses are so comforting to us after having to leave our second child at the hospital while we drive home. I’ll admit that’s when it first hit me and I realized that we would probably never have the typical birth and leave with your baby experience. But that’s alright, this is our story, our experience, our lives and I wouldn’t change it for the world. -JF
