Two Months Old!

Happy Birthday, to you!  Happy Birthday, to YOU! Happy Birthday, dear Joshua!  Happy Birthday, to yyyyyoooooooouuuuuuuuu! 

It's hard to believe two months have past since Joshua was born.  Joshua is now what I consider one of the seniors in the NICU class of 2012.  He just has to pass his final exams (perfecting his feedings, which may take a couple of weeks), and he'll graduate with honors. 

I overheard his nurse talking to another nurse today, and she referred to him as "big and healthy."  That's music to this mama's ears!  Tonight he gained 10 grams, up to 2410 g or 5 lbs 5 oz.

Here's his monthly growth picture, comparing him to his stuffed lamb.  Check out how he's busting out of his size preemie outfit!  He's in the middle of celebrating, saying, "Yay! It's my birthday!" 

For comparison, here he was one month ago, 3 lbs 14 oz.

And this was 2 weeks old (it's hard to see the size when he's wrapped in the blanket), 2 lbs 12 oz.

I was reflecting back a little today, and I realized how thankful I am for the way things have turned out.  Right now, I won't go into all the miracles that have occurred since January, when this all started (that's covered ad nauseum in my previous posts). The thing I'm thinking of now is how perspective is such a huge factor in handling a crisis.  In our situation, when we thought we'd deliver at 24 weeks, every day after that was bonus. Once we made it to 28 weeks, it was all icing on the cake, and we were absolutely ecstatic that he made it to 30 weeks.  His birth was such an exciting event, seeming like we already won the race, even though the race was a marathon that was just beginning.  During my 6+ weeks of bedrest, I read up on life in the NICU, caring for a preemie, etc.  I felt really prepared. Of course it's impossible to be 100% prepared for something so life changing, but it helped to gear up for it over several weeks.

On the flip side, I talked to another NICU mom, and she thought she was having a perfectly normal pregnancy until she suddenly went into preterm labor and had her baby that day, at 31 weeks.  It was such a traumatic event for her, and, understandably, she has had such a difficult time dealing with it since her baby was born.  We had our difficult time during the weeks leading up to delivery; looking back, I'm thankful for that prep time.

In a similar situation, my sister Heidi found out her firstborn had trisomy 18 two weeks before she delivered.  For two weeks, they went through their mourning period expecting a baby "not compatible with life."  When Callie was born, it was such a joyous occasion that she was pink and alive.  Had they not had that two week notice, imagine how difficult it would have been to be shocked with that diagnosis at birth.

My point of all this is I'm glad I am able to look back and see the silver lining (preparation time) in our situation.  It's good to store up these "successful" crises as we go through them and try to focus on the positive, so down the road when future crises occur, we'll know God hasn't let us down before, and he won't in the future either.