Things I never thought I would think about.....

I came across this on preemie message board. It is so true how these things now apply to our life. We are so thankful and blessed by this sweet little girl. We knew our life would change but it has now changed in ways we never imagined! Having a baby prematurely has definitely shed some light on things and made us take everything from a different perspective.

The post was titled understanding preemie parents. I am so thankful our NICU stay was as 'short' as it was as I know it could have taken a much different path. I feel so blessed to be at home now where the highlights of my day are playing with my daughter, giving her a 'real' bath, playing dress up, feeding on our own schedule, etc versus the NICU where the highlights of our days were changing diapers that were finally poopy, learning that the diaper weighed enough so they could stop measuring them, only holding her for 20 minutes at a time and being forced to put her back to bed even though she was wide awake, etc.

Here is the article....

so, we may go a little nuts

about having a preemie...
losing our full term pregnancy and...
losing our "ideal delivery"...spending too many hours in the nicu...
not spending enough hours in the nicu...
leaving the hospital without our babies...
holding our babies for the first time...
all the acronyms you can imagine, and some you can't: C/S, IVH, PDA, NEC, ROP...
the privilege of changing diapers...
caring for our baby...
about germs in general...
the wonderment of a baby nipple feeding...
pumping all the time...
our babies' isolette linens matching...finding preemie clothes that make us feel like we have "real" babies...
having a baby shower- at all...
finding the perfect carseatstrollercribrockingchairnursingpillowfillintheblank...
taking our babies home...
not having a monitor to tell if they're ok...
not hearing beeping for the first time in months as we watch them sleep...hand sanitizer...
your "allergy cough"...
your runny nose...
about germs in general...
cigarette smoke...
anyone under 5 feet tall being within 5 feet...
strangers wanting to touch our sweet babies...
about germs in general...our babies gaining weight...
our babies' matching clothes...taking pictures...
the march of dimes...termie moms complaining...
doctors' appointments...
insurance bills...
showing the nicu we appreciate them...
reading everything we can...
message boards and blogs...
experiencing parenthood...
trying to connect with other people in our situation...
adjusted age...
developmental issues...
about germs in general...
future pregnancies...
future everything...

about cherishing every single moment.
and all of this is completely normal.
for friends and family, please just give preemie parents a crazypass. we deal with many things that termie parents can't imagine. we carry worry, guilt, doubt, fear and a sense of being overwhelmed with us almost every hour of every day.