Flashback Friday: "The Call"

A friend gave me the idea to do flashbacks from our NICU journey since we weren't blogging at that point. So many of you asked us to share thoughts, trials, and triumphs from those days so this will be our way of sharing our journey with you! Hopefully you will enjoy these posts as much as it will be good to reflect on where we've been and where we are now!

This flashback will focus on Melissa.  Many of you will probably remember this when I asked so many to pray!

A year ago yesterday we were up visiting our sweet trio, something we did almost every day for 100 days last summer! When Phil and I arrived, I decided to spend some time with Ethan, Phil was getting ready to hold Melissa for a while.  Phil got Melissa out and got comfortable, but he immediately noticed something was wrong. Melissa was so fussy that day. She wasn't her usual self. Melissa was almost never fussy when we were visiting her and holding her, in fact that usually calmed her right down. We didn't really think much of it and we put her back in her isolette to rest, but that night, after we had gotten home and Phil had left for work, we got a call...the NICU doesn't usually call unless something is wrong. This is the call every parent of a preemie dreads!

The nurse on the line reassured me "everything is fine but" they were going to start a work up on Melissa. She had been fussy even after we had left, she seemed lethargic and uncomfortable. Of course my gut reaction was to hang up and call my mother who offered to drive me up to be with her (2 hours away). I still wasn't cleared to drive from my C-section. I declined her offer because I felt there wasn't much we could do for our poor baby that night and I was so tired! Of course I didn't sleep well that night as I wondered what the test results would be and what could be wrong with my baby.

Melissa 6/21/11- IV in her head fighting an infection
daddy's hand is so comforting when you're sick!

The next morning we called up to the NICU to check on our sweet Melissa. She was doing better, but they had tried to put an iv in for antibiotics and couldn't get a vein in her hand or arm so they went for a vein in her head. They wanted us to know it would look worse than it was and that she wasn't in any pain. We jumped in the car after hanging up the phone and went to see our trio. Melissa looked much better! The IV did look bad but she didn't mind! When we got there, the nurse informed us that Melissa might have a urinary tract infection that was nothing serious and not a surprise. All the doctors and nurses had been surprised that she hadn't gotten an infection sooner as most preemies do! That was the first time during the NICU journey I realized things could change in the blink of an eye. I realized we could still lose one of our babies.

Up until this point, I had worried so much more about Katelynn who had spent 2 weeks on the oscillator, had blood in her stomach and was so tiny. I will never forget how that night changed my perspective. The biggest of the trio who seemed so healthy for how early she was, became the weakest and sickest in a matter of just 1 phone call. I learned to appreciate the ability to call the NICU 24/7.

Now that a year has passed us by, it's time to celebrate how far we've come from that day, when in the blink of an eye, we thought we were losing our sweet Melissa.  Here are some of her milestones in a year:

Surviving 100 days of the NICU
1 hernia repair complete

1 feeding tube gone (which means taking all food by mouth! Including puree!)
rolling over
off of her diuretic for chronic lung disease
sitting up

Melissa 6/22/12-hangin' with her new Pooh Bear
from Auntie Shelley

two front teeth
ASD (hole in heart) closed without surgery
army crawling
standing supported






We love our trio so much and they've come so far in just 1 year!