Inspiring others is something I've always striven to accomplish in my life. Living with a disability has provided me the opportunity to mentor, encourage and inspire many along the journey. Having a trio has provided us with yet another opportunity to inspire! This month the University of Washington Medical Center is opening a new expansion to the existing hospital. In the new Montlake Tower, they will house state of the art radiology, oncology and Neonatal Intensive Care units. Since our trio spent 100+ days at the University of Washington in the existing Neonatal Intensive Care unit, we have a particular passion for prematurity awareness and NICU families. We have taken the journey with our trio as an opportunity to inspire other NICU parents and give them hope for the road ahead! A road that we are still traveling! We may have left the NICU behind, but with the memories etched into our minds, and prematurity still a factor in the lives of our children we seek to inspire those following in our footsteps!
A few weeks ago my nurse friend from the NICU, who we lovingly call "Grandma", sent an email saying that she had given our name to the charge nurse, who was looking for a former NICU family to tell their story for a video project. It was their hope that this story would be a source of inspiration to others. Soon after, we got a message from the person in charge of selecting a family for this project and she was indeed asking us to participate. We gladly agreed. We were then put in contact with the video team who set up a time to come to our house and interview our family. As we were corresponding I had mentioned to the video manager that the trio would be in Seattle for the High Risk Infant Follow Up appointments and would be visiting their NICU nurses, doctors and friends after their appointment. She asked if it would be ok to send a video crew to "capture the moment". We loved the idea. Little did we know exactly what all that meant. She rounded up numerous nurses who were there for the delivery, checking the babies into the NICU and she even had the doctor who delivered the trio waiting for us in the NICU! What a wonderful gift to be able to see the people who saved our babies' lives and gave them a fighting chance! This story was supposed to be about us inspiring others and in turn all of the people present that day, are the ones that inspire us and give us such gratitude that we are often speechless!
A few weeks following our visit to the existing NICU, the video crew came to our home and interviewed our "little" family. Phil and I did all the talking of course! The trio charmed the crew and were pretty good through the whole thing, aside from one little Kate tantrum! We shared our story, videos, photos and expressed our raw emotions about the journey of becoming 2 + a trio! It was a very therapeutic experience and it gave us the opportunity to inspire others!
Having filmed hours of video footage, the task now lay ahead for the team to put together a video that captured the story of inspiration, hope and perseverance. A story that would vividly illustrate just what a new state of the art Neonatal intensive Care Unit means for the smallest miracles. A story that would give parents strength to ride the NICU roller coaster, knowing there is hope in the end and courage to begin anew! This is the story of THREE miracles that show the fighting spirit of a preemie!
~If you knew who walks beside you on this path that is set before
you, fear would be impossible- for each time we face our fears with
guidance and support from loved one we gain courage, confidence, and
strength~
Thank you for taking this journey with us. Your support, encouragement, and understanding mean more than you know.
Keep reading the blog, there is still more to this story! It doesn't end here!
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