National Prematurity Awareness Day

Today was National Prematurity Awareness Day. Even though Fi has been very healthy since birth, I still often wonder how different things would have been had she been born full term. Would she be taller? Would she weigh more? Would I worry less about her weight? Would I behave differently, especially the first year of her life? Would her first cold have necessitated a nebulizer? Would her personality have been different? For example, I never really let others hold her during her first year, and even though we didn’t stay locked in our home, we didn’t socialize that much either. We were relatively isolated, and I wonder if she would be a more social child if she hadn’t been born early. Not that I am complaining. I love her little personality. It fits in with our family very well.

I am forever thankful that I have her. I really believe that had she not been born when she was, I would not be a mother right now. I’ve heard too many stories that did not have happy endings that share many themes with the day Fi was born. However, I do not want to dismiss or ignore the fear and utter hopelessness I felt on the day she was born and in the weeks that followed. Our journey has been a relatively easy one. Fi only spent seven weeks in the NICU. I thought that was a long time, until I met women whose children spent months and months in the NICU, who came home on monitors, who had all sorts of health issues and near death experiences while in the NICU, who continue to have developmental and health issues because of prematurity. Somehow, we escaped all that. And I was able to nurse Fi until I decided to stop.

So today, and every day for that matter, I am thankful for the research into surfactant that kept my daughter’s lungs from collapsing, and for the doctors and nurses who took care of her in ways I couldn’t, and for all the equipment that monitored her and made sure to let someone know when she stopped breathing so they could stimulate her to start again. I am thankful for having two insurance companies at the time she was born (John’s and mine), because between them, they paid out almost $600,000 to the hospital and doctors. I am so thankful for who she is becoming, a typical three and a half year old who has many imaginary friends and a whole barnyard full of imaginary animals, is the little captain of a whale watching ship, who informed me that soon it will be time for her to read her own toothpaste tube, and who still needs cuddling sometimes from her mommy.

However, I still wonder how different Fi, or really how different I would be, if Fi had been born full term.

All photo credits go to my friend Eliza, who took these photos of us a few weeks ago.

Family Photos

A few weeks ago, we took family photos. I am providing a link to the website where they can be viewed and downloaded for free for the next three weeks.

https://service.pass.us/client/event/gr5pb388189

Here is my new favorite photo of Fi:

Halloween, Etc.

I know a week has passed since Halloween and over a month since my last update, but I have been so busy lately, I haven’t had time or energy to write anything. Last weekend I went to a conference in Palm Springs. John and Fi joined me. We all came home with food poisoning. We are all fine now, it didn’t last more than a day, but it was horrible, especially for poor Fi. Even though she used to throw up a lot when she had reflux, she hasn’t vomited in years. I cannot remember one time in the last two years that she vomited. Her illnesses tend toward fevers, rashes,  and sometimes runny noses, but not regurgitation.

This isn’t going to be a super long update post because frankly, I cannot remember everything from the last month. I swear, I feel like it was non-stop with afterschool meetings, illnesses (I think Fi and John were both sick for about a week at the end of September or beginning of October), and community service stuff on weekends. I went to Austin at the beginning of October, the following weekend we drove to Redlands (it was a great trip and we got to see some dear friends we haven’t seen in a long time), and the weekend after that was spent running around town like crazy people trying to do all the errands we didn’t have time to do during the week. October was an exhausting month to say the least.

Anyway, here are some Halloween photos:

Fi wanted to be a lion. She told me at least a month in advance. We went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood this time, but continued the tradition of going with our friends. And we were joined by another friend, but I do not have any good photos. We started early and few people were home. By the end of the evening, the streets were crowded. Fi helped pass out candy before bed time. She collected a small amount of candy that John hid somewhere and she keeps asking for it, but I am not really sure where it is because I don’t really eat a lot of candy.

Here is a video of her riding a tricycle. She figured out how (or her legs were finally long enough) about a month ago, maybe a month and a half:

She is singing “Going going going, going on my tricycle.”

Fi likes to make up little songs these days. She is a regular conversationalist and has many imaginary friends.

One afternoon, there was a rainbow over our house:

  

The garden is finally done, we ate the last of everything, and ripped out whatever was left, except one tomato plant in the front that is still going strong. Soon we will plant winter stuff.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant Fall season. I am really looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday because I love Thanksgiving dinner and I get a week off work.

Cheers!