World Prematurity Awareness Day

This week I took a brief blog break.  It was a crazy week with lots of doctor appointments and I am helping a friend with her daughters birthday party so no time to blog.

Today is World Prematurity Awareness Day.  I have mixed emotions about today.  Being the parent of a preemie is hard. Being a parent is hard in general but with a child or children who require special care it can be rough.  Being a parent of a baby in the NICU is horrible.  It is extremely hard to leave your baby everyday. To not be there and to only get to be a small part of their care. I never knew just how hard it was.  I honestly believe it traumatized me in a way. It was hard, it was emotional, it was draining, and at the same time we were incredibly blessed by the minimal problems and set backs that our babies had.  Side note: I realize that there are babies and children with much more horrible problems and diseases. I am speaking only of my experiences. 

Being a preemie parent you realize that you appreciate things in a different way.  The first time they take milk, the first bath, the first time they can wear clothes, the first time they are breathing room air, roll over, gain weight.. everything little thing is something you were close to not experiencing.

Many preemie parents wait longer for certain things than other parents.  But we learn they will do them in their own time, not on ours or anyone else's schedule.  We can't compare them to other children, but we enjoy and celebrate all that they do.  I am constantly reminding myself just how lucky we are. How we could of lost our babies when I went into prematurity and I thank God for putting us in a circumstance where precautions were taken to prepare these babies for their early arrival. 

So today I want everyone to take a minute and hug your children a little tighter.  Be thankful for all that you have and remember when you are stressed or exhausted just how fragile life is and that there are parents of babies who are in heaven. And these parents would give anything to hear those babies cry or to hold them one more time.

I don't know sometimes it helps to gain a little perspective.

Love,
A proud Preemie Mom

A few pictures of my thriving preemies!