3 miles of fun and inspiration

My "Big 3"

This is Sam with his T ball friend Quinn, a former 1 lb, 23 week survivor!!! Aaron riding in style...

Me and the boys in our cool cap Ts ...

So, these are photos from the March for Babies on Sunday. A big, huge thank you to all of our donors---I am convinced that these dollars will help create a miracle for someone else's baby.

There were certainly a lot of little miracles walking with us on Sunday. Tiny preemies who defied the odds. There were also too many families walking in memory of a lost child...I salute those who honor their lost babies by helping future babies. We didn't see any other cooling cap families, but we know our friends in Texas were walking "with us" in spirit. Sam and Aaron had a lot of fun. The park is beautiful and they had so many fun activities along the walk. We ran into many friends from the community and Aaron's new play group, which was nice. We talked quite a bit to Sam about how blessed we were that he was born healthy and how we were walking to make sure all babies eventually were born as healthy as he was. We also talked about how grateful were were for the doctors and nurses who helped his brother to get well. Something must have stuck, because today, his teacher told me that he bragged a lot about all the new things his brother can do and how proud he is of him. OK...that is like mommy heaven!

Today, we went to the University for Aaron's neurology appt. He hadn't seen the neurologist for about 6 months. I think I would not be wrong to say that she was amazed by his progress. He picked up his toy phone and said "Eh-Oh" and called me mama, and motored around the exam room. She examined him and thought his tone was now normal. (Aaron had very increased muscle tone in his arms and legs, which can lead to spasticity and disability, in the past) I asked her what she thought happened and she said she can't explain it. She called in one of my former teachers, whom I greatly admire and respect to see him, and his comment to me was, "Do you just sit at home and feel amazed and blessed all the time?!" Yup, pretty much. Sometimes I wonder if I overreacted to Aaron's MRI and birth injury, but then I see the incredulity on the faces of his doctors and my colleagues, and I know we are truly witnessing an unexpected miracle.

Then, we headed up to see the NICU staff. We got to visit with several of the nurses and the NICU fellow (one of my former interns) who told us to "hope for normal". There were tears in eyes, and not just mine! He was trying to run down the hall of the NICU and flirting with all the nurses.

The one concern today was that Aaron, once again, did not gain weight well. He hasn't gained any in 2-3 weeks and now is less than 3rd percentile. Not one, but 3 different people today told me that someday he will be eating me out of house and home. I sure hope so, but what to do NOW?

At least his length was 50th percentile and head 25%ile. I am staying positive---but this boy needs to fatten up soon.