Fight for Preemies - our story

December 12, 2007 was supposed to be a normal and uneventful day.  My mom was in town to visit, staying with me for the last week of my husband's 6 month deployment.  I was nearly 36 weeks pregnant, and while my pregnancy was healthy, normal and low risk (my biggest problem was the morning sickness that showed up at 6 weeks and never went away), I asked my mom to visit anyway.  Something in the recesses of my mind told me it would be a good idea to have her there for the last week before Pilot Pete returned home.  "Just in case" I said.

Funny how "just in case" turned out to be a "thank goodness you were here".  At about 12:30 AM on December 12, 4 weeks and 1 day before my estimated due date, I felt three painful kicks and something else.  As a first timer, I was no expert on anything pregnancy related, but I had no doubt that my water had broken.  Without a bag, a camera, or any clue what was happening, my mom and I set off for the hospital, where they confirmed my suspicions - I was having a baby.  That morning.

And so, at 5:43 AM on December 12, 2007, my little boy was born.  A breech baby, he was delivered by c-section and, after an all to brief first meeting with me, was whisked away to observation, which later turned to the NICU.  After 16 days of antibiotics and oxygen for pneumonia and breathing issues, as well as feeding tubes for eating issues, we were finally able to bring our little bundle of joy home.  Nearly three years later, my big boisterous boy shows no signs of his preemie beginnings.

Four days old

Heading home from the hospital at 16 days old

We were lucky.  Very lucky.  The little dude was born at a very healthy 6 lbs. 3.4 oz.  That's quite a big preemie.  His health issues were minor compared to most of the other little babies alongside him in the NICU.  Each year 1 in 8 babies in the United States are born prematurely.  Premature birth is the number 1 killer of newborn babies, and premature babies cost 10 times more than healthy babies.  The rate of premature births in the United States has risen nearly 30 percent since 1980.

In 2003, the March of Dimes launched the Prematurity Campaign to raise public awareness of prematurity and to decrease the rate of preterm births in the United States.  The campaign is already having an impact - the premature birth rate recently declined by 3 percent.  But there is still work to be done on behalf of premature babies not just in this country, but all over the world.  To create awareness for the campaign, the March of Dimes has designated November as Prematurity Awareness Month, and November 17 as Prematurity Awareness Day.  Prematurity can affect anyone, and while there are steps every expectant mother can take to lower their risk for preterm birth, there is still much to be learned as to the causes of preterm birth.

We will be forever grateful to the amazing NICU doctors and nurses who helped us through one of the most challenging and difficult times we have ever faced.  Go to www.marchofdimes.com to learn more about prematurity and what you can do to join the fight for premature babies.

Foto Friday

Some of the blogs I regularly visit (okay okay - stalk) post a picture on Fridays.  I wanted to get in on the fun, so here is my first Foto Friday:

It's Friday, and I'm in love.

(Thanks to Andrea for the great idea - hope you don't mind that I am totally co-opting it!)

Now let's go find Mickey Mouse

I may have mentioned that we recently visited Disneyland.  This was our big trip for the year, and as such we had high hopes for lots of excitement, rides and memory making.  The small child we took with us had other ideas.

Last year when we made this trip, we did it in December, for his 2nd birthday.  We mistakenly thought that going in December before Christmas was a good idea - that there wouldn't be big crowds.  Boy was that a silly idea.  I had no idea that many people make the trek to Southern California 2 weeks before Christmas to see the Mouse.  So this year we planned to avoid the Christmas rush (and the chance of snow in the mountains, and, most importantly, having to pay for him to get in if we went after his 3rd birthday) and go the first week of October.  Again, I thought the crowds would be light - that since school had just started there wouldn't be too many people there.  WRONG.  I am starting to get the idea that Disneyland is busy year round.  Who knew? 

But this is all beside the point.  I needn't have worried about whether the line for Dumbo was going to be unmanageable.  All he wanted to do was see the Mouse.

In our lead up to the trip, we started introducing him to Mickey Mouse.  He hasn't seen any of the Mickey movies or television shows yet, so I showed him pictures on the computer and explained we were going to Mickey Mouse's park.  He seemed interested.  So I was encouraged.  I planned for us to go to the character breakfast at one of the resorts.  And then it dawned on me - what if he's terrified of an adult dressed in a mouse suit?

On our first morning there we randomly ran into Pluto as we were coming out of the Mad Hatter shop.  We were 5th in line to greet him.  Score!  When it was his turn, my scaredy cat child, who won't even go down the slide by himself, ran right up to Pluto, hugged him and gave him a high-five.  Thank the Disneyland gods.

After meeting Pluto, he got into the stroller, looked up at me and said, "Okay.  Now let's go find Mickey Mouse."  When I asked him if he wanted to hit some of the rides first, he looked at me again, this time with annoyance, and said again, "Let's go find Mickey Mouse."  Duh.

They say it never rains in Southern California...

Well, they lied!  Nearly 3 weeks ago, we made the trek to Anaheim from our home in Northern Nevada.  After an 8 hour car ride, we were thrilled to get there and get out of the car.  Little did we know what was in store for us.

We live in the desert, so rain is a rarity.  For someone who lived in Florida for 24 years, moving somewhere where the average rainfall is 5.3 inches per year is a bit of an adjustment (by comparison, my hometown of Tampa, FL experiences an annual average rainfall of 44.7 inches).  On the day of our departure, we woke to the unmistakable sounds of rain.  Rain!  How exciting.  Until it wasn't.

Apparently, like Charlie Brown and his rain cloud, the rain decided to follow us to Southern California.  It rained the entire 3 days we were there. It rained, on and off, but mostly on, for the two days we spent at Disneyland.  It rained so much that we were forced to buy rain ponchos.  Ponchos.  I have never in my life worn a rain poncho, not under any circumstance.  As a kid, when we would visit the Florida theme parks during the summer we would make fun of the tourists in their neon yellow rain ponchos.  What - did they think they were going to melt?  Well, we became those tourists - wandering around the park in our neon yellow ponchos, trying to stay dry.

Despite the rain, the little dude was in high spirits (which kept us in high spirits), mostly because all he cared about was finding Mickey Mouse.  More on that later.  Luckily, no photographic evidence exists of the dreaded rain ponchos.  Not that it matters - the image of those ponchos is seared into my memory.  An auspicious start to an entertaining trip.

What we're watching

I'm back after a bit of a break!  Two weeks ago we traveled to Anaheim to visit, as the little dude calls it, "Mickey Mouse's Park".  It was quite a trip, filled with a few comical missteps and some big triumphs.  I had planned to blog about it last week, but I mismanaged my time and couldn't seem to find the time or inspiration to blog.  As of now, the ideas are still percolating, so check back later this week for more on our trip.


For now, I'll fill you in on what seems to be on permanent rotation in our house these days: Clifford the Big Red Dog.  I was only generally familiar with Clifford when one day I found his big movie for the little dude to watch.  Soon after I found the show on PBS Kids, and the DVR is now set to record every episode.  We both know the name of every dog and human on the show, and often discuss what the characters are up to.  I appreciate that every episode teaches a lesson - "Clifford Big Idea" teaches young viewers to do things like ask permission before playing with someone's toys.


As with anything, I am sure that his obsession with Clifford is fleeting, and before long he'll be on to something else.  But for now I'll enjoy his little voice calling to me: "Momma, I want to watch another new Clifford".  I'll also enjoy the way is captures his imagination - the other day in the car he told me that we had to go pick up Emily Elizabeth (Clifford's owner).  Like the song says, we love Clifford the Big Red Dog!