A Link to Solidarity
Hello to everyone!
A friend or ours sent us a link to a couple whose son was two and a half months premature. The father made a video montage of their son's first year of life, much of it in the NICU.
What a video to watch! Rebecca cried. I, too, found myself growing emotional. Watching it definitely pulled me back to the earliest days of our time in the NICU.
When the off-camera beeps from the monitor sounded, I knew exactly what their warnings were for. The design of towel used to help keep their baby warm was the same patterned towel we used. The shot of the TPN drip bag hit me hard. Seeing the feeding tube taped to his face evoked sympathy. Seeing the CPAP pulled heart strings. The purple sunglasses and the jaundice lamps brought me back to Xavier's first week outside the womb.
I found myself watching intently as the mother sees her son for the first time. He is connected to his CPAP and a dozen or so other wires and gizmos. Two nurses help her carry her son to her chest and then guide her to a chair.
For a while, the mother is focused on not pulling out tubes or some other thing. Then, the reality of holding her son the first time hits her. Tears well up in her eyes! I watched Rebecca respond with similar emotion.
The montage lasts about seven minutes and I encourage you to watch it. The link is here. It, at least to Rebecca and me, gives a more empathetic experience of having a baby in the NICU than still photographs do.
From Giggles To Laughter
Hello, everyone!
Xavier has entered an interesting transition. His smiles with a giggle have started to become smiles with laughter. His expression of elation has grown more complex, seemingly overnight. This development may be related to another trait he has consistently demonstrated this past week.
He has, quite noticeably, started mimicking us, his parents. I noticed this early in the week while he was sitting on my stomach. I bounded him up and down by panting heavily through an open mouth.
Xavier watched me closely (perhaps thinking I was being weird), then opened his mouth and breathed heavy. Coincidence? I had to test it. I repeated the "heavy panting tummy bounce" technique. Xavier giggled at going up and down. When I stopped, he opened his mouth and breathed heavy again. He did not suck air through his open mouth just once, but many times, just as I had done. Still, more data was necessary, so I repeated the experiment several more times, all with the same result. I was a little stunned, but more excited.
The day after, Xavier and I were laying on the bed and I was helping him play with a toy. I was laying on my side, he on his back. After a few minutes, Xavier rolled onto his side. Again, I had to test for coincidence (especially since the rolling onto his side at will is a new skill for him). I rolled him over onto his back and waited. He rolled to his side, and looked at me with a "pleased as punch" grin. He did this several times in a row.
He has demonstrated other mimicking actions he has seen Mom and Dad do. Wow, how scary (and cool!) is that? They grow up quickly!
His developing a more complex laugh, we think, is also a result of learning by observation. We catch him laughing (or trying to, he still can't get it right every time) when we laugh. When we change from laughter to a giggle, he transitions to a giggle with us.
Rebecca and I are now bringing him to the dinner table with us while we eat. He sits in his belly pillow and watches us. We are waiting for him to give us the signs he want to try out "solid" foods. Since he has started mimicking what he observes, he may be very close to tasting something other than formula!
Still one of his favorite toys, Xavier holds his web ball while contemplating something. Perhaps he watches the tiny leaves dropping from the tree outside.
Xavier Michael Takes His First Communion
Hello and greetings to you all.
Yesterday, Xavier was baptised. Today, he took his first communion.
Generally, the baptism is done on a Sunday at the beginning of the liturgy so the one baptised can take their first communion the same day. However, so many people wanted to attend Xavier's baptism, but could not if it were done on Sunday morning. We wanted as many as wanted to attend to come, so we were able to split the events and move the baptism to Saturday.
Xavier's godmother drove down from Fort Collins to present him. There was also a little Russian tradition done just prior to his taking communion. The priest walked Xavier up to the iconostasis and laid him on the floor. Rebecca and I picked him up and handed him to Shana, his godmother, and then he was given his first taste of the cup.
The picking up of Xavier and handing him to his godmother was the first activity Rebecca and I got to participate in. At the baptism, his god parents did all the work. Rebecca helped change clothes and I took pictures. Today, no changing of clothes and no pictures, we got to take part in his first communion.
Xavier was a little taken aback by the taste of something other than formula or plastic toys, but he didn't seem to mind.