*OK - so I wrote this 2 1/2 months ago, but I am just now posting it. Life throws me curve balls and I am just trying to keep up. And I'll warn you, these following 2 posts are slightly heavy. :)
5 years ago I was a mess.
My precious baby was born 8 weeks early. Taken straight from me to the NICU. Don't worry about me, I tell Matt - just go with him, stay with him. My newborn boy was in the NICU, BUT he was breathing on his own, healthy but skinny and had the most amazing downy, blonde hair. Matt told me - all the babies there have a name, he doesn't have one - because we were not ready for this, not at all. We had narrowed it down to two names, Matt really liked Kyle William and so it was. Kyle the angel baby. He couldn't come home with us until he learned to eat, keep his own temp regulated and quit having apneas and bradycardias and of course he was so tiny - 4 pounds 3 ounces.
So began the traveling between home and the hospital several times a day, killing me every time I left him there. He had great nurses, nurses who played music for him and wrapped him in warm blankies, lovingly brought by friends. Dressed him in tiny clothes bought by his Mimi and Big Daddy that had dinos and bugs on them. Took his first picture with Santa, because he was still to little to come home for his first Christmas. I tried to make everyone believe I was brave, I may have even fooled myself, but it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Finally . . . finally after 4 weeks, he came home to be with us. We had hoped for him to be home by his due date in February, then dared to dream by his daddy's birthday, but God gave Matt and I the greatest gift - we brought him home on January 4th, more than a week before Matt's birthday. A happy, healthy, nursing, growing, precious gift.
He was delayed as all premies are, but by his first birthday had caught up to his age group and, in fact, was verbally advanced for a boy born prematurely. He has continued along this path, my precious first born son. Happy, healthy, skinny :), very verbal, with beautiful blonde hair. And in December we celebrated his 5 th birthday - wow!
As a mom of three, it is sometimes hard to enjoy these times when the kids are small; to savor this time when they want to share everything with me. However, when I see how quickly Kyle is growing up, it causes me to stop and savor his childhood, and everything that goes with it, the good, and the not so good.
Thank you God for gifting me with beautiful, healthy children. May I be the mom you would have me to be so that they may grow into people that bring glory to you. ~Amen~
I Love You Kyle!
~ LKS
