Entering a New Season With My Sons After Their NICU Stay
I am not an overly emotional or sentimental person; anyone who knows me well can attest to that. Bringing in our expired infant seat today to be recycled hit me. Hard.
That seat had seen us through two long NICU stays. Both our boys had to pass their car seat test to go home. All NICU parents know about that nerve-wracking car seat test!
The same seat had been lugged to countless therapy, pediatrician, clinic and specialist appointments. Don’t forget the surgeries, procedures and tests — for both boys. We have had to make hard choices and hear unfortunate prognoses about our children’s health while they rode in that seat.
There were times it felt like we wouldn’t ever move beyond the infant seat or that vulnerable season of our boys’ lives. Now it seems almost sudden that the car seat is gone, and with that comes the acceptance that they aren’t little babies anymore. They are in kindergarten and preschool now. They are bigger, stronger and thriving!
We have finally entered a new season.
Mother of two amazing boys, three if you count her husband. The oldest son was a NICU feeder/grower born at 30 weeks and her younger son is a complex CHD warrior. She is learning how to balance having a seemingly “normal” family life while fighting and advocating for her medically complex sons.
amgary