Things I took for granted when Zach was born...

I just found this post that I originally wrote on 10/9/08...I didn't publish it at the time because I thought it was kind of a downer. I read it today and it brought tears to my eyes again. I NEVER want to forget how lucky we are to have this precious little boy in our lives. Even when he's up at night and not sleeping so well. :) I'm publishing this so it will always be a part of his baby book...how precious he and his brother are to us!

Written 10/9/2008
I've been wanting to write these down since this whole thing with Dylan first happened. These are things that I swore to myself I would never forget thinking while Dylan was in the NICU. At one point, Craig and I were walking down the hall and a guy passed pushing his baby back to the nursery. We just looked at each other and both said how we just wanted to stop everyone and tell them how lucky they were to have their babies with them.

1. Hearing your baby cry when he/she is delivered - The most important and probably why I want Dylan to cry so badly.

2. Holding your baby right after delivery - especially not having to wait 24 hours

3. Holding your baby whenever you feel like it. - Couldn't hold Dylan except at the scheduled times - every 3 hours - we would show up dutifully to get our time with him

4. Changing diapers - even this was a great treat in the NICU - really.

5. Bathing baby - I was so excited when the nurses said we could give him a bath. Especially when he had all the goop from the EEG in his hair. (it might make a good sculpting gel for bed head styles.) Thanks to Janelle our nurse for scrubbing it out for me the first night. She was able to really get in there and get that stuff out!

6. Rooming in at the hospital and wheeling your little bassinet down the hall from the nursery. We finally got to wheel the bassinet on the night we roomed in before going home.

7. Nursing...I nursed Zach within 2 hours of him being born and couldn't even try to nurse Dylan for several days. It was such an empty feeling to just use the pump and not get to actually nurse. I'm no LeLeche member or anything, but I didn't realize how special it is until I wasn't able/allowed to do it. The first time he latched on brought tears to my eyes.

8. Leaving the hospital with your baby - as bad as I had always imagined it would be - leaving empty handed. Wednesday was a very weepy day for me.

9. Dressing baby - I heard a lot of the preemie moms get excited too when you can put outfits on the little ones. It was funny having the nurses search for clothes that were big enough for Dylan. Again, they aren't use to 8lb babies in the NICU. :)

10. Big brother being able to visit/hold his little brother. - It was hard watching Zach stand at the window every time and just want to see his little brother and touch him. He's making up for lost time now!

Added today (02/17/09):
11. Being together as parents during the delivery to share in that great moment...we each have very different memories of Dylan being born.

Everyone go give your little ones a squeeze and think how lucky we all are to have them in our lives. Healthy children are a wonderful gift not to be taken for granted!

Our baby in the NICU

This is how Zach got to see Dylan for the first time, he's standing outside looking in the window with Craig's parents.
TODAY! YEAH! Look at this happy little baby!

Don't mind my lack of makeup, but Zach took this picture...pretty good for a 3 year old. We can't even manage to get Dylan smiles with the camera.