Life in Holland: Gabe Update #1

Friday, February 25, 2011

Gabe Update #1

I just went and saw Gabe for a bit. I got to hold him finally and it felt so good. I am so in love with this little boy. I only held him long enough to get a picture yesterday so getting to sit and hold him for a little while was so comforting. He had a pretty good night. He is still on room air and his breathing has slowed down a bit which is a good thing. They tried swaddling him and turning his bed warmer off but he got cold pretty quick so the warmer is back on. They are going to try again later today. His platelets are low but they said that goes along with my hypertension. He ate fairly well but has spit up everything he eats. I am going to breastfeed but he needs more than I can produce right now so he's getting formula. Since Carly and Anna both had milk allergy they are going to change his formula today and see if that helps. I think that's about it for now. Time for another nap.

1 comment:

jamieFebruary 25, 2011 at 9:35 PM
It must have been such a wonderful feeling to hold Gabe - what a stressful pregnancy this was with your BP acting up so early on :( I am in awe of your precious little boy - so adorable and big and just perfect!

I hope the soy formula helps everything stay down.

Yippee!!! Gabe is HERE!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this....When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.