micropreemielife

The American Scheme

Preface

Before I dive into this topic I feel something needs to be clarified. There’s this misconception in the special needs community that all of our stories need to filled with hope and joy and a light at the end of the tunnel. That everything we write about should be rays of sunshine. And oh yes we had a little struggle but look at how amazing everything is now and how much we have over come! I’m here to call bullshit. Not every story has a happy ending. And our stories certainly don’t just begin and end with one struggle we have overcome. There’s a lot more to the journey that is the life of a medically dependent or special needs child and it’s full of constant battles that never allow us to come up for air. And yes. Maybe we will have a happy ending and win the war. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell our story in a way that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So here it is. Here’s just a sliver of one of our current realities.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there are no happy endings and that we aren’t filled with amazement and happiness for everything our son accomplishes and endures. We are beyond luckier than most families in our position and are often far better off with our incredible support network. What I am saying is just as anyone who has lived this life. Happy endings and fuzzy feelings are not a constant.

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A MicroPreemie Story: The Never Ending Fight.

The idea that the NICU experience is a never ending rollercoaster was setting in for us. Never in our lives had we been so exhausted. We were complete zombies and to this day I have no idea how we were able to function during those first several weeks in the NICU. The best example I could compare this feeling to is in movies where a boxer has been beaten down so much, is barely standing and they are about to receive the final blow that will knock them to the ground. We barely came out on the other side of Beckham’s bowel surgery and hearing it was a localized perforation versus NEC was a definite win. This gave us a little boost, as we soaked in the mini victory, but the fight was not over.

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The Aftermath: Every(one)thing Changes

The second you get your baby in the car for the very first time.

Everything Changes.  Every Facet of your life.  You have made it.  No more driving back and forth to and from the hospital, no more eating only whats close by, no more alarms giving you heart attacks, no more cave.   You have been reintroduced to sunlight.  Your baby has been introduced to it for the first time.  Everything is a shock factor and everything is a first.  Even for the parents…

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A MicroPreemie Story: After the Storm

It’s been over a year since my last post.  If there’s anything I have learned about prematurity it is that even after the NICU everything is a fight.  A lot has changed.  We have moved, Beckham has grown, I am working again and the fight continues for his health, always.  I’ve had to regain myself.  Give myself time again to be me, to do the things I love.  Slowly but surely I try to when I have the time but still feel I have a ways to go.  There are so many new things I want to write about as Beckham grows but I want to finish his story in the Nicu as well.  So I plan to do both as we go along.  I will have the NICU series labelled separately and also write about the now with some flashbacks of what has been going on since we left the NICU almost 2 years ago.  It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.  Seems like yesterday.  So, lets begin with where I left off from my last post “From Hope to Horror”.

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