Leigha and the Triplets

Monday, July 20, 2009

Giving Thanks

There is one yearly even I try my best not to miss, and that is our NICU reunion in April. This year marked the fourth anniversary of the NICU staff saving the lives of my three sons. I love getting to see some of the doctors and nurses that we got so close with, and I love seeing the kids that were in the NICU at the same time as us.

Dr. Asadifar was our favorite doctor. He took the time to sit down and explain everything that was happening. He tried to keep us up to date on everything that was happening. He is the main reason I attend the reunions every year.



Dr. Leitner is the head of the NICU (I think) and he is always at the reunion, too. I think they enjoy seeing the kids grow up, knowing how sick they were when they are born.



One of our favorite nurses was there, too! Everyone called her Sherry Manilow because she loved Barry Manilow. She is a total sweetheart who loves her job.



MaryBeth is the OT for the NICU. She worked with all of my boys, but especially with Matthew. She was always willing to go the extra step and also help us learn what to do to help the boys.



For those who don't remember, we were the first set of three triplets in the NICU at the same time. Unfortunately, the Sowards moved to Reno so we don't see them anymore. Thankfully, we get to see Don and Laura's boys a lot! They spent about 6 weeks with us in the NICU, but became life long friends.



While I go to the reunion to see the doctors, nurses, and other previous patients, I am sorry to admit that my boys mostly want to see the characters! They didn't let me down this year, they are still character stalkers! Their favorite one this year was the one from The Incredibles. Yes, they enjoyed the cupcakes, snow cones, popcorn, etc., but all they really wanted to do was hang with Blue, Incredibles, Elmo, etc.



Leigha was with us that day. I think she enjoys being older and having more freedom. She was all over the different treat booths (NICU reunion at lunch time, but they served all junk food--kids' heaven!) and bounced in the bouncy houses. She would return to me now and then, but I don't think hanging out with the characters is where she wanted to be.

Leigha is quite the photographer. She loves taking pictures, so I handed her my huge camera and asked her to take some pictures of the group shot. She was much too close to get everyone in, but she did the best she could from her position. I think she took about 100 pictures in the matter of minutes--have to love digital photography!



I want to point out some of our other friends. To the right of us is Joselle and her triplets. When I first heard about her, it was kind of creepy. Unfortunately her pregnancy was pretty close to mine. Her Baby C's (Aspen) water broke around the same time Matthew's did. She also gave birth within a week that I did. She gave birth to them a little of a year after our boys were born.

The little boy in the Mets shirt is Evan (to the left of us). He is one amazing little boy. Evan was born at 25 weeks, I think about 7 weeks before my boys were born. He was our neighbor in the NICU. When you are in the NICU, you aren't really supposed to wander around and look at other babies. For the most part you don't even have conversations with the parents in there because they value the special time with their children. For anyone that knows me, that's impossible. I had NEVER seen a NICU before. I had NEVER seen a premature baby before mine. I WAS FREAKED OUT when I saw my boys for the first time. Knowing that Evan was older than mine, and born earlier, I would peek at him from a distance. I won't lie, it was hard to see him struggle. Evan spent 120 days in that NICU and he was released before we were. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to see what a handsome boy he has turned into. They have moved away from Vegas, but it's nice to see them at the NICU reunions!

It was a beautiful day, filled with lots of smiles and laughs. To top it off, we were able to briefly see Crista and Chuck. They were in town for a conference, so we stopped by their hotel to hang out with them for an hour or so. The kids LOVE climbing all over Chuck. It was short, but sweet!

2 comments:

The Hopeful Elephant said...

This is so awesome! It's hard to believe that they're getting so big! :) Of course, we are remaining our lovley 29 year old selves forever...

Leanna said...

Awww...I wish we had NICU reunions. But, strangest thing - when we were in the NICU, I too 'looked' and knew the dad across the way (he played rugby with hubby WAY back ;D)and his mother works in my Gyn office. So, we have stayed in touch. It's fun to see the babies growing up.