Christmas Morning in Pictures

Admiring the Tree

Opening Presents

Fletcher's Present to Mom

(on his face and my shoulder)

Which is Apparently Hilarious

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

One Year Ago

Right Now

My mom makes Christmas Eve pjs for all her grandkids. Last year she made Fletcher's blanket out of some of the fabric. The days leading up to Christmas last year were some of Fletcher's worst. His lungs had begun to scar from the pressure of the vent and were taking on fluid. He got bad pretty quickly and they put him on some pretty heavy antibiotics for fear of infection (you can see the IVs going into his arms and he has scars to this day on each forearm from that or one of his other numerous lines). His vent settings were high and he was getting fairly regular doses of morphine because he would get so agitated and fight the vent. I don't like to think about it, but there were times that I wondered if my mom would ever get to make pjs for him.

Today, I am happy to report, is a completely different story. While every part of Fletcher's life is, and will continue to be, affected by his extreme prematurity in ways I have yet to discuss on this blog, right now he is just your average baby resting comfortably upstairs all safe and sound. And yes, he is in our bed, but we are hoping it is just a phase while he is a little stuffed up with a head cold. And even if it is more than a phase... just look at that first picture above and tell me that you wouldn't want him close to you after all of that.

Happy First Birthday Fletcher!

In honor of Fletcher's first birthday, I put together a little video to commemorate his first year. I borrowed the song and some of the text from videos produced by some fellow micropreemie mom bloggers, so it may seem a little familiar, and have emailed this out to nearly everyone I know. But, if you haven't had a chance to take a look, get some tissues and enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I began my hospitalized bedrest. I had been on bedrest at home for six days (with a one day pass to spend Thanksgiving at my mom's) due to what looked at first to be only elevated blood pressure (or pregnancy- induced hypertension as the docs called it). However, at my follow-up appointment the Monday after last Thanksgiving, I had begun spilling protein and lots of it and the preeclampsia was really coming on strong. I had hoped that I would be on bedrest for weeks, if not months, but as Fletcher's birthday is this Saturday, obviously that didn't pan out.

I try to include a picture or two in each of my posts, but I don't have many during my all too brief stint at bedrest, and those that I do have show one very puffy, exhausted, and terrified woman, so they are not fit to publish. So I will include one of some of the pretty flowers I got to enjoy during my stay.

I have learned a lot in the past year (or in the past 3 years as those who know me understand that I had pretty much become board certified in reproductive endocrinology before Fletcher was even conceived). But one non-medical thing I have learned in this experience is what a difference simple gifts can make. Before I was hospitalized, I didn't really "get" sending people flowers at the hospital, or even sending flowers in general, because they always seemed so temporary. However, when you are laying in a hospital bed (on your left side, of course) with nothing to do but obsess over every blood pressure reading or the rhythm of the fetal heartbeat monitor, having a beautiful, tangible reminder that there are people out there thinking of you really does help. (By the way, if you are reading this and sent me flowers or any gift for the baby and I never got around to sending out a thank you card, please accept my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for the flowers/gift/encouraging messages... seems like etiquette was the first thing that I let slide in the micropreemie madness).

Since I wasn't blogging at that time, I am considering tracking back some of Fletcher's NICU stay on the one year anniversary of the actual occurrence, but like most of my blogging ideas, I am not sure it will ever come to fruition. Maybe I will just do the lazy-man's blog post and cut and paste from emails I sent to family and friends as updates throughout Fletcher's stay.

Happy Halloween

I'm not one to dress up, so to celebrate Halloween Fletcher decided to ditch mom and dad and join up with a Pirate Family (also known as my sister Angie, her husband Greg and Fletcher's cousins Trey and Michael).

Fletcher's First FIRE!

So, I am just plugging away at work when I get an email from my husband, who is at home with the baby. The subject line reads "This is what Fletch and I are doing!!!". Okay, fair enough. Trevor never emails me, but he has been on vacation for the past few weeks and has spent most the time at home alone with the baby while I am at work, so he is probably looking for something creative to do and thought he would share.

I open the email and the body reads "Fletcher's First FIRE!" and I notice there are a couple pictures attached to the email. For a split second I panic, thinking that there would be pictures of our charred house, or at very least the kitchen, when I opened the links.

Instead, this is what I saw...

I will never understand men. I guarantee that Trevor was more excited about this than he was about Fletcher getting his first tooth earlier this month (the glare is bad in this picture but I swear, there is one (actually, even two) popping out of his lower gums, and we've endured the fussing to prove it!).