Someone Always Has It Worse Than You ...

This is a valuable lesson that we have learned while being away from home for the past almost 4 months! (Feb. 27 will be 4 months for me!)

You meet so many people when you are thrust into these types of situations. I know being in the NICU is hard no matter how long your stay but there are people that always have it worse than you do ...

I remember giggling a few weeks ago (to myself of course!) because as I was scrubbing in, a very young couple was next to me talking about how hard it was going to be for them to be here for the week. There was nothing seriously wrong with their baby, they knew they were going home within a few days, yet they were so distraught that they were having to be here. I giggled ... mostly out of nerves, but somewhat because I wanted to say the right thing to them ... I ended up only saying that I prayed their stay was quick one and that their baby was alright.

This is one reason I have not griped about our situation ... I have never questioned "Why me, God?" There are plenty of reasons why we have gone thru what we have gone thru, there are many lessons that have been learned, there is a part of life I never knew existed and we have found it ... and after talking to many people that have been in the hospital and at the Ronald McDonald House, it didn't take long to know that SOMEONE ALWAYS HAS IT WORSE THAN YOU DO!

We talked to a mom in the NICU the other day (who also stayed at RMH with us) who has not only been thru the NICU this time at age 39, but also 21 years ago with her oldest child, and then 4 years later she actually LOST a daughter ... OH MY! My heart just sank when she was telling us. She is an old "pro" at this, but it never gets easy.

We are so thankful for our experience with Kadin coming out as well as it did. He is going home only on oxygen and a small dose of diuretic. All of that will possibly be stopped in one month when we see the pulmonologist anyway ... it's not like he will be on it for months and months and months. He just needs to grow a little bit over the next month. Things could have been soooo much worse for him.

We are so blessed and have been so blessed by meeting so many people thru this journey. I can't even begin to name all the circumstances, but we are very fortunate. We met another mother in our CPR class that told us last night her baby is terminally ill. It broke my heart. His muscles will never develop like they should, which includes his lungs and he will eventually pass. She is so strong and devoted to him. She asked us if we would like to meet her baby. He is precious. You would never know by looking at him that anything is wrong. His beautiful blue eyes just roam around looking at you .... he was a full term baby, too. I remember seeing her in the same room as us (for critically ill babies) and she broke down a lot. I prayed for her from my little section of the room .... and thanked God that we didn't have it as bad as it could have been for us.

I can't begin to explain what this situation has done for my heart. I have always been a tender person, but I am much more tender now. There are still a lot of things that I won't tolerate, but I do believe in goodness and mercy in this world much more than I did before. I believe in love a million times more than I did when we came here. I believe in mankind like I never have before .... I am truly humbled by everything we have been thru in the past 4 months and pray God will continue to use me and our situation for the good of others in our path .....