We Are Survivors : NICU Picnic
August 24th, 2007
Last weekend our crew had the privilege of attending the NICU Reunion Picnic. I remember this time last year, not knowing if we would be invited to such a picnic, not knowing if we would even bring one baby home from the hospital. Only by God’s grace, we brought 4 babies home. I wanted to blog right away all about the picnic, but it was too emotional, and my thoughts were all over the place. Hopefully now my thoughts are a bit more collected. We’ll see…..
I remember the first time I heard about this “picnic”. I was about 14 weeks pregnant and my doctor was talking about another past patient he had run into there. Then he backtracked and explained what the picnic was about, and then inserted something like, “you’ll see, when you guys go next year”. That was HUGE! He believed in us, against all the medical knowledge he possessed, and the fight we had ahead of us. That gave me a confidence and peace about our situation. Seeing him there on Saturday and having my 4 boys to show him was exciting, to say the least.
We were greeted by so many familiar faces and hugs from people who fought for our boys while they endured their NICU stay. It was such a joy to show the nurses and doctors our chubby, healthy, little rascals. We are so grateful for the tremendous care at
St. Vincent we received and the people and abilities that God place into each of our boys’ lives, when we could do
NOTHING.
I think many have too quickly forgotten (including myself) how amazing these little lives truly are and how this is not the “typical” outcome, since they don’t look or act much like preemies anymore (which is a great thing)! This picnic was another great reminder of God’s ultimate control, His grace, and mercy in our lives. Sometimes we just want to hold on to each of them and weep over them in gratefulness. May Christ be glorified through their precious lives!
DeDe (Henry’s primary nurse)
Nataline (Clark’s primary nurse) Nataline: You better thank me for your fame! =) Can you tell the boys didn’t get their nap?
Brad and I with our “septuplets”, where are their parents, anyway? I thought we were posing with them for the picture!
When your babies are in the NICU you have to wear a hospital bracelet for each baby for security reasons. Well, I decided to take a picture of our survivor bracelets that they handed out. The “Tiny Success” onesies (pictured at the top of this post) were given to us by a triplet mom, Diana, who we barely know from Starbucks, but she’s been a faithful blog subscriber for a while now. Thank you so much! We’ll have to definetly get a picture in them!
Look how far we’ve come!
February 2. 2007
“Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.
How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 6:5-7
Makes me feel like singing out loud
“How Great is our God … sing with me How Great is our God!!”
I love those precious miracles!!
Tami
I love reading your blog Jen. I still haven’t made it to see you which makes me very sad. I cry and thank God for the wonderful grace and mercy he shows us through your little guys. God’s love is evident whether the outcome is good or not what we want But your story has been all GOOD and I am thankful for that for you!!!! Love ya guys, Leona
I work at St.Vincent and see the emails asking for volunteers for this every year. You make me want to volunteer next year. St. Vincent is a great place to work and they truly do give great care to their patients. I am so glad you have had such a great outcome and god truly does have a plan for your little ones!
Hi Jen! What a beautiful crew you have! Wow, I will never complain about being busy ever again. What a huge blessing. I loved that teensy nicu picture – how far you have come, and what a miracle.
I’m so glad you introduced yourself. I enjoyed getting to know you here, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you more as time goes on.
Blessings!
Katherine
What an amazing post! I can only imagine how blessed you feel that God brought those 4 little miracles through the NICU experience!
It has been such a blessing to read your blog, Jen! I have 10m old twin boys and I still find myself going into their room when they are sleeping at night and feeling overcome with gratitude! Not that I don’t feel gratefull when they are awake and full of energy- there is just something precious about them when they are sleeping! I can only imagine how you feel as you watch your guys continue to grow! May God continue to bless your family and provide for all of your needs.
I SAT BY YOUR FOLKS AT THE HEWITT WEDDING THIS EVENING. BEAUTIFUL AFFAIR. I TOLD JANET HOW MUCH I ENJOYED READING ABOUT THE REUNION AT ST. V’S. THOSE NURSES MUST HAVE BEEN THRILLED TO SEE THE LITTLE BOYS, AND HOW WELL THEY ARE DOING. YOU AND BRAD ARE A REAL INSPIRATION TO MANY, WITH A POSITIVE, GODLY ATTITUDE. HOPE YOU CAN COME TO CALVARY SOMETIME. HUG THE BOYS FOR ME. LOVE AND PRAYERS FROM THE REESES. FRAN
What an amazing post!!! I have been following your story ever since I found out I was pregnant with triplets, and have been SO encouraged by everything I have read about your journey! This post made me cry (I even had my husband read it and he was emotional) and yet gave me great hope at the same time! I’m praying that our wonderful Lord & Savior will grant us the same blessing this time next year. Your little ones are so adorable and are such fighters! What an amazing testimony of God’s love for his children! I pray that our Heavenly Father will continue to bless you and your amazing family in the years to come!
Also, we have more than Dr. Sumners in common..I was looking at one of your older posts and saw a picture of Becky F…she was my English teacher all through high school!
You guys should totally be in a St. V ad campaign!
Just wait till they’re talking… this weekend, Emma looked at me and said, “Steph-nee, you’re so cute.” Love it!
Oops, sorry we bailed on you for the picture. We were overwhelmed, too. No actually, you are doing so well with 4 that we thought you could handle 3 more no problem! Good for you for remembering how far you have come. Nothing strengthens my faith more than the proof of God working in my life.
God bless,
Amanda
PS Did you happen to see the Star on Sunday? Turns out we aren’t descended from apes after all. Not news to me!
Thank you for sharing. We have our NICU reunion coming up in Sept.
BTW, our boys we born around the same time. My Ezra was born on Feb. 4th 2007 @ 26 weeks.
God Is Good!
Crystal
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crysnrod
GREAT! Now I’m crying at work. I’m so thankful for you guys. Your doing an aweful lot of marketing for God!!
Love to you ALL!
Beth