Welcome to Holland: MAJOR TURNS 3!

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

MAJOR TURNS 3!

Three years ago tonight was one of the scariest nights of my life. I was 29 weeks along in my pregnancy. Will and I were in bed watching TV and I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt this gush... I ran into the bathroom and laid down and immediately called my doctor and Will called 911. My doctor just told me to not even wait for the ambulance just get in the car and get to the hospital as fast as we could so that is what we did. On the way there, I just thought there was no way this baby could be alive after all the blood I had lost. When we got there they put the monitor on me and when I heard that heartbeat I just lost it. I don't remember much after that... they wisked me off to have an emergency c-section. After I woke up is when it hit me that we were looking at spending some more time at the NICU. I couldn't believe this was happening to us again! I know the Lord doesn't give you anything you can't handle but I was seriously questioning this one! I was thinking the worst after what we had been through with Mitch. I almost passed out when the doctor told us he had a grade I brain bleed (Mitch's is a grade IV, big difference) and they kept assuring me this was nothing like when Mitch was born. Mitch was born at 25 weeks and weighed 1 lb 2 oz and Major was born at 29 weeks (huge difference) and weighed 3 lbs 4 oz. Major only had to be in the NICU for 6 weeks but that was harder than Mitch's 9 months because I had 2 other kids at home this time. We actually ended up taking Maj home really early so I was grateful for that. He was mom's little buddy until just recently when he discovered that dad is pretty cool. He was such a mommas boy that I nicknamed him "Roo" as in Kangaroo because he always wanted to be in his mommas "pouch". He is a sweet little boy and we are so very grateful for him and we love him so very much. What a wonderful addition to our family! WE LOVE YOU ROO!

These are some pictures from Major's birthday party...

So cute Chrissy! We love you! Look at Mitch reaching for her! LOL!

I love this girl and her adorable pregger belly! I couldn't quit touching it! Chrissy started working with us when she was a little high school student and now she is married and starting her own little family! It blows me away! lol!