Reunion!

This past weekend was the NICU reunion.  (We've been looking forward to this for literally two years!)

They had a lot of fun activities for the kids -- a firetruck outside, and a circus theme inside. (To my surprise, Mattie refused to try the cotton candy!  But he gladly scarfed down a piece of cake.)  Mattie especially wanted a balloon animal (a fish, because the fish was orange on the sheet of example animals). There was a long line for the balloon animals, but the boys amused themselves by running around the little toy tent that was set up.

Of course, Mike and I really just wanted to see our nurses and doctors again. We drop by the NICU every once in a while when James is there for appointments and see if anyone we know is working, but we were looking forward to the chance to see them outside of the hospital as well.  (It's much nicer now that our preemies are running around all big and healthy!)

We were so happy that some of our favorite nurses were there -- one who took care of Mattie early on and was there the day we brought him home; another one who guided us through the early days, and two who took extra special good care of James when he was there for so long.  I can't even tell you how much all of their support meant (and still means) to us.  They are just amazing, wonderful people, and it was such a joy to see them.

Unfortunately, Jamesie and Mattie's primary nurses (both new moms now themselves) weren't there, but hopefully we'll have another chance to catch up with them.

We also had a chance to talk with some of our favorite doctors.  We loved Dr. W because she was always very straightforward with us (even when the news was not good).  And same with Dr. L -- he took the time to go through all the research with us, and we really trusted that they were doing what they thought was best for James.  And even though Dr. B and I had some differences when the boys were in the hospital, he is also a great doctor, and I was genuinely delighted to see him, too.  And we only got a brief moment to say hello to Dr. M, one of the Fellows (doctors in their final state of training) who also took wonderful care of James and really helped reassure us about some of his intestinal issues.

We did even get to say hello to one of the families we met when we  were in the NICU -- they recognized us, which was really sweet of them.

The organizers gave out some "awards" for things like the longest name, the shortest name, the smallest birthweight (I wish I could remember, but it was TINY, and the child looked to be about six now and doing well), the largest birthweight, etc.  James was in the final three for longest stay (he was there a bit over five months, the "winner" was there five and a half) -- which honestly still makes me sad, but it's better than the alternative.

One of the activities was to make a page for their "album of  hope" scrapbook, for NICU families.  They had mentioned this in advance, so I brought some pictures of the boys in the hospital and the boys now.  I wasn't sure how much to say for our "story."  We are very very far from the worst case, but I'm guessing a new parent wouldn't think that a lengthy hospital stay, multiple surgeries, and a permanent disability is a particularly hopeful outcome.  So what I said was this:

 "Our twins, James and Matthew, were born at 27 weeks. Matthew weighed 2 lbs, 6 oz, and James weighed 2 lb, 5 oz. Matthew was in the NCCC for two and a half months.  James was in the NCCC for five months, with many ups and downs. He is a survivor of NEC and had multiple surgeries. 

Today, they are both happy and healthy three-year-olds."

And really, I think the pictures of them smiling and reading books together and bouncing on their bed say it all.  :)  

I remember studying the pictures of the "graduates" that were up on the wall, looking for ones that were even smaller and earlier than ours who were still okay, so hopefully seeing the photos of our happy little guys will be helpful to someone.  

(I wish I'd taken a picture of the finished page, but James was melting down asking for milk, so I didn't have a chance.)  

All in all, a lovely afternoon.  :)