Life = Roller Coaster

It's 5am and I can't sleep. I got up to feed Max about an hour ago and he actually went right back down after he was finished eating... but I'm fully awake now.

It's been quite an adventure here in the ol' household. We're a bit overwhelmed by the recent news of Michael's potential diagnosis to say the very least. This is definitely something we didn't see coming! Max is finally home and thriving, and now this. We're taking it in stride, though. Yes, we'll allow ourselves to be scared/angry/etc., but we're also going to laugh our way through it. As we learned during our time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU from now on), we NEED to laugh. More importantly, we need to ALLOW ourselves to laugh- even if it's at things that may not be the most 'politically correct' in some cases! As I was just discussing with my friend Amy yesterday, Michael and I have a very twisted and wonderful understanding of each other. We can crack ourselves up until the cows come home, but also have the deepest and most serious love for one another. So scary as this is and will be, our 'mantra' has always (and will continue to be) that we wouldn't be given anything we can't handle. We'll get through it together... which is really all we've ever wanted- to be together as a family.

As Michael reported yesterday, we were at Geisinger on Friday for Max's first follow-up physical therapy session. It went well and Max was a champ the whole trip to & from- the commute is about an hour each way. Michael had class that morning, so I'd been a little nervous about making the trip alone, but he was so good for me! (This is further proof that he's perfectly content as long as he has clean drawers, milk and regular cuddle time.)

The therapist did an evaluation and reported that he's on schedule developmentally for his 'age', which was a whopping 6 days on the day of the evaluation. (Though he was born two months early, they go by his 'corrected' age- i.e. his due date, Nov. 1. We saw the therapist on the 7th.) She gave us a couple of exercises to do with him at home to help him gain strength in his neck and legs. His vision is amazingly ahead of schedule, which is a true miracle considering our poor vision! (I believe that Michael and I cancelled each other out and gave him good eyesight! Wouldn't it be awesome if that was really true... haha!) I was actually not surprised that his vision is coming along though, as we've noticed that he can already recognize us and always searches for our faces when he's not right up next to them. He literally squirms up our chests to be closer to our faces when we're holding him! (Having our son stare at us so intently with his big peepers is a truly wonderful feeling, by the by.)

He still has the typical 'preemie tremors' in his arms, legs and face from time to time, but she said it's normal and will be for a couple more months. It was a very enlightening visit and comforting to know he's doing well. In addition to potential physical therapy here at home, he'll return to Geisinger in two months for another check-up. (We think they're keeping extra special tabs on him, as he was a NICU baby saved by an experimental 'procedure'- that procedure being that he was given nitric oxide as a last resort. It worked!)

The support everyone showed through the Carepages was appreciated more than you will ever know and the same goes here. Thanks for reading- there's a surprising comfort in reflecting and typing. We'll do our best to keep this updated with the latest (and hopefully greatest) news.

Cheers,
Ange