We started a new phase in the boys’ lives today. They will be home during the day, under the watchful and loving eye of a Nanny that I’m fairly sure God sent to us. We are very excited about this change for a number of reasons. For selfish reasons, our morning and afternoon routines will be easier. But more importantly, we can work on improving the environment for the boys at home, knowing that will now be the place they spend most of their time.  (More therapy items, positioning, equipment, etc.)   And…appointments like home health and early intervention therapies will be in the comfort of their own home, with no rushing involved. Another obvious benefit, particularly since we’ve spent (a combined) 30 nights in the hospital the last two months, is that we will hopefully avoid a few germs and bugs by removing them from the more public environment of day care before winter hits.

 

If you were going to design someone for us, you would probably want someone who loves babies, but also has a medical background. That would be perfect, right? We thought so too. Welcome to the team D!  🙂

 

All that said – I wanted to take the time to brag on the day cares we’ve used for the boys. From January to August, they were cared for by a team who knew us well and had helped us raise K. They prayed and worried right along with us during the pregnancy. I had meetings ahead of time to figure out what they would be comfortable taking on, knowing we might have feeding tubes, shunts, seizures, or countless other needs. When the time came, we discovered we mostly had babies who needed love. And they provided that in abundance. This crew helped me learn about the boys. Feeding skills came and went and came again. There were endless amounts of spitup and laundry. We all learned a few tricks together, and shared them. We celebrated every time tiny N crossed another pound. It was at that day care L had his first infantile spasm, which we caught on video during therapy. Of all the people I had to tell we were moving, I dreaded telling Mrs. Kim the most. And sure enough, we both cried at the thought of it, and even harder when that last day finally came.

 

From August until now they have been with a new team who did not know us ahead of time, but even still welcomed the boys and all their complications with open arms. We’ve had a rough 3 months medically, but they never pushed back, never said no, and always took great care of L and N.   We’ve added feeding tubes, had patchy attendance, balanced learning new jobs and establishing new doctors, and have had some illness thrown in. And all along, they’ve provided patient, loving hands.

 

The boys have been blessed with wonderful caretakers from day one. We are so thankful for that and they will forever have our gratitude.  And in some ways, these two will always be their babies.