Big Day!

Today we are going to the annual NICU Graduates Reunion at the hospital where #3 was born. We've only gone once before, when he was 2 1/2. It was a fun-filled, but emotionally difficult day for us two years ago. Hopefully today will be easier. #3 is old enough to have a little bit of an understanding of what a preemie is, and he knows pictures of himself when he sees them. (For a time, he thought any baby that he saw that had a breathing tube was him.) He is excited to meet the doctor who saved his life, and he plans on hugging and kissing his primary nurse- one of his favorite pictures is of the first time I bathed him, assisted by Nurse Imelda.

The hardest part of the day is seeing all the other preemies who have disabilities, or are still on oxygen and feeding tubes. It is just a reminder of what could have been. I know, I know. I should feel blessed- and I do! But I also question why we were so lucky to have come through this preemie journey basically unscathed, while others will struggle for years, if not for their entire lives. How does God decide which babies will be spared the long term health problems so often associated with prematurity? I know I will never get an answer to that question, but it doesn't stop me from asking.