The Angels Among Us

It doesn't take long.  A few days in the NICU and you start to the angels among us.  There are the ones you can see- the nurses who work tirelessly to take care of your babies when you can't.  The ones that come in to work on their day off just to make sure your sick baby is doing ok.  The ones that stay past their shift and skip their breaks because they promised a terrified mother that they would stay with their baby during a scary procedure.  The doctors that spend way more time than they need to making sure you understand exactly what is going on with your children.

Then there are the ones you can't see.  It is hard to avoid the coincidence that our girls' original due date was on sweet Omie's birthday. Then there is the time the doctor's told me that they had to run a spinal tap on Reese to rule out meningitis.  While they assured me that it wasn't as bad for babies as it is for adults, it was hard to trust that my sick little girl wouldn't be in agony.  To make matters worse, the procedure had to be done under sterile conditions, so I couldn't be there to hold her.  I prayed for God to send down the angel of my great grandmother to be there when we couldn't.  When I was allowed back in the room I was told that she slept happily through the whole thing.  I knew then too.

And then finally, the last two days in the NICU.  We were on our way in and called ahead as we always do to make sure the NICU wasn't closed to admit a new baby or perform a procedure.  They told us to come in and that while they had hoped to give us a few days notice, Michaela had met her weight goals and would be released to us that day.  When we arrived at the hospital they told us that they knew then that Reese was ready too and would be released the following day.  We would have to spend the night in the hospital because once Michaela left the NICU she would not be allowed back in, but the next day we could bring them both home.  Together.

And so after a sleepless night, we packed our two tiny babies in their car seats.  We received pages of instructions on how to care for them in all the ways preemies need.  As four weeks of adrenaline dropped from my blood, tears flooded my eyes.  Tears of relief, fear, and ultimately happiness ran down my face for hours.  We were going to be a family.

We left the NICU that day on the wings of angels.  And now we spend our days in the chaos that is our new normal with two little angels of our own.