Nathan has been doing well up in Washington but his illness spread to Naomi. Luckily, she's still bopping around so she must not be feeling too terribly. Joel has gone from feeling badly that we wouldn't be together as a family for his birthday to completely milking the opportunity to have a birthday party with cousins, and all the family within close range, and having one with us when they return. (He's a smart kid.) I talked to each of the kids yesterday on the phone and they are having a blast. Even Nathan mumbled at me instead of just staring at the phone.
We will probably bring them home Easter weekend and then more adventures will begin.
I have been growing steadily stronger physically. We had a few little scary blips like my legs swelling slightly after I was released and worrying my incision might be getting infected, but the swelling went down and everything else looks really good.
We were struggling being an hour away from Ben, so on thursday we moved in with some friends in Boise until we can get into the Ronald McDonald house on Tues. They have been extremely generous to us even to the point of moving us into their room until I am a bit stronger and can do the stairs to the guest room.
Benjamin is the NICU "rock star." He has been on just nasal cannula for a few days and has started feedings. We have had lots of encouraging comments such as, "he thinks he is older then he is," and " he obviously hasn't read the premie book." You would think that this would make things easier for me but I have really struggled with seeing him. We would go to the hospital in the evening and I could barely stand being in his room for more than 20 minutes and would inevitably dissolve into tears on the way home. Of course, I would then add guilt to my plate that I have been such a wimp.
However, yesterday we watched General Conference for our church in the morning. Everything said spoke to us and many things spoke to me. One thing said was that Christ could have learned to understand our individual sufferings through revelation but instead he chose to suffer with us. Also said was that sometimes we have faith but it's hard to have courage. That's exactly how I have been feeling. I have faith that everything will be alright in the end but have been scared of how painful it might be to get there.
I came away from Conference with the desire to look beyond Ben's fragile frame and see his powerful Spirit. I know he's an extremely Strong Being with the ability to conquer his present struggles with the Lord's help. We left yesterday to visit him during mid-day in the hopes that the time difference would also help my ability to cope. It was the best visit ever! I could see Ben for who he is, I felt great hope and we enjoyed a great interaction with him.
Currently, they are a little worried that he may have rotavirus and one other virus that I don't remember the name of. He is being tested for both. They are taking extra precautions when giving him care because they are both highly contagious. However, he continues to plug along and they have upped his feedings to every three hours and hopefully, if he does have them they will be gone soon or are almost gone.
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