A Practice in Positive Thinking

Dominic had another great day.  He lost an ounce, so he is back to his birth weight, but he has still never dropped below that.  The nurses continue to comment on how advanced he is.  While I'm sure they say things like that to all the parents, it is still nice to hear.  His bilirubin levels continue to go down and the nurse is hopeful he will come off of the light soon.  He continues to try (and sometimes succeed) nursing, which is a huge plus.  Because he is doing so well with nursing and they didn't cut down the amount thye put through his feeding tube he got too full and that made him cranky.  D is generally very agreeable, but the nurse couldn't get him to relax in his isolet.  I could have sworn he was going to crawl out of that thing.  So, she asked if I had time to hold him for awhile to help him calm down (as if I would say no!).  It was a wonderful feeling to see him relax almost immediately after she placed him on my chest.  Again, she asked if I was okay holding him for awhile.  Nick had to laugh out loud because he has to force me to put him back under the UV light instead of just holding him all the time.  So, of course, I told her I would hold him as long as I could.  She believes that his bilirubin levels were low enough that it was more important to spend a couple hours of cuddle time with Mommy instead of spending those hours cranky and under his light.

The Colts, on the other hand, did not have a great day.  D's wins and the Colts losses got me thinking.  We have gone through a lot this past month and although I am so happy and feel so lucky that D is doing well, I still have times of mourning and feeling sorry for myself.  So, as they do in the sports world, I thought it would be helpful to put our wins and losses into columns.

Losses
-It may sound silly, but I mourn the loss of the last 11 weeks of my pregnancy.  We had baby showers, maternity photos, Babies R Us shopping trips and so many other things we planned to do that we didn't get a chance to do.
-Everyday that we leave this hospital and go home without D we lose precious time with him.
-Nick and I have lost the notion that anything is sacred or private.  We have seen and said things during this last month that neither of us ever thought we would.

Wins
-We get an extra 7 weeks to hang out with D that we would have never gotten if I would have made it to term.
-We have discovered strengths in one another neither of us ever could have imagined.
-We have been reminded of how amzingly wonderful our friends and family are.  The support and love they have shown has been phenomenal.

While on paper it may look like our record is .500, I know, for a fact we will continue to accumulate wins everyday.  I know I will continue to have moments of forgetting that our wins far outweigh our losses, but then I look at D and suddenly I feel as if we have won the Superbowl, the World Series and every other big championship!

Raise your hand if you're adorable!