The Gift of Life

We had a really cool thing happen today in our family. For starters, both Grandmothers have now held one of the babies, which I know was great for both the babies and the Grandma's. And today, as Grammy (my Mom) was holding Baby Cole, they told us that he might need another blood transfusion since his hematocrit level (red blood cell count) was a bit on the low side again. This would be his third one, and each time, he gets better and better. We're hoping that this will be his last one. With that in mind...

Some of you might know, Mom has O- blood, which is the universal donor type. But she also is missing a certain element in her blood which many other O- people have, therefore she is able to donate blood for preemie babies. I think it's something like only 2% of O- people are able to donate blood for premature infants, therefore they are always looking for donors and blood for preemies is in short supply (those of you with O- blood should go get checked to see if you can donate!). Mom has been doing this for a few years now, never suspecting that she would have grand baby preemies in NICU who might need blood. When we were at the hospital earlier this week, she donated since there were two babies at that time that needed blood immediately (not our babies). Little did we know how perfect that timing would be. She is now a direct donor for Baby Cole. I can barely think of this without crying and feeling overwhelmingly thankful that our baby has received his grandmothers blood. He had his 3rd transfusion yesterday and last night (they do it in two parts - it's only a total of 10cc's of blood) and now he will always have a part of Grammy with him. That is pretty special in my book! Mom, you have given this precious little 29 week old baby the ultimate gift of life. He will be forever thankful, and so will C & I. Something about knowing where that blood came from is so comforting and reassuring.

Cole says "Thanks Grammy!"


That said, when I got to the hospital last night for my evening visit, Cole looked great. He was so pink and vibrant. I held both boys last night for well over an hour together and they snuggled into my chest. For the first time, I got to spend that time alone with them since I went by myself last night. It was really a special hour for me - and I hope for them. It's always so hard to give them back up after that. We have some good chats. I savor those moments so much. For someday, they won't be able to both snuggle together like that - nor will they want to. They will be busy little boys, trying to find trouble.

They both are doing very well and making small milestones every day. They had their first routine head scan yesterday so we're awaiting results on that. They scan their brains routinely when they are so small to look for any hemorrhaging or fluid. Again, something very normal and common for preemies due to all of the tiny blood vessels in their heads. And we still have not heard anything from Cole's culture of his spinal. We are hopeful that both of those major tests come back clean - all fingers crossed that we hear something on those today.

I am driving again - wooo hoooo! I drove myself around a bit yesterday and wow, did that feel liberating! That was my last piece of independence that I was waiting to get back. It felt good; and as I plan my day today, it feels good not to have to rely on others to get me where I want to go when. I'm free!

Thank you for your continued prayers and well wishes. We are making progress each day - and watching these boys grow and become little people is one amazing thing. I never want to forget these days. As stressful as they are at times, it's truly a miracle in the making and not everyone gets to experience such a thing.