Off and Running

I was thinking today at Colton’s soccer game about the time I went to my nephew Zachary’s Kindergarten soccer game on the same field 6 years ago. I remember it was the day we met our niece Sophie for the first time. She was only a few weeks old, and I was 8 weeks pregnant with Colton. If you had told me then what the following six years would bring I would never have believed it. It was such an innocent moment in my life. I was so scared that I would miscarry the baby, I was so sensitive to every tiny change in my body. I was hopeful more than anything. Would I go back? To experience again the naiveté of that time would be blissful, but only in hindsight. I am sure I would do it all over to arrive where I am now. If all the struggle of the last two years is what brought me to this beautiful family I have now, then it was worth it. And I am amazed at how much motherhood changes you. My concept of everything is so incredibly different than it was then. Then, with my first pregnancy, it was about me. Having Lucca was about Colton, and Axel was about depths of pain I had previously never known. Not even when my mom died. Oscar, well he’s the cherry on top. He’s the gift we got, and he is so so sweet. He is the bow we tied on top of this tumultuous tale. Oscar is the happy ending.
He is doing so well! It calls for an exclamation point. He is 4 (yes FOUR!) lbs 1.4 oz today. They have asked that I come in to nurse him twice daily, which is amazing but sort of hard logistically. I will happily work it out. He is too hot in his isolette which is the sign that he is almost ready for an open air crib. He no longer has oxygen therapy of any kind. The last piece of the puzzle is taking all his feeds orally. Once he does that, guess what? He comes home.
He comes home.
The nurse said today he is on track to be discharged a week from Thursday. Could be a few days sooner or later.
It feels like Oscar has lived a lifetime in these 3.5 weeks. He has come so very far. Today he latched on and nursed well for 12 minutes. That is better than Colton (who eventually **** near pulled my fillings out when he nursed) did in the beginning.
And, drumroll please….Matt gave him his first bath. So sweet.
In other news, Colt scored a huge goal in his game this morning, and we made our way to the nature center for some frogging this afternoon between hospital visits. Colton named his catch Oscar.
xx