Friday, May 1, 2009

Don't Take Anything for Granted


This little cutie helped me realize how lucky I am.


She taught me to NEVER take things for granted.



Even the LITTLEST things in life.


At 31 Weeks I went in for my routine check-up only to find out I was already dilated to 1 cm. Given my history of fast labor and pre-term contractions I was sent right downstairs to my Antepartum Bed.....


I remained there for the next 17 days.

Not that I was counting.


Here is a pic of one of the few times my girls could come and visit me.

I was sharing my tasty snack of Nutter-Butters.


Yum.


One of the positives of my hospital stay, along with the WONDERFUL nurses.


A kiss from Sophie.


A pose in front of the huge AWESOME banner that my girls made for me with Aunt Angie.


Oh how this cheered me up whenever I looked at it from my bed....


Where I was...


Alone....


Bored....


For 17 DAYS!


Another shot of the hospital bound belly and body.


Looking hot.


And Small (ha!)


(26 Days before Gracie arrived)


No make-up for 17 days.


No hair dryer for 17 days.

Just a toothbrush, books, magazines, DVDs and Lion's Choice Orange Freeze (thanks Dad!)


It was ALL worth it.


Here is a pic a few minutes after she arrived.
Healthy.
Cute.
Tiny.
Perfect.

Every minute in that bed was worth the health of little Gracie.


It was, by far, the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. To not be with my girls for that long was PURE TORTURE. I hope no one has to experience that EVER in their life.

They didn't understand why Mommy wasn't at home or why different people each day were taking care of them, picking them up, dropping the off.

Sophie was so traumatized that ALL of her hair fell out.

Poor little thing.
All summer we got comment after comment on her cute hair.
People thought we styled it like this.
Would I style my 2 year old daughters hair like this?!


She didn't really act upset when I was in the hospital according to everyone who helped take care of my girls, but internally I guess it was too confusing and stressful for a little two year old.
Stress Induced Hair Loss.
Who knew there was such a thing?

The crazy hair was SO Sophie and we still can't imagine her with long hair.
It's finally getting there and it will be so neat to see how she changes as it grows!


After this experience I realize now just how important I am to them and how important they are to me.


I will never take for granted the little things I couldn't do with them.
Hold their hands.
Brush their hair.

Snuggle and watch cartoons.
Chit-chat about random nonsense that was important to us.

When I got home I will NEVER forget what impacted me the most.
It was the fact that when I left there were no leaves on any of the trees.
Only buds.
When I got into my house on May 2nd, all I could do was stare out my back windows at all the beautiful trees filled with LEAVES!
I had missed the leaves growing.
It was like I didn't exist those 17 days.
The world continued to move ahead, but I wasn't there to watch it.

Here are a few before and after pictures of our little tree in the front yard.
To remind myself of what I missed out on last year, I took photos of it as it was budding and then as it is growing it's leaves.
Something so beautiful that we all probably take for granted.
Until it was taken away from me, I never really thought twice about it.


Mia peeking around our little tree.
Barely budding it's new leaves.

Another picture of the girls and our tree.

A closer shot of the cute buds.




Here it is this morning!

Growing some PERFECTLY cute leaves.

So cute.

I am so thankful for my husband and three healthy little girls.

They have taught me so much about life and how to be THANKFUL for what I do have.

Not to dwell on what I don't.


My family is all I need.

(And maybe a few trees to watch as they grow their leaves.)





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marta,

Very awesome and sooo true!!! I am beyond happy that you and your family pulled through these trying times. Your are truly blessed with your family. thanks for sharing!!!

Maria Smith-Blac

Jules said...

Your new blog is super cute!!! Love the story. Can't imagine how slow those 17 days must have went. Just being in the hospital for four days with Janey was torture. Maybe I can blame Lulu's crazy hair on that??

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post and what a beautiful family you have!!

Beki - TheRustedChain said...

I hope you're proud of yourself, you just made me cry.

:)

Keri Secor said...

What a wonderful story! I to have an angel or should we say miracle baby. Long story, but she too has made me appreciate just how blessed I am and I cherish everything about her and her brother(he's my bonus child from God) I enjoy your blogs so much. Your a great writer. You should think of being an author.

 

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