Memory Lane

I recently spent some time looking at some old pictures - wow, what a trip down memory lane! I can barely remember those days - Catherine being born in Wellstar Cobb Hospital and then whisked away by ambulance to the Scottish Rite NICU (after I got five seconds to rub her cheek - by the way, I was so drugged from the C-section that I have no memory of seeing her in the transport incubator). Me being left in Cobb County to heal from my C-section. Robby driving back and forth across town to take care of his wife and daughter, hospitalized thirty miles apart.

Our first family portrait - can you tell how exhausted we were? We tried to stay in the NICU with Catherine as much as we could - 15 to 16 hours a day. She had so many nurses and doctors working with her, I was terrified that she would not know we were her parents. That she would think I was just one of many caretakers. For at least a year after she was born I frequently asked my friends and family "Do you think she knows I'm her mom?" That question seems so silly as "Mommy" is the most frequently spoken word in the house now. "Mommy read." "Mommy water." "Mommy swing." "Mommy puzzle." You get the idea. Catherine has learned my name.

Finally, we went home! I remember how much we hated those monitors and the dreaded NG tube! Now it seems like a blurry memory, but at the time I remember hating being in the NICU so much and the days being so long and stressful. We are grateful that Catherine received such fabulous care there and she was so little that she has no memory of it.