Movin' right along......
Don't forget, next Sunday is the March of Dimes walk! Anyone who is interested in taking a walk with Mr. Omi, is more than welcome to do so.
So, Omi had a few more doctors appointments. Yeah, I know, Omi had a doctors appointment? Really?
He had his last round of RSV shots, so that's done. We can start being a bit more social with him soon instead of being paranoid and keeping him in the house all the time. The kid has to get all germy sometime right?
He had a couple of developmental follow ups, and the doctors and therapists were pleased with how he is doing. He's either right where he should be or a little ahead in all areas. Go Omi! And, he's 12.7lbs now. He's finally starting to feel like something when we pick him up now.
Everyone keeps commenting on how good his head looks. Most of the people we see say that they can spot a preemie a mile away due to their head shape, but they say they would never guess he was a preemie aside from being small for his age.
So a big thank you to the NICU staff for turning him on a regular basis so that his head didn't come out looking like a stop sign.
Speaking of the NICU, Omi made a visit to the good people there to say hi. (And admittedly for us to show him off a bit.)
He got lots of hugs and kisses from his Homeys and got plenty of attention, which he just loves.
You know, it's long overdue for us to say so, but the people at the NICU at St. Luke's are some of the best people we have ever had the pleasure to meet and deserve some props.
I can't even begin to describe what they have meant to us during this entire ordeal.
They kept us sane through the whole process, and more importantly, they kept Omi alive and safe. They are part medical professionals, part counselors.
It's tough to explain to people what it was like to be there every day, and not be able to do much for your child than cheer them on and hope for the best.
The NICU understands how scary it is for the parents because they live and see it every day. It was the toughest experience we have ever gone through, and they made a really emotional and terrifying time tolerable.
We spent almost four months at the NICU at St. Luke's and we can honestly say we don't have a single complaint about the way anything went. The level of care for Omi was second to none and we were always treated with the utmost kindness, compassion and respect by every single person on the staff.
Omi was able to thrive there due to the hard work of a group of extremely talented, smart and caring individuals.
These people love what they do, and it shows.
It's an extremely difficult job, and we were in constant awe that there are people that dedicated with the knowledge, training and the willingness to take on the most harrowing situations head on the way they do.
Seriously, these people go to work every day to save the lives of babies. I can't think of a more noble profession.
They were always there to answer every single question we had, no matter how minor, and explain it in understandable terms. If they didn't know an answer; they would go find out. They were always in constant communication with us if something changed with Omi or needed to be addressed.
I had at least one conversation with a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner every single day just to inform me of what was going on with Omi that day, and what the course of action was.
Nurses and Respiratory Therapists were always available to answer questions and give updates whenever we called. There was never a moment where we weren't in the loop, or didn't know what was going on.
These people earned our complete trust through their obvious skills and effective communication. I don't know how many times where Omi would have some sort of complication and we stood there and watched as one of them jumped in without batting an eye and saved his life. They always knew exactly what to do, and could explain to us what just happened.
And let's not overlook the fact that they are just all around genuinely nice people. We truly enjoyed the company of the staff while we were there. Even when times were rough, we always seemed to find something to at least smile about. We might have been down at times, but because of the staff, we never felt like there was no hope.
It takes a certain type of person to do the jobs they all do, and we have the utmost respect for everyone there. They are our heroes, and largely, due to being isolated from public view, their good deeds go unnoticed and unsung.
It also seems to largely be a thankless job, which is unfortunate, because without them, Omi would not have survived. There is never a guarantee of a storybook outcome. In certain cases, children do die. It's never for the lack of effort, but sometimes it does happen.
I can't imagine the stress of having to fearlessly walk in to work every day, and deal with the potential on a daily basis. Luckily, the good stories far outweigh the bad. We commend them for their strength and perseverance.
Unless you've been in one, nobody thinks about what a NICU is, or what they do, and until a couple of months ago, we had no idea what really went on in a NICU.
It's amazing things they can do, and the tragedies and triumphs they see on a daily basis is truly beyond description unless you witness it for yourself.
To top it off; they are so humble about it. We never encountered any huge egos, and they were always quick to give credit to the child, less take any credit themselves.
We know some of the staff reads the blog, and we just wanted again to extend a huge thank you to everyone there and let them know that we thank them every day that we were able to take Omi home, and that he's doing great due to the hard work they did.
Because of these things, the staff at St. Luke's NICU will always have our utmost respect, gratitude and admiration.
All we asked for when Omi was born was that he had a chance to survive. Just a chance; we knew there were no guarantees. They not only gave him the chance to live, they worked tirelessly to make sure that he did.
We feel extremely fortunate that Omi was in the care of such good and intelligent people.
Omi has no idea what this amazing group of people did for him, but when he's old enough to understand; we can assure you that he will.
St. Luke's NICU did one hell of a good job.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, PICS!!!!!!!!
