This is our son. His name is Corwin. He was born last November 8, 2011.
It was a rough delivery, and Corwin was born with transient tachypnea of the newborn and pneumonia. He spent his first week of life in the neonatal ICU. He was on IV, and was hooked to so many monitors. There were two instances when he stopped breathing and turned blue, so he had to be put on oxygen, too. It ripped at me something fantastic to see my son that way.
That week was an exercise in learning how many different ways a heart could break, and how many ways it can mend. Because despite it all, my son smiled within the first hour of his birth. And he has smiled at us every single day since. We have such a happy baby. We’ve also had a stunning show of love and support from family and friends everywhere to draw comfort and strength from, and we are so grateful. I’m happy to say our little one is doing well now, and has gained over a pound and grown 4 centimeters since then.
He’s a month old today. I am at a loss for words to express just how happy he makes us. We never planned on having children, but now that Corwin’s here, we can’t imagine life any other way. Jeff has been such an amazing dad from day one, and has been my rock through it all. We’ve had three full weeks at home now. We’ve barely slept all month and this parenting business is harder than we thought, but it’s been nothing short of wonderful. Watching the two of them sleeping next to me has quickly become one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. And waking up to find our little boy trying to talk to me in grunts and squeaks with his face inches away from mine is the best. thing. ever.
Dear sweet little boy, you’re such a tough, resilient little cookie, and mommy’s so proud of you. This month, you liked owls, the color blue, and smelled like pancake batter. You started raising your head on your own during your first week, and you’ve recently taken to thwapping your toys around to make them move. I dread the day when you stop smelling like a newborn because I’ve gotten rather attached to it, but I know it’s only going to get better. You’ve given us your entire life to look forward to.
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