Hello!

We got home late last night and spent most of it trying to unpack, doing laundry, etc. Julien as SUCH a good boy on the plane and throughout the entire airport. Julien stole the hearts of the flight attendants on Delta and one of them shared her NICU story with me as I waited for the restroom. The flight attendant told me that her daughter was born where the flap that opens and closes to her stomach remained shut all the time, therefore food couldn’t pass into the stomach. Essentially, her daughter was starving since she couldn’t get any food to pass through. The more people we meet and the more people we talk to, the less alone we feel. There are SO many kids born with varying degrees of “injury” and I’ve met so many moms with traumatic birth stories eager to share…..to let it all out. It’s like they have kept it all bottled up inside and they are just waiting for another woman to share it with—one who understands and can empathize in a way that few others can. When we got ready to deplane, all the passengers stared at him like he was some type of zoo animal. Either they have never seen a baby before or they were extremely impressed that Julien didn’t cry on the plane and drive them crazy. Everyone’s sanity was left in tact yesterday.

Sometimes I feel like we are all just walking though a daze of some sort and if we aren’t now, we will be at some point in our lives. The last 11 weeks have been the hardest and the most rewarding days of our lives all at the same time. When As soon as we walked through he door to our house, Julien cracked and started a full blown meltdown. Ironic.

He has been doing great since we left Mexico and he is excited to be back to his familiar surroundings complete with all his toys and his dog Miso. We can tell Miso missed him too (he was staying at my parents house). Miso has been laying right next to Julien and laying on his blanket as if to protect “HIS” baby and to welcome him home:) Julien is happy to be home but misses all the friends that he made in Mexico. The medical staff there has been calling and texting us today to see how he is doing and if he made it through the flight ok. They have been so wonderful and we miss them dearly already!

Time to get some rest:)

Kenneth, Patricia & Julien