The Little Glow Worm

Best news of the morning?

When I walked into special care this morning, this was on Thomas's wall...and then I turned to find his bubble out of the room! He was in a crib!!

I can't tell you how happy this made me. I slept soundly most of the night, except for the bonding time with the pump every three hours. I was wide awake at 5, like normal, and walked by myself for the first time to the nursery.

The night before, I was exhausted. Jonathan tucked me in and reminded me how important it was to rest and take care of myself...but leaving the nursery each time was harder and harder. He was heading home to get a good night's sleep and I would be on my own for the night.

My amazing husband set up his laptop on the sofa in our room, and set up a slideshow of all of Thomas's photos to scroll through while I was sleeping. Each time I woke up to bond with the pump, I could see his little face looking back at me...even if he was away from me in special care.

I sat in the hospital bed with tears in my eyes, and decided to check my voicemail. One of the first messages was my mom, and she said she just needed to leave me this message. She was singing "You light up my life"...which was what she sang to me as a baby when I they brought me home. She sang it to me all the time...and 31 years later, she's singing it to me as I'm hoping to bring my little one home.

So this morning at five a.m., Thomas and I spent an hour together. He curled up in my arms and went to sleep...and I sang to him, just like Mom sang to me.

"You light up my life, you give me hope, to carry on....you light up my days, and fill my nights, with song..."

It was just what we needed.

Later in the morning, my Aunt Sue came down and we headed to special care to feed him. As we were waiting for Thomas to be ready, the chaplain came by special care and brought me the Eucharist. It was an incredible gift to be able to have His presence in the nursery with us as a family. The chaplain shared that his granddaughter had previously been in special care for 10 days, and that she was doing very well. A great reassurance to the top notch care that our little one has had from the moment he was brought into the nursery.

During feeding, I learned that Thomas is an awesome little sucker, even if I don't have much to give him yet. This was post-feeding...doesn't he look snuggly and happy?

With his snuggliness came jaundice, so now he's under light treatment to improve. He is our little glow worm.

He gets treatment from below and from a special light blanket that's placed over him.

I am scheduled to be released tomorrow, and at this point, the glow worm is here for another few days. The great thing about his light treatment? He'll continue to get antibiotics to help his respiratory problems improve at the same time.

Jonathan, Mom and I are scheduled to check into Providence's Sunshine House tomorrow, so we can stay near him after I'm not a patient in the hospital any longer.

Providence, their nursing staff and doctors have been nothing short of amazing. They are our angels. I cannot give them enough praise - as they have helped make this entire experience so smooth. And little Thomas loves his nursing staff...for which Jonathan and I are so grateful.

Please keep us in your prayers over the next few days - for his strength and hopeful return home -- sooner rather than later!