Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

(I have a years worth of pictures to show ya'll...consider yourselves warned)

The day we met.

Many moons ago, we got to meet this tiny "microchip".  He's about 2lbs in this picture.  Completely beautiful. Amazingly tiny.  Frighteningly small.  He appeared so fragile..yet so perfectly formed.

 I honestly had no idea what to expect when I walked into his hospital room.  I was a nervous wreck and I was actually used to being in hospitals at this point (remember the whole "premed" thing?).  We were told he only had a 50% chance of survival...or "prognosis unknown" or something wild like that.  My goal was to go there and advocate for him.  To be there for him when no one else could.  I figured I was pretty bossy and could get the job done, right?

The Micro at 27 weeks gestation.

28 weeks gestation

What I didn't realize was how completely and utterly in love I would fall and how quickly that bond would attach.  We still didn't even know if we would bring him to our home at this point. What I did know was that my heart would be shattered into a million pieces if anything happened to this precious, tiny, miraculous little boy.

The boys came to meet him.  Look at the way he his staring at Noah.  

29 weeks

 I decided to take a picture of him with his giraffe every week.  

With Justin, 30-ish weeks

 Look at his tiny arm.  (I know I keep using the word tiny...I just can't think of a better way to describe him!)

With Daddy.

With E.  31 weeks

 Around 32 weeks (3ish pounds), we were able to put clothes on him for the first time.  I wasn't sure if it made him look like a "real" baby or more like a doll.  It was soccer season, though, so we had to sport the right attire.

 At 34 weeks, the Micro got very sick.  You, my faithful readers, know all about that.  His little body was so puffy because of the infection and the medications he was receiving.  These pictures are still hard for me to look at.  Takes my breath away to think how close we were to losing him.

Elijah was finally old enough to visit!

 3 weeks later he was finally off the ventilator and still as puffy as can be.  I mean, LOOK at those cheeks.

 Another week later, around 38 weeks (2 weeks before his original due date) and he finally started looking like a "normal" baby.  That and the swelling was going down.  This is right before our CPR class which (as you know) came in pretty handy a few weeks later.

And his first night home.  Goodness Miley looks like such a baby!  And in case you're wondering, she still hovers around her baby brother.