Tip: Don't do your 'firsts' in a NICU

On the third of July, 2008,
At St. Lukes in Meridian City
Ethan was born, and the stories began...
‘Bout the boy who was not ‘itty-bitty’.

So ‘you’ are the Mom of the baby just born?
Eleven stout pounds, and 4 ounces.
A boy too heavy to set on your knee,
For he weighs too much when he bounces!

As BIG as he was, he was not breathing well.
So off to the NICU he went,
And there he would stay for 12 lengthy days,
Till his release was finally sent.

Room 334 was his home for those days,
The longest 12 days of my life.
How happy were we when they said: ‘he was free’
For our family had weathered the strife.

Every baby has first’s, that we often share
But for Ethan, it wasn’t much fun.
Cause most of his first’s were something that we…
Would rather had never been done:

His first day on Oxygen under a tent,
The first I.V. in his arm.
The first little tube that went in his nose
The first time he rang an alarm.

The first time they told us that we’d have to leave
The PICC line, the first in his vein.
The first time we had to walk out the door,
Knowing well…that our son was in pain!

The first time we had...to leave, and go home
Without our son in the car.
The first time you realize that ‘just a few miles’
Was immeasurably distant and far!

The first time I washed my hands in the sink,
And the hundreds of times I’ve washed hence.
The first time I held him - his tubes and his wires
And the many times I’ve held him since.

The first time we cried, the first time we smiled.
The first time he opened his eyes.
The first time we got a call from the nurse,
The many times we heard his cries.

The first time they gave him a drop of sucrose
To calm him when he was in pain.
The first time we questioned our ‘state of the mind’
And wondered if we were still sane.

The first time we watched another Mom leave
And the next, and the next, then another.
How the jealous heart wished time and again
It was I, with my son and his Mother.

But God gave us grace, and we finally went home
With our son in his little car seat.
And we’re thankful to God for the nurses and doctors
And their part... in this healing feat.

Too many to list, but Ethan insists, that...
At least we should give it a try
To thank each of you for the jobs that you did
In caring, for our little guy.

For though it was rough for patient and parent
You’re all great at that...which you do.
And it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t say...
To each of you: “Thank-you, Thank-you”!


******

Thanks to all the Doctor’s and Nurses at
St. Lukes Meridian NICU for caring for our son
during his 12 day stay in the Hospital.

Clint, Rose, Graciela, and of course, Ethan