Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Reunion

Hey folks!

This is Nick. Today was pretty cool. Brittney and I volunteered to help out at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Reunion (follow the link to the event page, where a few have shared really moving stories about their time in the NICU) at the Children's Hospital at the Sacred Heart in Pensacola. It was a pretty simple gig, I was dressed up as the Cat in the Hat and I read children's books to... well, children. I look at it as a good thing to do and training for when little Eloise is born. Everyone there was so great. There was a girl named Addy Beth who kept jumping in my lap and giving me breathtaking hugs. If you get a chance to go next year, you should go. If you are able, volunteer in whatever way you can.

Brittney and me as Betty-Lou Who and The Cat in the Hat.

The morning flew by and became a bit of a blur, but here's what stood out to me:

The kids were adorable, everyone volunteering was just bristling with life and warm-hearted deeds. There were kids volunteering as Thing 1,Thing 2, the Lorax and one of the Whos. All and all it was a glorious time. It really makes you take a moment to think about all those little things we probably take for granted each day- health, the ability to walk, communicating with those around us. I've always seen doing things like this as just the right thing to do, but now as an upcoming father I'm starting to see things differently. I saw a little toddler walking around with fluid attached to her belly through a tube. I turned my back and heard her trip and knock it over. Her parents were with her and it looked as though everything were okay, but that's got to suck. That could be our little Eloise someday. Whatever ailment or disorder that child has could just as easily be had by my child. I'm freaking out already about having a child, but these parents have so much more going on than I could ever know. I wish them all the best and pray for the health of their little one... and mine.

Thing 1, Thing 2 and the world's most adorable Lorax.

On the flip side of the story, though, each child with some disorder or impairment seemed to be having such a blast. They're still kids after all. I was reading a story to a girl who seemed not to have the function of her legs for some reason. The company I work for, the Early Learning Coalition of Okaloosa Walton Counties, had given me books to hand out to the children I read to. Spotting these books made this little girl's eyes light up. She dragged herself across the carpets the other children were sitting on and grabbed the book she wanted to read- some Disney thing about stuffed animals that is apparently a TV show- and just started flipping through the pages as if there were nothing noteworthy or impressive about what she had just done. She had fun, it seems. 

Smaller Things 1 and 2!

I was reading One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish and a young girl with some sort of autism- I don't know exactly and I didn't ask, but based on other children I've known to have it, this seemed to be similar- who knew every word of the book. I would leave words out and she'd call them out. Soon, all the other kids started following her lead. This seemed to make her happy.

Two Whos in a pod? Nah, that one doesn't work.

I hope to have a healthy baby. That's all I want in this world right now. But these kids today proved that regardless of what happens, my child will be loved and Eloise can be happy no matter what. I may have read the kids a bunch of stories and worn a cat suit today, but it was them that did me the service. If I can, I'll be going back next year. I hope I see you there.

Trying her best to pose, but needing Mommy's help!

See ya!


PS- be sure to thank Brittney for the pictures, because I, as usual, did not take any and have stolen hers for this- that's why she's in almost every bloody one of them! Here's the rest!