Comments for Thoughts and Ruminations

Comment on Holy moments… by cl25conf

cl25conf — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:49:34 +0000

So glad Hannah is home. Praise God!

Comment on In honor of the (de)evolution of story and Christmas, I bring you… by America, worship your God « Thoughts and Ruminations

America, worship your God « Thoughts and Ruminations — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:06:09 +0000

[...] a different shade of the same habit, we have recast St. Nicholas completely in our cultural image, ascribed to him God-like qualities, and religiously sung and spoken of our mythical cultural [...]

Comment on Holy moments… by Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:53:59 +0000

Bill,

It’s been a long time in responding, but I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your story. It’s always wonderful to hear stories of God’s great power and people’s wonderful courage. Thank you for the reminder that God is beside us and with us. Hannah will be coming home today, which we are very excited/terrified about!

Nathan

Comment on I hope by kelly

kelly — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:13:13 +0000

I know your exact sentiment. I always thought it was so crazy when nurses would be appreciative and thank us for wanting to learn, asking questions, keeping track of meds, knowing the routine changing diapers, feeding, bathing, and “making their job easy”. As you’ve implied and to us as well, it seemed obvious that was actually our job as parents to do those things. Almost every time we walked into our 26 bed NICU empty of parents, we wondered, “Where the heck is everyone?” We had to constantly remind ourselves that not everyone gets FMLA; many people make an hourly wage and can’t afford to be here as much as we are; and sometimes people have other kids’ routines to maintain and even live in other towns. Yet still, we couldn’t help but think that we’d give anything to let our babies live. We cherished every single second. Who could be so cavalier to not even show up at the bedside?
Loneliest day in the NICU- believe it or not- Easter Sunday. Us and three Hispanic families out of 26 total beds. (-Just further strengthening my respect for the Hispanic community.) That was it. All day. Really? (I shouldn’t have gone there, but I couldn’t help it…) Really? Easter egg hunts? Big dinners? Easter Sunday festivities? Not for us, nope, we were stuck on Good Friday for quite some time. (Although I must say, now, three healthy babies make every day like Easter Sunday! As it should be!)

Toward the end of our stay we had one particular little neighbor named Angel. She had hydrocephaly, and just looking at her made me nearly sob. She was all alone for her first 5 days!! She was not in a incubator, so she was just sitting there on display in the center of the NICU with her big scared eyes. (The condition made her look even more afraid.) She hardly slept and never cried. It even seemed like the nurses had unusually little interaction with her. After so long, it’s hard not to wonder and even judge. Was she unwanted because of her condition? We worried about her like we worried about our own. We prayed that someone would come for her. Heck, we prayed and wondered if we were supposed to adopt her! First thing on that Saturday morning, her Dad and two brothers were at her bedside excitedly telling her all about how mommy was still a little sick and couldn’t leave their local hospital and that her twin sister was doing great. They were going crazy telling her how much they loved her and missed her. Then dad started bringing in the parade of grandparents, aunts and uncles. Whew! What a relief! A sick mom AND a twin! That explains everything! I hope some of your neighbors’ stories end like this one.

Comment on I hope by Steph Troyer

Steph Troyer — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:20:02 +0000

Nathan, this was beautiful. You are a talented writer. I believe that your experience with Hannah is touching the nurses in a deep way. I know they have experienced other miracles and other tragedies in the NICU. But God’s hand has clearly been on her in a significant way. I think the nurses take courage and strength from parents like you and Bethany who are at the hospital all the time, who are deeply invested in all that is going on with their child, parents who are selfless and can see past the extreme difficulty of their situation and offer a kind word to the nurse. You guys are the type of parents that the nurses draw strength from as they deal with the drug babies and their parents.

Comment on I hope by Brenda Harrison Gentry

Brenda Harrison Gentry — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:10:52 +0000

That’s awesome Nate…brought tears to my eyes. Just so you know this inspired me to contact my local hospital and sign up to be a volunteer to hold babies. You paint an insider’s view into a world too many of us don’t know anything about.

Comment on Protected: Rooted in reality, stepping forward in faith: leadership of VC by Dana Boll

Dana Boll — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:30:29 +0000

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Comment on Protected: Rooted in reality, stepping forward in faith: leadership of VC by Dave Nixon

Dave Nixon — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:52:45 +0000

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Comment on Protected: Rooted in reality, stepping forward in faith: leadership of VC by Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:40:58 +0000

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Comment on Protected: Rooted in reality, stepping forward in faith: leadership of VC by Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:33:05 +0000

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