Andy was able to take a half-day on Friday to bring Will home as a family. So I spent most of the morning tying up loose ends at the NICU and doing last-minute preparations to bring Will home. Sadly, I finally installed the carseat base that morning! Nothing like waiting till the last minute! ;) This is how I found our sweet Will that morning:
Suppose we're happy to be packing him up and taking him home?!
A partial family photo in the NICU -- John was waiting just outside with Gramma and Gramps:
We had to take a picture with our favorite nurse, Kristie! She took such good care of Will and was such a BIG advocate for her TINY little patient! :) We thank God for her:
William Mark -- all strapped in and ready to roll!
Big Brother John waiting outside... I absolutely love this photo!!
Grampa and John's reactions when we first brought John out of the NICU:
Dada introducing John to Will:
Once we were all packed in the car, we realized we couldn't get a photo of all four of us, so here's one of our chauffeur:
And here's one of my boys and me stuffed in the backseat:
Will wearing his bonnet home... Yes, it's a bonnet. And yes, Andy will probably harass me for putting it in here. ;) But it's a Bergman family tradition to wear it home from the hospital. Let me explain -- my Mom made it from a handkerchief, and on Will's wedding day, his bride can use it as her hanky and her "something old." There's a sweet poem that tells the story (posted at the end of this). All the Bergman kids and grandkids have one, and each of us kids used ours in our weddings...
The "Welcome Home" sign that John made for Little Brother (with Gramma's help, of course! Thanks again, Gram!)
When we got home, we tried to see if John would hold Will -- he was curious at first, but quickly got freaked out. So we'll wait until he has a chance to warm up to him to try that again! ;)
Man oh man, life is GOOD! It feels so right to have him home and simply be able to hold him while sitting on our couch -- it's the little things in life, ya know?
Our first family photo as a family of FOUR! (It was past nap-time for John, can you tell?) ;)
We are beyond excited to finally have Will home! He had SUCH good care while in the NICU, for which we are so very grateful, but it's just so good to have him home. Now it finally feels right! (And now the sleepless nights begin, ha!) Thank you again to everyone for your prayers, support, love, and encouragement. All of the prayers, rosaries, and Mass intentions sure went a long way -- we can't thank you enough! We have the absolute best family and friends -- we love y'all!
Well that gets us all caught up with Will's NICU adventures! :) I originally planned to post about each day as it happened, but I quickly realized that spending the majority of your days at the hospital (or back and forth, trying to spend time with John as well), takes a lot more time and energy than I realized. It really made me feel for the poor moms and dads we met who have kiddos who had been in the NICU for 4-6 weeks already (one mom's baby had been there 13 weeks, bless her heart!)... we were lucky to have had only 3 weeks there! It also made for a ton of posts, but I simply wanted to document it for our family's sake. :) Thanks again and God bless!
Love,
Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Wayne-Dog :)
The aforementioned poem:
I'm just a little hanky as square as square can be
But with a stitch or two they make a bonnet out of me.
I'll be worn home from the hospital or on that special day,
Then I'll be neatly pressed and carefully tucked away.
For her wedding day, so we've been told
Every well-dressed bride must have something old.
So what could be more fitting than to find little me?
A few stitches snipped and a wedding hanky I'll be.
And if perhaps it is a boy, someday he'll surely wed,
So to his bride he can present the hanky once worn upon his head.
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