There were so many wonderful things that came out of our time in the UAMS NICU. While there we fell in love with our baby and knew for the rest of our lives we would do anything for her happiness. Encountering so many families that were struggling made us appreciate our own situation; we realized that we had it pretty good. Ryan and I learned that our marriage grew stronger in times of crisis and it brought out the best in us instead of the worst. The best thing we encoutered was the kindness of others. Nurses gave us tissues when we could not hold back the tears, doctors hugged our necks and shared in our victories, volunteers from Ryan's squadron brought us meal upon meal, perfect strangers sent us emails and words of encouragement through our blog. We also had a neat surprise the day Avery came off the ventilator. Crystal Goss, a local photographer, volunteers her time and talents to take pictures of NICU babies and she offered to take Avery's picture. As you will see below Ryan and I were totally unprepared - he still looks in shock and I look so tired. But the good news is the pictures were not about us they were about Avery Beth. So why are we just now seeing these pictures you ask? Crystal already had one child born prematurely (this explains her interest in photographing preemies!) and was put on bedrest with her second pregnancy shortly after she took Avery Beth's picture. The March of Dimes preparations reminded me I never received these pictures and I found the name of the photographer and gave her a call. As it turns out her family is the March of Dimes Ambassador Family for Arkansas this year! I have been checking my email inbox almost hourly since we talked - I am so excited to share these!
There were so many wonderful things that came out of our time in the UAMS NICU. While there we fell in love with our baby and knew for the rest of our lives we would do anything for her happiness. Encountering so many families that were struggling made us appreciate our own situation; we realized that we had it pretty good. Ryan and I learned that our marriage grew stronger in times of crisis and it brought out the best in us instead of the worst. The best thing we encoutered was the kindness of others. Nurses gave us tissues when we could not hold back the tears, doctors hugged our necks and shared in our victories, volunteers from Ryan's squadron brought us meal upon meal, perfect strangers sent us emails and words of encouragement through our blog. We also had a neat surprise the day Avery came off the ventilator. Crystal Goss, a local photographer, volunteers her time and talents to take pictures of NICU babies and she offered to take Avery's picture. As you will see below Ryan and I were totally unprepared - he still looks in shock and I look so tired. But the good news is the pictures were not about us they were about Avery Beth. So why are we just now seeing these pictures you ask? Crystal already had one child born prematurely (this explains her interest in photographing preemies!) and was put on bedrest with her second pregnancy shortly after she took Avery Beth's picture. The March of Dimes preparations reminded me I never received these pictures and I found the name of the photographer and gave her a call. As it turns out her family is the March of Dimes Ambassador Family for Arkansas this year! I have been checking my email inbox almost hourly since we talked - I am so excited to share these!
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