Tiny Baby

I was able to visit a woman this past Saturday who gave birth on Thursday to a beautiful 2lb 2oz baby girl. Mom has been in the hospital on bedrest for preeclampsia for about 3 weeks, I believe. It was wonderful to be able to support her in person and she was crying tears of appreciation when K and I arrived, she was just so thankful. Mom and dad are so proud of their little one and rightly so. She is beautiful. We were lucky enough to see her and she's got the cutest little nose. K's daughter was born roughly the same gestation and spent time in the same NICU, so for her this was a normal baby. For me, while Ariana was small at 4lbs, it took some time to wrap my mind around that this baby is half the size she was.

We sat and chatted with mom and dad for a while and mom wanted us to meet some of her nurses. Or rather, her nurses meet us. ;-) It was great to see how our support has made such a large difference in this family's life. Over and over they thanked us. She kept saying she'd find a way to repay us, but we told her to pay it forward. We were happy to be there for her, as there was no one like that for us when we went through our experience.

As we left, K and I agreed that this was what it's all about. Raising awareness and finding the cause & a cure for preeclampsia is important, but supporting families who are in crisis is where it's at. Honestly it reminded me a great deal of the work I did as a sexual assault advocate. To support the person when others cannot understand. I find a great deal of similarities between the two and it has helped me with the work I have done and am doing.

So, please send good thoughts to baby. She's doing great, but can use all the good thoughts possible.