Sean spent the first 31 days of his life in the NICU after being born 8 weeks prematurely. When discussing this fact with people, I tell them that, that “Was the longest month of my life!” And I wholeheartedly believed that! That is, until Covid hit.
First, let me explain that leaving the hospital WITHOUT your baby is extremely difficult!!! But the difficulty was lessened a little bit because we could hold Sean for 20 minutes a day. He could not afford to be out of his incubator for longer than that. The only exception was if we (Sean and I) “Kangaroo Kare[d].”
A nurse in the NICU unit explained to to me the major benefits of doing this. She told me to wear a button down shirt to come see him at the hospital. All I had to do was tell them that I wanted to “Kangaroo Kare” with my baby and they would set up the screens to allow me privacy another nurse would get Sean.
I would lay back in the recliner as she put him on my chest in nothing but a diaper. The benefits are the skin to skin contact that I had with my baby. Moments after the nurse placed him on my chest, all of the numbers on the monitor completely stabilized. She told me that it was really good for the baby and me. I could do it as long as I wanted. I can still remember the feel of his little baby hair on my jaw as I felt all of his ribs under my left hand as I would fall asleep.
It has been just over one year since of quarantine in our house. Sean went back to work, I believe it was just before Mother’s Day of last year. I didn’t get to hug him last year and I never thought I would go long periods without hugging Sean ever again in my life!
As the pandemic got worse, Sean wouldn’t even come into our house in hopes of protecting me from this terrible virus. Last summer, we could talk with him sitting on my porch:
I was unable to attend any of his abridged graduation and instead, he came by the house:
This fact was extremely difficult for me having had put him through 12 years of Catholic education. But my Mom told me that there will be many more milestones and celebrations in Sean‘s life that I will be able to be a part of.
As the pandemic continued to rage on, the vaccines came onto the scene and I thought that when it was my turn, I could hug him again. I was fully vaccinated on April 1, 2021. My Mom was fully vaccinated on April 14, 2021. I remember sitting in my house on March 18, when I received my vaccine, and crying because I didn’t need to be afraid of dying anymore.
Sean received his second dose of the vaccine on May 10. So, this morning, he open the door to our house and commented, “ look at us! All maskless and stuff!“. And then this happened:
But before we could take this picture he wouldn’t stop making a face until my mom took a picture of this silliness:
Man, I love that kid!