I realized tonight, after watching my growing collection of Hallie videos, that as parents of a preemie, we share a unique gift that parents of full-term babies will never have:
We have a few extra weeks to watch the miracle of our daughter’s growth.
It is something that sneaks up on me. I loved to spend time just watching her at the nursery. Just watching was enough.
But now she’s becoming more and more aware of our being there. The nurses tell us that her eyes are wide open every morning at 8, which is right about the time we arrive for our morning visits. A few days ago, we were pleasantly surprised to see her waiting for us in the morning. I came by again that afternoon to see her waiting for me again.
There is nothing cooler than that. Nothing.
Now she expects us to visit. She looks forward to them, as do we. And it would break my heart to let her down.
So even though we may watch her grow a little more than a full-term baby, it’s still so very tough to leave our daughter.