Holidays, Winter, and everything that comes with it

The holidays are here! I love the holidays.
I love visiting with family.
I love the spirit in the air
- the music - the lights - the movies -
It's all wonderful.

Except for one thing: It all happens during the winter.
The winter is stressful.
- cold - sickness - fevers -
It's all, for lack of a better word, sucky.

Preemie moms get it, mostly. The first winter home from the NICU is stressful trying to keep your baby from being re-hospitalized with colds, flu's, and many other things being spred around. They will need oxygen, suctioning, breathing is rough for a preemie with a cold. However, we are not in our first winter home. We are in our 3rd winter home. We should be done. But we're not. Sickness is still as scary to me as the first winter we were home. Sickness usually brings on a cold, which brings on a fever, which means Owen being hospitalized. The sicknesses that don't bring on fevers usually bring on coughs and stuffy noses, which bring on throwing up, which brings on feeding issues, which brings us to a screeching hault when it comes to increasing Owen's feeding rate and getting him off TPN. It's all a big circle.

Owen has been healthy so far, PRAISE GOD! But, I can't help but worry about it. It's in the back of my mind everytime he steps outside, everytime I'm feeling under the weather, everytime I hear a cough or a sniffle. Owen has come such a long way. I am so thankful for all he has overcome. I pray that he can overcome this winter without all the struggles that usually come. Since his last broviac was placed, on June 5th, he has been mostly healthy. He hasn't had a true line infection, he has only been hospitalized twice, his feeding rate is going up, and his TPN is getting lowered everytime we have a GI appointment. We are so excited about Owen's future.

So, as we prepare for Christmas, we try to prepare Owen for all the family outings. This year will be a rough one. We will be heading down to LA for Christmas to see all of Heath's family (YAY! - we haven't seen some of them for 2 years!) That trip will mean long days, lots of people, lots of germs and things he's not exposed to every day. So, say a little prayer that he stays healthy and is able to fight off sicknesses without hospitals. On top of that trip, when we get back home my brother and my sister will be staying in our house for at least a week. Another exciting, fun family time but also includes a lot of people, germs, and things he's not exposed to on a regular basis. Lots of prayer for Owen this holiday season :) We are hopeful that he will be able to enjoy it all while staying healthy! You can do it little man!