Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time
Their chests squeezed with all their might
To inhale life











Once upon a time
Their livers erratically managed
To maintain their lives

Once upon a time
Their bodies seemed amazingly and wrongly
Too small





Once upon a time
Their mommy cursed her body and its inability
To sustain their lives

Once upon a time
Their tiny toothpick sized fingers wrapped
Themselves around my gigantic pointer finger

Once upon a time
Her eyes could not yet open
To see the world around her

Once upon a time
Her skin and eyes glowed so pumpkin orange
That she needed phototherapy

Once upon a time
Her heart rate flatlined and a team of doctors and nurses
Rushed to save her life

Once upon a time
A central line required her first hair cut
To save her life

Once upon a time
A generous blood donor donated O negative blood
To tranfuse the life back into her body three times

Once upon a time
Monitors measured breaths, heart rates, and temperatures
To alert their nurses of their vitals

Once upon a time
We spent long hours bedside at their incubators
To never miss set backs or much desired progress






















Once upon a time
Praying for progress and hoping for miracles
Was a minute-by-minute ritual

Once upon a time
We experienced jealousy at what should have been
Even though it felt wrong to have that emotion

Once upon a time
Precious babies around our girls
Earned angels wings

Once upon a time
We thanked God for each new CC added
That didn't result in a residual or stopping feeding

Once upon a time
We praised the miracle of modern science
As apnea monitors blared in the dark of night
















Once upon a time
We had daily homework of OT, PT, and speech therapy
To make sure their bodies worked right

Once upon a time
We were forced to become members of a NICU club we did not want
To join

But with time and acceptance
We've learned that our former preemies
Are miracles who still need our special protection and love

And a NICU reunion reminds us that we are
Life time members of that NICU club who will always know
That former preemies will always be preemies inside and out and do not just catch up