WeePlanet

Don’t drive like my t-shirt, kiddo.  Or my brother.

Snap snap.  Time to slide me another shot down the booby bar.

Now that I’ve got my first shoes, I think I’ll run a few tracks ’round the lap.  Wait, is it subject-verb-object or object-verb-subject or … it’s hard to keep it all straight when I’m this sleeeepy.

Well, someone’s obviously found his niche.  I’m the one who’s torn; should I just sit here staring down at the kid on my lap, or blog about sitting here staring down at the kid on my lap?

Right now anyone who’s ever had a newborn for longer than four days is probably thinking:  what he should really be doing is taking a nap.  Check back with me in a few.

Hey, we’re home!  All three of us.  We arrived yesterday about 3:30 to a bit of a reception.

Grandpa Paul snapped some pictures before we got there of the neighbor kids preparing a welcome sign.

So very nice.  It felt wonderful to be back on the block.  We really have some fab neighbors, big and little.

In the last few years this block has suddenly turned into a marvelous place for kids.  We’re going to have to find a way to thank our neighbors for timing their procreation such that Jaiel has a great potential crop of friends and babysitters.  Very considerate of them to take us into account in this way.

Leaving the hospital was both joyful and sad.  We really do love the people at Pennsylvania Hospital and felt very watched over during this hospital stay.  I laughed when they moved AL up to her recovery room after the C-section and the nurse handed us a packet of information.  On top of the packet was a business card listing all of the neonatologists would would be overseeing Jaiel’s care.  Of the 10, there was only one who hadn’t cared for Javid as well.

We didn’t get to actually see all of them, but did get visits from a number of docs and nurses.  We also stopped by the Intensive Care Nursery, Javid’s home for so many months, on our way out.

I was hit and miss with the camera (I now regret being less aggressive!), but managed to snap a few shots of friends at Pennsy.

Dr. Sam Garber’s arms plus much of the rest of him

Dr. Kelly Wade, who cared for Javid at both Pennsy and CHOP

Nurse Sara, who often checks in on the blog.  :-)

Two of Javid’s primary nurses weren’t working while we were there (be prepared, Caryn and Nicole, we will be bringing Jai back to meet you), but we were so happy Jai got to see three of the women who took such great care of his older brother.

Nurse Jill and husband Derrick

Nurse Tania

Nurse Patti

We were so struck during our months accompanying Javid at Pennsylvania Hospital by the commingling of professional expertise of the hospital staff and, as we call it in therapy world jargon, their emotional presence.  This time too we experienced the benefits of doctors and nurses who both cared for us medically and walked beside us as human beings.

There were many differences this time, of course.  Here we had people trained to care for the smallest and most fragile of all, focusing their attention and concern on our practically full-term son.  I joked to Dr. Garber that it felt like the SWAT team had been called out to rescue a kitten.

One difference hit me the second day while changing a diaper.  The early poop, called meconium, is black and has the consistency of tar.  When I took off his diaper it yanked at Jaiel’s skin and he howled.  Remembering Javid, I worried about the skin tearing.  So at the next opportunity I asked the nurse if they had any protective cream.  She replied that they didn’t normally stock it since it usually wasn’t necessary.

Javid popped out so early he was born literally without skin, covered by a permeable membrane that would only later dry out and toughen into true epidermis.  Jaiel baked long enough to come out ready to be–within reason of course–pulled at and prodded.

We imagine meeting Jaiel may have pulled at and prodded various emotions in Javid’s caregivers.  Here we were plopping our healthy baby into the very same arms that held our dear-but-very-sick first child.

We sensed at times ongoing sadness at Javid’s passing–which reminded us again of why we so appreciate these people.  That the same folks who loved and grieved for Javid responded overwhelmingly with joy at this new birth felt like only the latest in a long line of gifts.

Who knows how we will ever communicate it to him in a way that he can understand.  But at least as we experienced it, when we drove away from Pennsylvania Hospital toward West Philadelphia we were simply moving from one home to another.  And that seems like an awfully nice way to welcome a little baby into the world.

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