We are on a journey that many others have been on before us. I am inspired and encouraged by all of their stories, each one offering a unique perspective, each one very different. The common thread is the joy that each of their babies have bestowed upon their families. It mattered not if these children lived only in utero, a few minutes after birth, several days, weeks or years. They are all beautiful, all gifts. I saw a great quote awhile back in a book I was given:
“Babies are like flowers. Some bloom for a whole season, some bloom for a day. But would a gardener even think of pulling out his daylilies because they last such a short time?”
– Mother Teresa
In the same way that each of the families of babies with T18 have offered hope, I wish to keep that torch lit and pass that encouragement on to those who embark on this journey after us. This is not anything easy to go through, but it is SO WORTH IT!!! There is no way you can possibly imagine what is to be, so enjoy your TODAYS. God will take care of the rest!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4)
Morning sun bathing
A wink and a smile
Nora had a great day today! Lots of morning snuggles with Mommy and several rock star feeding sessions! Here is a quick video of Nora placing an order for some milkies.
This afternoon we paid a visit to Dr.Bolling for a weight check. {Drum Roll, please!} Miss Nora Rose weighed in at a robust 5 lbs., 2 ½ oz!! We are so very proud of her!!!
This evening we had our first official family outing up to Gavin and Greta’s school to see the school play. Of course Nora, who is usually so content, did not take a liking to the dark gymnasium or the loud sounds. She lasted for all of about 5 minutes before she loudly alerted me that it was time to go. William stayed behind with the kids while I gathered up our belongings and set off down the precarious array of bleacher steps. As if I weren’t drawing enough distraction away from the play with a screaming newborn in my arms, my feet surmised that it was the perfect opportunity to take a wrong step. I quickly caught my balance as a collective gasp emerged from the distracted audience.
“Clumsy Mother tripping down the bleachers with a newborn and an oxygen tank, played by Aleisa Yusko”
(crickets)
Despite the near catastrophe, it was good to get out of the living room to somewhere other than a doctor’s office or the hospital! Even if we did spend it in the school lobby. After the play was over we did see some friends and staff who hadn’t yet met little Nora. I was so excited to show her off!
Here we are back home nestled back into our comfortable surroundings – no bleacher steps to worry about here! Tonight is our first night back to Mommy & Daddy night shifts. We’ve been so spoiled all week with our sweet and generous nurse friends who have come to cuddle with Nora while we got some much needed rest! Hopefully we don’t get so tired that we start ordering infomercial products over the phone at 4am, (William) (!!!)
iwillcarryyou 
Oh, tears and smiles as I watch your little one! She is such a dear 🙂 And such a good eater!
Oh I love it! Girl went to town on that bottle! Her cheeks look a little fuller even from Monday! Good job girlie girl! Um…pretty sure I was holding my breath as I was reading the part about walking down the steps! Oh Lordy…glad you recovered strong! Quote by Mother Theresa…well said! But, my favorite part of this is the Wink and Smile!!! Love that girl!
Glad to hear that you made it to the NPE play tonight. I’m sure everyone was so excited to see Nora Rose. Sweet dreams Yusko family.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THOSE PICTURES. SOOOO HAPPY WITH LITTLE NORA ROSE’S WEIGHT. LOOKS LIKE SHE SURE WAS ENJOYING HER MILK. THAT LITTLE WINK IS REALLY PRECIOUS. THANK GOD YOU DID NOT FALL DOWN THOSE BLEACHERS. I THINK MY HEART SANK TO MY TOES AS I WAS READING. GLAD YOU GOT TO SHOW NORA OFF TONIGHT TO FRIENDS THAT HAD NOT GOT TO MEET HER YET. SHE IS SUCH A BLESSING TO THE WORLD. HOPE THE NIGHT GOES GOOD FOR YOU AND WILLIAM, AND THAT YOU BOTH GET SOME REST. I FEEL SO MUCH LOVE FOR NORA AND HER WHOLE FAMILY. GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS.
I love that little newborn cry, it’s so sweet you don’t even mind them crying. Nora is precious, thank you for sharing her with us.
I love that she is working on a belly!! Keep it up precious girl!!
Also felt my heart jump -just reading about bleacher steps! Still, I’m so glad that you were able to emerge from your nest for a non-medical outing!
Lol -on the infomercials, I’m with William, I could get sucked into watching 45 minutes of Hair Club for Men and I found the testimonials quite compelling, despite the fact that I’m not a man, and I have ridiculously thick hair.
Okay, I watched that infomercial way back, I think Hair club is for men and women now.
At any rate, Enjoy Mother’s Day! Thank you for sharing your gift! Nora Rose is beautiful, as are your other children.
PS. I have a little one who really adores pictures of Greta and Nora.
She looks fabulous! Keep going, little dudette.
Sweet, adorable, and awesome weight gain in 1 week! Woo hoooo!!!! Have a wonderful weekend and mother’s day!!!
Omgoodness! That face, those cheeks, sweet little nose, and I just love those little hands. I just want to kiss her all over! Beautiful post and it just almist echoes something I posted on FB yesterday. She is just beautiful Aleisa and you are an amazing Mom. As always, prayers 🙂
Awesome, NORA! xoxo
OMG Aleisa! I was holding my breath as I read about the bleachers too…. Thankful you were able to regain your footing:) As for Miss Nora….good job little miss! I just love her little face and I agree with Kate…those little cheeks were going to town. So glad she is gaining weight! God Bless all of you! Happy Mother’s Day!!!
You still have our fantastic sense of humor…plz don’t ever get rid of it…Nora is the luckiest little lady I know! XOXO!
I meant your sense of humor….LOL! However, I’m pretty funny too 😉
I sure wish I had a set of drums for the drum roll – but will just pound it out on the computer desk. Praise God for her weight gain and also for a nite out on the town. Even though she didn’t appreciate the program – you got out. So glad that you didn’t fall on those bleachers. Enjoy your Mother’s Day gift of enjoying your children. I love the daily pictures of her. I thought she looked like she had filled out some. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Jackie Berkey
Nora is such a doll and a sweet little fighter. I’m enjoying all your post and photos while praying for your sweet girl..my son kayden has trisomy 18 as well and I’m proud to say he will be 11 in June.on face book we have almost 1 thousand Families that talk and share our trisomy children.I encourage you to come join us on trisomy 18 mommies http://www.facebook.com/groups/T18Mommies/?ref=ts Also I helped start a advocacy group called TAG ( trisomy advocacy group) here u can find videos of hundreds of kids and meet our board of 7 at http://www.trisomyhelp.org I do have a blog my self but i never got the hang of it lol I’m going to start trying to jump into it soon. Please come find us all we would love to help answer any questions you may have about this journey or just be there to listen.of course you can always just observe for a while too. There are a few things though you should know that would be very help full to look for or things our trisomy babies need checked that none of us knew till attending a SOFT (support org for trisomy) meeting/ conference http://www.trisomy.org where we got to meet Dr carry who is a geneticist who special is trisomy 18. so if you ever want to talk I’m here.Also I have a you tube Chanel for kayden you can check out at http://www.youtube.com/memyma
YOU GROW GIRL!!! I was so excited when I read day 24. Those cheekies are filling out. More to kiss on. Have a great day 25 cutie pie!!! Aleisa, have an excellent Mother’s Day. Love you all.
I am a willing and able nurse friend of Amy, Kate, Kate and Ginger. I live in Florence and would love to be of help if you need another night of rest. Please give Amy a call and she can pass along my numbers. Any time! Love reading your updates daily. You are an inspiration.
LOVE Allison! Leis, she is wonderful!!
Sweet Nora seems to be doing extraordinarily well for a baby with trisomy 18. Have you considered that she might have a mosaic form of trisomy 18? It is not rare that children have tested full trisomy with blood work only to discover later that skin biopsy reveals that they are mosaic.
Many of our kids do well that are full. We are seeing that as Drs are wiling to treat they do much better.check out http://www.trisomyhelp.org and click on about us a d also videos
Precious, precious Nora!!! I have to come here for my Nora fix after reading about you on Patti’s (A Perfect Lily) blog. She is eating SO well!!! It is so wonderful to see her thriving. Many blessings for you all and prayers.
Read this at 4:30 this morning and just read it again. Just wanted to smile and see her eat again. Nora updates are such awesome mood enhancers!
Love seeing sweet Nora taking a bottle. Prayers for all.
Aleisa, she is sooo sweet. I’m just in love with her! I’m a nurse at Mercy Hospital Fairfield on the postpartum unit, occasionally work in the specical care nursery and used to work at Children’s. Please let me know if you need any extra hands so you can get some rest, or I’d be happy to hang with Greta and Gavin. I’m here for ya!! Thanks for all the sweet inspiring words, and for sharing all the pics and videos of your most perfect baby girl!! Jessica G.