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) (!!!)

Today I was poking around on my blog from my laptop, trying to learn a little bit more about the settings and features, etc. Usually I access everything from my phone which grants me access to very minimal and basic information. I discovered the stat feature of my blog which gives very detailed information about how many visits my blog gets and what parts of the world are viewing it. What I unearthed this afternoon took my breath away. I had to double check that it was actually iwillcarryyou’s stats that I was looking at. At 23 days old, this seemingly powerless little baby has made an incredible impact on thousands and thousands!!

I knew of some of the countries from some of your amazing comments. I was keyed up about the list of 10 countries I knew about. That wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg.

I couldn’t even read this list over the phone to my mother without getting choked up:

United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Italy, France, India, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, Ireland, Singapore, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Malaysia, Israel, Mexico, Finland, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Brazil, Ukraine, Hungary, Cayman Islands, El Salvador, Norway, Jordan, Chile, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Iceland, Estonia, Netherlands Antilles, Austria, Cambodia, Russian Federation, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Thailand, Portugal, Lebanon, Argentina, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Nigeria, Jamaica, Greece, Morocco, Romania, Aruba, Sudan, Albania, Lithuania, Bahamas, Suriname, Qatar, Iraq, United Republic of Tanzania, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Kuwait, Cameroon, Bahrain, Dominican Republic, Serbia, Swaziland, Slovenia, Latvia, Guatemala, Guam, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Venezuela, Panama, Macedonia, Bangladesh, Uruguay, Croatia, Botswana, Georgia, Turkey, Niger, Peru, Ecuador, Viet Nam, British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Rwanda, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago

Accompanying this list is a map of the world. The red and orange indicate countries that have viewed:

Nora Rose has almost lit up the entire world – a little prophet to the nations!! And she has no idea because she’s just too busy sleeping, hiccuping, being cute and taking little baths! I am in awe of this beautiful tiny life, and so incredibly HONORED that God chose US to be her parents. She’s too much of a blessing to keep all to ourselves – we HAVE to share her sweetness:

She likes to watch the angels

Nora's favorite place to be

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16 NIV)

Nora had a busy day today! This morning she combined her regular sun bath with with her first tub bath. We figured it was time to wash the 3 weeks of kiss build-up off of her sweet little head. She didn’t do too well with some previous sponge baths, so I was nervous about how she’d react to being immersed. All for naught, she loved it! She did express some dismay when I had to remove her in order to get the cap off of the bath gel bottle. (She’s too little to lay in the tub unsupported.) I’ll have to make sure I remove the cap beforehand for her next session!

Nora also went on another walk today up to the mailbox. We were provided with some smaller and much more portable O2 tanks which made things so much easier! Nora got to meet lots of neighbors while we were out.

Here are some pictures from today:

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. (Isaiah 12:5 NIV)

Happy 3 Week Birthday to the sweetest little baby girl! While the day started off with dismal weather, Nora did get a few interludes of sunshine throughout the day. Most of her days are limited to the family room, as the oxygen machine tubing doesn’t go much further. However, today I hooked her up to the portable tank and we ventured up to the mailbox. It was a little cumbersome lugging the tank behind me with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other, but we managed and it was soooooo nice to get outside. Today I figured out how to upload video from my phone to Youtube! Here is Nora this morning during a common bout of tiny hiccups.

Before all of my children were born they were just vague concepts of babies. Logically, I knew I was pregnant, I knew there was a baby in there, but I don’t think anyone really has any idea of WHO their unborn baby is until they actually hold that tiny helpless new life in their arms for the very first time. Each of the four times I met a new baby of mine, I was surprised. The baby I had drawn up in my mind never ever matched who was handed to me in those spectacular first few minutes of life. “What? Who’s baby is this?” I would think to myself, yet fall instantly in love despite the conflict between reality and my imagination. With Nora’s prognosis, it was not just a matter of who she might look like, whether she was a girl or a boy. I had never heard of Trisomy 18. I am ashamed to recall the monster I imagined inside of me when I received the news. Selfishly I imagined how horrible and inconvenient our lives would be if this child lived. I was crippled underneath an avalanche of fear. Fear of something I didn’t understand or have any knowledge of. “Incompatible with life” was the only thing I could recall in my hours of Googling. It took about three days for me to figure out that I could hold a conversation with someone without breaking down into an agonizing crying session. That was a huge step for me! That was the moment that I felt God’s deep rooted presence in my life and I chose to rely wholeheartedly on my faith. There was JUST NO OTHER WAY. I have no idea how anyone could face something like this on their own. My faith has pulled me through to today where I live in the present moment of this incredible blessing. Once again, reality has reigned victoriously over my imagination. CLEARLY sweet, precious little Nora is the furthest thing possible from the anomaly I had envisioned. By faith I was able to give her a chance, a life. And look at how she has blessed all of us in return. Thank you, God for this BEAUTIFUL little person!

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:16-19 NIV)