Blue reminders

There's a tiny preemie in an incubator next to Belle. He's in the 800 gram range. 

"Hello dear neighbour, I used to be a lot like you!"

He's a fragile little thing with wrinkly skin and thin arms and legs. He had the UV light shining on him all day, so that's why some pictures of Belle have a blue tone to them today. 

It was only months ago that we saw Belle under the UV light. Feb 23rd to be exact (thank you blog). 

Flashbacks of another time. One day it will all be a distant memory - a story to tell Arabella when she's older. Watching her grow and develop outside of the womb has been such a trip. We witnessed the entire third trimester right in front of our eyes. 

This is how she looked when we were putting her to sleep at the end of the night. She was resisting her bedtime and pushing her limits, like a child that desperately wants to stay up late with mom and dad. 

"Just 5 more minutes, mom!"

It was Saturday night, after all, and the NICU is the place to be on University Avenue in downtown Toronto. Ladies free before midnight 😉

Belle refused to sleep, but it was rather comical. She was opening one eye periodically to check if we were still there. She makes us laugh with some of the things she does. 

"Who, me?"

She loves her night time routine. She just needs her soother, butterfly pillow, a lullaby playing, and her back rubbed or patted. Hmmm...sounds a bit like the makings of a princess, huh? 😄 

Belle likes to stay up late. It takes her a bit of time to fall into a deep sleep, and I can't really blame her. It's usually quite loud in the room. Imagine 5 other little ones and all the various people that come and go. There are constant alarms sounding off, intercoms, babies crying, nurses talking or even yelling, other parents interacting with their own kids...

Our room has been especially busy lately. A lot of emergencies. Some very sad and heartbreaking situations, too. So incredibly sad. 

We see everyting happening around us and we think to ourselves, "How did we end up so fortunate?"

We've dodged bullet after bullet. We've missed so many disasters and catastrophes. 

It's been a long journey, but Arabella has done remarkably well. We can only thank the heavens above 💙