The Day Has Come

Wow. Today is the day. Little Miss Molly turned one this morning at 6:17 am!! I have been afraid for this day to get here for months now. Now that it's here, all I feel is overwhelming joy and gratitude. The kids have been SO excited for the past week. Every morning they jump out of bed and announce the countdown to today. While Molly has absolutely no comprehension of anything that's going on, our family is more excited for this birthday than any other one I can think of.

One year ago right now the doctor was coming into my room to tell me that Molly was septic and bruising much too easily to be normal, and would I give permission for her to receive a transfusion of clotting factors? I had no idea the flood gates this discovery would open. Twelve hours later, the doctor was back informing me that they ran further tests and discovered an obstruction in her bowels. Even now I'm still grateful that the reality of the situation didn't sink in. I heard the words, I knew they were serious, but I really didn't understand.

Looking at her now, you would NEVER guess her medical history. All you would see is a super chubby, super squishy baby with a GINORMOUS head. For that I am also thankful. I'm thankful her scars are easily covered. I'm thankful that she's progressing so well.

I am also thankful to have a functioning body back. A year ago I wasn't capable of walking, sitting, turning, lifting, etc. Now I feel fit and ready to do just about anything. It's nice to know my body can do whatever I want it to again.

Yesterday was another session with Paul. This time we talked about Molly's milestones and he celebrated with me. I love that he remembers so much about her history. We also talked a lot about my inability to casually socialize anymore. A few weeks ago I went to the wedding of a cousin-in-law. It was beautiful and great to see some extended family we haven't seen in a while. But it was also glaringly apparent that I have no clue how to shoot the breeze anymore. Things have just been too serious and too stressful for so long and I hardly ever interact in person anymore. So this holiday season, I'm going to try to focus on that instead of the negative memories from last year.

Tomorrow is Molly's life celebration. We are doing a lunch buffet for the NICU families up at Primary Children's since we can't go anywhere. I'm really nervous to be back there, but other families doing the same thing while Molly was there meant the world to me. Seeing and hearing about how well their child was doing at one gave me so much hope at a time it was really needed. Hopefully we can do the same for some of the families there now.

So Happy Birthday to my little Chubbylumkins! We survived the first year!!