This past weekend we attended our second annual NICU reunion, meeting all ages of NICU graduates and parents (including us!) from years passed. The event had a professional photographer with one of our nurses ensuring big, excited smiles from the models (thanks Jess!). Other booths had kiddo activities, food, and baby books for us to enjoy at home. It is a great all ages, annual event that happens each October and something I hope to take the girls to for many years to come.

We spent just under a month in the NICU with Reagan [28 days]; Harper and Emerie followed their sister home just four days later [32 days]. Events like these remind me how lucky we are in this day and age to have access to the medical help we need, both for moms and for babies. A century ago my survival would have been questionable, let alone delivering three healthy kiddos. More realistically probably not, due to high blood pressure and eclampsia and a variety of other factors like c-sections and sterile hospital environments.

I count my blessings we had the care we needed, when we needed it, and was happy to keep them cooking for 33 weeks (maybe not so thrilled at the time but I am now!). Many other kiddos at the event were more premature than ours- I know their parents feel the same way I do and it is nice to see all the success stories. On the flip side, I definitely keep in mind that not all outcomes end up like mine- yet another reason to be so appreciative that my girls are healthy.

We saw a number of other twin and triplet sets, many who we see at play groups and who also spent some time in the hospital post birth. Lots of once premie singletons too! We visited with our favorite doctor, Doctor Mary Alice Johnson, and got this great picture of her with the girls, who cooperated momentarily.

Dr. Johnson was wonderful to have during our stay and instrumental in the health of our three little ones. I was definitely more confident as a new mom, recovering from major surgery with three, tiny babies hooked up to IVs and tubes, with her on our medical team.

The girls tried out a few little activities like the ring toss onto balloon antlers and “fishing”. They also ate some snacks, played with friends and ran amuck! Overall, a pretty good day.

I leave you with last year’s photo, full of tiny, six month old baby smiles. Hopefully this year’s picture will be equally as cute! ❤