Sarah Home

The next 12 days were tough.

I had 5 other children to take care of and our preemie daughter was 40 minutes away at the hospital.

Sarah was doing well, but they still had many tests to run and she was jaundice so she was under the lights.

Tom left for work very early every day so he could go give Sarah her morning bottle.

I had my friends from church help me with childcare for my 2 other girls. Someone would watch them mid-day so I could go sit with Sarah and nurse her. Then at night I would go back to feed her and tuck her in.

Three different times while Tom or I were there with Sarah, "Sarah Smile" by Hall and Oats came on.

That is now her song. Sarah and Tom will dance to this at her wedding someday.

 "And when you feel you can't go on, I'll come and hold you. It's you and me forever. Sarah, smile..."

We took all of our other 5 children to the hospital to meet Sarah. They went in the NICU and held her. Brandon even gave her a bottle. Leah was a little unsure how she felt. Though she soon loved her little sister just like everyone else did.

One night I was going to go to the hospital. I was so exhausted. I fell to the floor in our laundry room and cried. Tom told me to just stay home. Sarah would be ok. I was too tired to drive the 40 minutes there and back.

Tom called the hospital - used our password "Precious" - and handed me the phone. The nurse told me Sarah was doing well and she promised me that she would sit with Sarah and rock with her and give her a bottle that I had left there. She would take extra special care of Sarah for me and I should get some sleep.

Even though I didn't have our sweet baby at home, I still had to get up every 2 hours and pump so that my milk would come in for her. Plus, I wanted to leave bottles at the hospital for Sarah.

I did stay home and went back the next day.

Sarah's "crib" had her name on it. I had taken a photo of our children sitting on our couch, each child had a letter in their hands and spelled S-A-R-A-H. There was also a little stuffed monkey we gave to Sarah from her big sisters and brothers.

Sarah's tests all started looking good - there was a time they were thinking of transferring her downtown, but she didn't have to. Then they taught me how to give her massages. She loved it! She would stretch out her little legs and toes. They had us bring in a car seat to test how she fit and if she could breathe well while in it. Once she passed that test, she could go home the next day. We went out and bought a new seat for her and she passed. The next day, Sarah got to come home with us. 12 days old and still 4 lbs.