Preparing for a homecoming

It's like the night before the biggest, dream vacation of your life.  You prepare all your clothes, pack the bags, double check tickets, count pairs of underwear, fill the cosmetics, and make sure everything is just where you need it to head out the door to your exciting destination the next day.  Then you lay in bed and worry about the things you may have forgotten, whether or not you'll make the plane on time, if the clothes you chose are the right ones, or the different people you'll encounter on your journey.  

It's like that, but so much bigger.  We're not preparing for a vacation.  We're preparing to bring home our baby Ethan!

Two months ago I was planning a fall baby.  I'd hoped to schedule his delivery sometime around the last week in October when Landon and Trent are both out of school for a few days.  But on a hot August day, 92 days before I was due, my water broke much too soon and a little over a week later we had a 2 pound, 6 ounce baby boy named Ethan.

Today, 55 days later, he has gained three more pounds, grown over two inches in length, learned to breathe without help from machines, digested food, taken bottles, and won the hearts of so many who have prayed for him, cried for him, hugged his family, shared kind words, and held him close.  

And we prepare to bring him home.

It's still a bit of a mystery exactly what day we'll bring him home.  There is a criteria he has to meet in order to go home that includes maintaining body temperature, sleeping in a crib, taking full bottles, breathing on his own, and several other rules.  He's accomplished most of these and the last few are close.

So we know we're close too.  We're close to choosing the perfect outfit for the ride home.  Close to packing his tiny little body into a car seat and gingerly taking curves on the highway to get home.  Close to showing him the nursery, his brother's room, our living room, and his new home.  Close to 3 a.m. feedings that we haven't been able to participate in thus far, baths with soft wash cloths and yummy smelling baby soap, snuggling on the couch with our little boys as we watch a football game, and watching the simple yet miraculous act of him inhaling and exhaling that sweet baby air.  

It's similar to that dream vacation, but oh, so much bigger!.  We've packed the bags, picked out the clothes, filled out the paperwork, and made sure everything is lined out just as it should be.  But our journey isn't a quick, one week cruise or a moment on a sandy beach.  Instead it's a lifelong journey that will surely have some challenges, yet  it will be overflowing with love and laughter.  Continue the journey with us, dear friends, as we continue to share our story coming to life.