The Ivener Family: September 2012

This past week has been full of parties for us to attend. These parties probably set the bar a little high for Max's expectations later this fall. Oh well, we had fun!

We had a neighborhood picnic earlier this week. There was food, a couple of bounce houses, music, a clown painting faces and even pony rides. Here is a video of Max and his cousin Will riding ponies.

On Saturday we attended the annual Overland Park Regional Medical Center NICU reunion. This year it was held at Wonderscope, a local children's museum. It was truly a great time. They had a large barbecue and a tent full of tables to eat dinner. There were bounce houses and obstacle courses. There were also motorcycles for the kids to sit on for pictures. Surprisingly, Max was not interested in the motorcycles. Then inside, the museum was open for play and exploration. We all had fun.

It was interesting to talk to the others present about each child's "Graduation Date" (for Max it is December 12, 2010 - A date we will never forget). I felt lucky after talking to a family at our table. Their daughter, just a few months older than Max, had to spend 8 weeks in the NICU. I can't even imagine since our 2.5 weeks seemed like an eternity. It is also hard to believe how much Max has grown.

Still holds his Bink like this...some things never change.

The highlight of this party was getting to see Amy. She was the NICU nurse that walked me through what could happen to Max after delivery, she was present at his birth and was his lead nurse for the first several days in the NICU. She was truly my angel. She was able to keep me and Ron calm. She also knew just what to say when everyone else seemed to say the wrong things. She was the one who taught me how to feed Max with his tiny 5cc bottles and through his NG tube. She taught us the best ways to get him to burp, and how to change his diaper and hold him despite all of the monitors and IVs. She was also the first one to tell me how special Max's personality is. This is one of my favorite NICU stories: When I arrived at the scrub in station on our 2nd day in the hospital, I heard a baby crying. While scrubbing in (a full 3 minute timed process) I continued to hear this baby cry and thought boy that sounds like Max, but his room is too far away from the station. As I proceeded to his room, the crying became louder and louder. Then as I arrived in his room, Amy was there with a SCREAMING Max! He was so mad. When I asked about it, she told me that he was mad because it was time for him to be flipped to his back so that he could evenly tan under his "stadium lights" (He was jaundice). He was furious. She looked me straight in the eye and said "Max has quite a personality for such a little guy! But that is great because he is a fighter." Boy, was she right.

Even after we were assigned a different nurse, she continued to check in on us. It was very emotional to see Amy, and to find out that she remembered us. We even got a picture with her.