Due Date

It’s been 12 weeks coming; today the muppets are officially newborns. Their corrected age is zero. Since the day the muppets were born we’ve been counting down their gestational age and today is 40 weeks.

Today is their due date. If all had gone as initially medically planned, I would be sitting in this recliner waiting. I would likely be staring at the clock – okay…let’s get this show on the road. I probably wouldn’t be blogging. If I was still pregnant, I would have close to 16 pounds of baby in me right now and I probably wouldn’t be able to get close enough to the computer keyboard to type any posts.

If the boys arrived today, I would just now be starting my maternity leave instead of preparing to return to work next week. Jon and I might be staring at them wondering what we should do next. I’d be exhausted – and not just from being awake every three hours. We wouldn’t be well versed on saturation levels, nasal cannulas and NICU hospital corridors.

When we first found out we were going to be parents last December, Aug. 23, 2010, seemed an eternity away. I knew I’d be paranoid for the entirety of the pregnancy, but I was excited. In February, I nervously told my relatively new boss that I was having babies. She smiled and wrote “Tricia – maternity leave, August” in her notebook.

When I was admitted to the hospital in April, Aug. 23 became a pipe dream. When the boys were born in May, Aug. 23 became a goal. Our NICU nurses repeatedly told us to expect them home by their due date. They’ve both been home for two weeks now. My sons are obviously brilliant.

The other day our little family went for a lovely evening stroll. A random lady on our street asked how old they were as we were returning home. Jon paused. “Two weeks,” he said. That just seemed easier than explaining their life story. Developmentally the boys really are newborns. We can expect them to follow the growth chart of their corrected age until they are approximately three years old. But I like to think of them as “advanced newborns” due to their past three months of life experience.

We were privileged to meet them three months early and get to know them as they finished fine-tuning in the NICU under the care of our awesome nurses. We then got to bring them home and have spent the past two weeks settling into a routine.

By the power of karma, this has been the most stressful year of my life. Gramma J used to wish a child just like me upon my future self. Search and Destroy are determined and stubborn little fighters.

The muppets due date is finally here. In medical terms I believe this means they’re no longer tiny – just typically small babies growing up. Maybe they’ll give their parents a reprieve on some of the stresses yet to come in the lifetime ahead of them.

3 Comments

Filed under Birthday, Milestones

3 Responses to Due Date

  1. Dalia

    happy corrected birthday little guys. I CAN’T wait to see you guys tomorrow…

  2. Joanne Hamann

    Happy Birthday muppetts!

  3. Well, if determined and stubborn are the only karma that’s coming back around, I’d say you got lucky! Happy Corrected Birthday, Search and Destroy!!!! Welcome to babyhood.