![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/KearyDee_05-19-11_muppets-24.jpg?resize=300%2C200\" "\\"KearyDee_05-19-11_muppets-24\\"")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I never thought I\u2019d end up a mommy blogger. A world-famous Newbery Medal recipient, sure – but it instead appears my writing talents have headed down the road less traveled.<\/p>\n
My first trimester was rough \u2013 not just morning sickness, all day arfing sickness. I had just started a new job in December 2009, so being green on the job took on a whole new meaning. In January, we found out our family was growing a bit faster than expected. Twins were due in August. In March, we learned our little muppets were two boys. I was finally feeling good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll start a blog,\u201d I decided one afternoon. I signed myself up on WordPress and there my page template sat for several weeks. No magical article-writing elves appeared to tell my story, so I sat myself down and announced to the global online community that Double Trouble was coming to town. I figured this blog would be a single source location for family and friends. I could sporadically post clever little anecdotes and event photos.<\/p>\n
On April 13, I posted an article shouting from the rooftops that I was officialy having a normal pregnancy. Two weeks later, my world turned upside down. I started writing more and more \u2013 detailing and journaling my experience on bedrest and ultimately as an ante-partum patient in the hospital as I prayed for healthy twins.<\/p>\n
Jon and I became parents on May 28, 2010. Our precious muppets were born weighing 2 pounds 3 ounces and 2 pounds 2 ounces. I held Search in my arms for no more than 10 seconds after his birth. I watched Destroy get wheeled out of the operating room wrought with tubes and encased in a plastic incubator.<\/p>\n
They were born 12 weeks too soon. And then I passed out.
\nI didn\u2019t get to meet my muppets the day they were born. I spent hours shivering uncontrollably in a recovery room \u2013 demanding water from a nurse who tried my patience to its last nerve by insisting on following medical protocol instead of catering to my thirsty whims. Five hours after they were born, Jon was indoctrinated into life as a NICU parent. He was crying when he came back, but he reported they were doing amazingly well. There were so many wires\u2026<\/p>\n
The next day, I learned why people believe in love at first sight. Our nurses and doctors were cautiously optimistic. The muppets were all I could think about. So throughout the next 10 weeks, I took to the Web \u2013 sharing my thoughts, feelings and fears to anyone who may happen upon here. As I talked to people and shared our story, it seemed everyone knew someone who was premature. Suddenly, my new normal was \u201cpreemie parenthood.\u201d Term babies seemed jumbo and odd.<\/p>\n
I scoured the Internet looking for any and all information on the hospital jargon being thrown at me. I became a mother on a mission. My boys were coming home healthy if I had to get a medical degree to do it. The NICU staff laughed. \u201cWhen you leave here, we\u2019ll be sending you home part parent, part nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n
I never thought prematurity would be the cause I\u2019d get behind. I did everything I was supposed to, but fate\/humanity had other ideas and life isn\u2019t fair. My body was broken but my boys are fighters.<\/p>\n
The muppets are big giant boys now. They’re toddlers. They\u2019re laughing now (and having a grand old time spitting rice cereal raspberries) and it\u2019s hard to remember how tiny they truly were when we first started our journey home.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m proud to be a preemie-parent. And I\u2019m proud to be the mom to such nifty NICU grads. So I write about them. I blog about amusing anecdotes as they grow up; I write about life as a preemie mom, a twin mom and a crazy mixed up grown-up in the Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing a book about it too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I never thought I\u2019d end up a mommy blogger. A world-famous Newbery Medal recipient, sure – but it instead appears my writing talents have headed down the road less traveled. My first trimester was rough \u2013 not just morning sickness, … Continue reading