Home

And we are going home.  It seems a bit surreal honestly that we are already leaving the protective walls of the NICU, but here we are.  We can not even begin to tell you what you all have meant to us these last few.  Your timing and prayers seemed goal ways come at just the moment when we needed them most.  I have struggled to figure out though how to explain what our experience in the NICU has been like regarding the staff and everyone who was with us on a daily basis during these last 3 months.  Our experience with Teagan has permanently left a mark on my life that will never go away, and part of that mark has come out of what I saw and experienced inside of those walls.  So I have decided to share with you all our fairwell letter to the NICU and I hope by doing so you can catch a glimpse of what these men and women do for families on a daily basis.






Dear NICU Staff





Perspective is everything.  That is why I was the mom who consistently cheered for poop over these last three months.  I knew.  I knew in those moments when that was exciting, that without that the consequences to my daughter were extensive and dire.  I knew that every movement, gag, blink, pupil dilation, there was something to celebrate because it meant we still had a battle to fight.  We had not lost the battle yet.  We should have.  You all know it and we know it.  We should not be walking out of these doors with our beautiful baby girl, and yet here we are.  I could not have done it without all of you.  I saw something very unique and something I think few people get to see but more people should, and that is loving and caring for someone in a seemingly hopeless situation.  I know our assignment was painful in those early days, but that didn't stop you.  It didn't stop you from checking on her oscillator to make sure it was still working right.  It didn't stop you from administering dose after dose of medication that was ordered, from changing every diaper even when it seemed it would make little difference to her over the long haul.  Thank you all for your transparency.  For answering my questions with honesty and grace, even if it meant giving me answers no parent every wanted to hear.  We began this journey heart broken and not only did you hand us boxes of tissues, you encouraged us, loved, and often times were broken with us.  But most of all you loved our baby irregardless of the outcome.  You didn't see a lost cause even though we all knew it probably was.  You chose to love and care for her and us, putting aside in those moments, your own families and own lives and putting what our family and our baby needed above all else.  That is not a job it is a calling and one I will never be able to repay you for all.  All I can say is thank you.  Thank you for praying over our family and our baby, for loving us and just being there.  Thank you for sharing your lives with us, for telling me stories about your families and children, because in those long hours of waiting and wondering, those conversations helped me keep pushing through the minutes.  Thank you for constantly reporting crit levels, sodium levels, checking head circumferences even if I had already asked two or three times that day.  Thank you for celebrating each milestone however small with us, for rejoicing over things that most people would deem insignificant.  I firmly believe that God uses other people as tangible evidence of himself in our lives, and he has used each and everyone one of you in ways I can't put into words.  I can't believe we made it here.  It feels like a life time.  So on days when you are done, when you are tired, when you just want a break and to be home with your families I hope you can remember Teagan.  Remember that even if everyone is biting your head off that day and they are frustrated, and you are having to turn off a machine, or deliver devastating news that you are being used in a mighty way.  What you do every day has an impact that goes far beyond the health of a baby.  It is bittersweet for our family walking out those doors.  We are elated to be bringing Teagan home, but it will take a while to adjust to not having each of you there to share our life with.  We love and are praying for you all.

The Stratton Family