NICU Day 79 ~ (February 24th)

February 24, 2012 ~ Noelle's original due date.  Instead of celebrating her new birth today, we are celebrating 11 wonderful weeks with our precious miracle.  It was the day before Father's Day last year when we discovered I was pregnant with Noelle, and we were beyond excited that God was growing our family.  Six months ago, we were told this day would never arrive, and we thought it would go down in our journal as one of anticipation which was turned into sorrow.  For weeks, we planned for and expected Noelle's stillbirth while still hoping for a miracle, and God in His incredible goodness granted just that...our tiny Christmas miracle.  The road since then has been rough and filled with both incredible anguish as well as exhilarating joy as we have watched Noelle struggle and fight for life and then reach a point of thriving and growing like a "normal" baby.  I cannot even begin to describe the gamut of emotions felt today, but the summation of them was extreme joy and deep thankfulness to God for all that He has graciously done.  We do not deserve our sweet little daughter, but we are so grateful He has allowed us to have her during this time.  Noelle celebrated today by "being a big girl" and taking 3 bottles...

having normal wake/sleep times...

and wearing her little monkey sleeper from her grandma (McDowell).

The actuality of her someday being with us at home is becoming more and more real each day.  Thank you so much for sharing in our sweet joy today and for praying for our precious little girl.