What I Am Doing

Surprise! I am starting a blog to chronicle the early days of Weston Max Yoder. Weston, my second child and first son, was born at 2:10 a.m. on July 7, 2012 at 24 weeks and 1 day gestation after 12 weeks of bed rest. He weighed one pound six ounces and measured 11.5 inches long.

There are a couple of reasons for starting this blog. First, it's a way to update those who love or are curious about Weston on his condition. In the NICU, where he lives right now, things change daily, and a blog seems to be a better forum than Facebook for updates and chronicling his life. Second, this experience is changing me profoundly, so I will also use this blog as a personal journal of sorts. Finally, this NICU thing is overwhelming, exhausting, and an emotional roller coaster. I have found comfort at looking at other folks' NICU journeys, so I hope this blog can help other parents who are new to the NICU experience.

I have already started keeping a journal, so I might refer back to those entries or to previous Facebook posts. I'll jump around in time a bit, because this story necessarily starts before Weston was born.

Why am I calling this blog The Divided Life? There is one reason: Caroline Mariah Yoder, my precious firstborn, who will turn three on August 24. Today I returned from almost one month in the hospital. Now that Weston is here, my life, my children, are divided. As I said on Facebook, I left half of my heart at the hospital when I was discharged and returned to the other half of my heart here at home. Weston's birth and the beginning of his NICU stay signify the start of having my heart in two different places at once.

Before I sign off for the first time: my husband and I visited Weston last evening around 9:30. He was doing fine. His weight had stabilized at one pound two ounces, he was under the phototherapy light again, and the nurse even thinks he is trying to open his eyes!