Little Flower Roses

One of our favorite NICU nurses who cared for the boys, just had preemie twin boys born at 29 weeks. Visiting and talking with her brought a whole flood of memories back to me. It seems like just yesterday I was in her shoes. I am not saying I would ever want to redo those NICU days, but sure do miss those baby moments.

One of her boys is home and the other is about to come home. I was just reflecting back on a moment I had with Joseph in the NICU. Dominic was home and Joseph was still in the NICU for feeding and breathing problems. He would turn blue with each feeding.

As a nurse I want to heal people and fix all problems. So I decided I wanted to spend the night with Joseph and really try to figure out what his nippling issues were. The nurse set me up in this VERY small overnight room and rolled in Joseph, his machines and oxygen.

I was going to solve this feeding problem once and for all! I swear the room was about 110 degrees, as small as a closet and had no phone. Each feeding Joseph would take one or two swigs and turn blue. What was going on? By 5:30am I was ready for a breakdown! I called the nurse in and she said we would have to feed Joseph through his tube since he was not cooperating. When she shut the door I sat next to Joe and held my hand on his chest and prayed to God so hard that he would please give Joseph the strength he needed to learn to nipple. We needed our little guy to come home.

Then I remember the Blessed Rose Petals Matt's Grandma had given me in my overnight bag. I pulled out the rose petals and laid them on Joseph. I said a prayer and whispered to Joseph he had the strength in him to learn to nipple. We wheeled Joseph back to the nursery and the nurse taped the rose petals to Joesph's crib.

I left the NICU, and called my mom in hysterics, "Joseph is never going to come home! He had a terrible night." I remember my mom saying, "Liz don't loss faith, he will do it when he is ready".

I came home and got a few hours sleep. When I went back to see Joseph, his nurse practically meet me at the door saying Joseph had nippled ALL his bottles without any problems!!!! Ever since that point, he was never fed through his tube again and it was removed the next day. A few days later Joseph came home!

Here is a picture of the roses taped to Joseph's crib.



The prayer on the back reads:

Blessing of Little Flower Roses

O Lord Jesus Christ, in Thy Clemency look upon these roses which we bless in honor of Thy pure spouse, St. Therese; and grant that all those who scent their fragrance may run after the savor of Thy ointments, and thro her intercession deserve to obtain health both of soul and body. Amen.

Never EVER loss faith.