Kristen and I made it over to my sister's house to meet Braden yesterday and we got there around 4pm. When Shannon greeted us at the door with him in her arms, I was shocked to see how small he was. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I guess something larger than what he was. To his credit, he is an average-sized baby weighing in at almost eight pounds. My perception is obviously skewed with us spending so much time in the NICU and with Reid being born at a little less than two pounds. Used to seeing such small babies, I think that I was expecting a 'normal' baby to just be gigantic. But now that I think about it - eight pounds is gigantic compared to the measly one pound, fourteen ounces.

When holding him, it was surreal to think that Braden was born just three days prior and was at home, breathing and functioning all on his own. He was not tethered to a machine nor confined to a radius that was defined by the length of the cords/tubes he was attached to. He was so peaceful and it made us realize how hard Reid had it from the onset of birth. Not only was he not fully developed and had to grow outside of the womb, but he also had to fight off several nasty infections --- just to be 'normal'. It, in some way, put Reid's challenges in perspective and made me further see how tough of a kid he was.

After dinner and a few drinks, Kristen and I left to go visit Reid. As we were pulling into the cemetery, another couple that we have seen visiting their loved one a couple times before was there. They seem to be roughly the same age as we are, so it makes us wonder if they lost a child like us. In no way does it comfort me to know that someone else is grieving like we are... last night, it was just an example the stark contrast between the experiences that new parents can have. Coming from a house with a newborn baby and going to a cemetery where more than one family is sitting with their deceased child makes you realize that life just isn't fair. As we sat there watering Reid's grass, I was wishing that we could have experienced some of his life outside of the hospital.

On a different note, Kristen received an email yesterday from one of our friends who works at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (we have known her since we were 15 and is not associated with the NICU). She mentioned that on Saturday night, she attended an event the hospital hosted and she wanted to share a conversation she had had with one of the doctors (I am not going to mention the unit this doctor works in so that I don't disclose their identity). She and the doctor were talking about work and some of the experiences they had had along the way. Dr. X started telling her a story about this amazing baby who was the only child that had ever truly impacted his/her life since coming into this profession. Dr. X talked about this child's two young parents who were the most wonderful people due to their strength, patience and love they had given their child... Long story short, the child that Dr. X was talking about was Reid. What a blessing to know that Reid is still a topic of conversation at Egleston and that the three of us were able to make an impact on the people who tried their hardest to make a positive impact on our lives.