Sweet Reunion

Now that Elli is one I thought it would be fun to go visit all our friends at the hospital. The NICU staff played a fundamental role in Elli being as healthy as she is now, so we wanted to thank them. They couldn't believe how big she is. They all commented on how lovely her eyes are. (She really does have beautiful eyes.) We saw Chris and Amber, 2 of Elli's primary nurses. Don and Mark, 2 of our favorite respiratory therapists. Jenny was one of the neonatal nurse practitioners that did rounds on Elli a lot, plus several other nurses, doctors and therapists that we became close to during our 4 and 1/2 month stay. It really was fun to show them how far she has come.

The sweetest thing that happened was her reaction to Dr. Stoddard. We knew him before we ever knew we were going to have Elli. He was our Stake President in our last stake, and Wayne served for 2 years with him as a high counselor. So when we knew Elli was coming early, we told my OB that we wanted him to be called, and so he was. Dr. Stoddard was there with a team to do everything necessary to help Elli survive and thrive. We haven't seen Dr. Stoddard since January when we brought Elli home. He was in a bit of a hurry to get to a meeting with all the other doctors, but he stopped when he saw Wayne standing there holding Elli. Wayne had his back to Dr. Stoddard, so he had to turn around to say hello. Just as he did Elli smiled her biggest smile and opened her arms to him. He smiled back and leaned into her and she gave him a very slobbery kiss on the cheek. The thing is, Elli doesn't do that. Every once in a while she will do that to us, but not to people she doesn't really know. Her typical reaction is to stare people down for several minutes, then she might smile and coo at them (which she did to all the other NICU staff that she had seen up to that point), but she never reacts so warmly in an instant. It was so sweet and tender. I am so glad we saw him and that Elli was so happy to see him.

I have thought about her reaction since I came home and wondered about it. I know that even though her body is tiny, she has a spirit inside her that isn't so tiny. I wondered if her reaction yesterday was her grown up spirit recognizing the man that made her long awaited and anticipated life on earth possible. It seemed like her spirit just reached out and said, "thank you for making it possible for me to have my experience on earth." I don't know if that is even possible, but that is what the moment felt like to me and to Wayne. It will be a treasured moment for both of us.