Natural Simplicity: Photo Tag

I was tagged by Go Out Beneath the Naked Night to play a round of photo tag.

Here are the Rules:

1. Open your first photo file.
2. Scroll to the 10th photo.
3. Post the photo and tell the story behind it.
4. Tag five more people.

This is a picture of me and T man on his first Christmas. We had one of those little 18 inch trees that have weird psychedelic branches. It only had maybe three ornaments on it. He sure did love that tree. All the gifts were placed under the table. It was perfect in every way.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me an T. Looking at it now I can't believe how young and thin I was 8 years ago. I was cute too! This really gave me insight into a couple of changes health wise that really do need to take place in the Sanders' Casa.

To be fair I also picked picture number 10 from after Little J was born. This picture was taken by my husband in the NICU. The doctors had know idea what they were doing. He was in an isolette that had moist air being misted into it to keep his skin from being too taunt. He wasn't allowed to have his diaper closed completely as the doctors feared it would rip his skin. He was laying on several blankets, but not allowed to wear clothing or be placed under covers because again they worried about what would happen.

We were under the impression that there was a high possibility of death due to skin infections caused by too much movement against his skin. We figured that if he was going to die then he would die knowing what it felt like to be loved and held by his parents, so we rubbed on him and cuddled him and made the doctors allow us to do many things they did not want.

After several days, they realized that he was not near as fragile as expected. They brought in a dermatologist that new a bit about ichthyosis and found out that the skin he was born with was indeed a membrane of sorts and would need to be shed before we would know for sure what his skin would look like.

After a week in the NICU, I wanted to take JJ home. The doctors weren't doing much for him and nothing was changing. before I could take him home i had to pass a test sort of. I had to have him room in with me and I had to be able to monitor his body temperature enough to ensure it stayed in normal ranges. I would get up every hour or so and take his temperature. if he was too warm I would remove blankets, clothing, and the such. If he was extremely cold, i would get him and myself naked and we would snuggle under the covers for about 10 minutes. I would take his temperature and see if he was warm enough and then rewrap him in multiple blankest. Sometimes as many as five were used.

Needless to say, I passed the test. I think I monitored his temperature like that for about 3-4 weeks until it finally regulated on it's own. At about 8 weeks, he had shed the membrane (it came off in big chunks like a sunburn) and began to develop the skin he has today. At about 10 week, I realized one night while bathing with J that you could actually grab hold of skin that was lifting up and peel it off in sheets.

It took me months to get a routine. Every time I think I have it down JJ gets bigger and things change again. In the very beginning of his life, JJ had to endure far more than most infants. Getting accustomed to this strange world would see enough, but he had to get lotioned every hour or so, his eyes had to be lubricated at that time as well, he had to have his skin physically removed with acid based lotions and tweezers, and as a family we had to figure out how to fit it all in and still gave T Man the attention he needed.

Let's just say it wasn't as hard as it seems. Scary at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world. We are a very close family and both of the boys have a very special place in my heart. I do not know what they would do without each other. I was worried that they are 4 years apart, but I shouldn't have been. My boys are the best of friends. T stands up for his brother daily when it comes to stares and ugliness. And Little J loves his brother with all his heart.