We were lucky

At the time of this post,  my son had just completed his 9 month well visit.

I had an incredible delivery and he had no issues whatsoever at birth.  A healthy 8lbs even, 22inches long. I remember that even then he looked exactly like his father-so much even my doctor questioned wether or not I actually "had anything to do with making this baby? "

Oh, nah....I was just impregnated by John Carpenter's The Thing, that decided to assimilate to my husband's form in utero,  only to reward my horrific bouts of morning sickness & the gruelling process of growing a human being, by looking everything like him & nothing like me.

He did turn out cute though ;-)

We have been very fortunate that he has remained healthy,  has been hitting developmental milestones on time, if not early (usually the case), and had even stayed as cute as he was at birth, if not more.

We were lucky. We continue to be lucky. I'm sure a lot of other factors have something to do with it-I never smoked cigarettes while pregnant. Never drank. Cut out deli meat and sushi,  kept active during my pregnancy with walking for exercise (which strengthens your legs for pushing during labor),  steered clear of nail salons, and even kept negative people away from my growing child so their bad energy wasnt shed off onto it.

But some things you can't control,  or plan for. We were lucky.

Our baby was born healthy. And sometimes,  despite ones efforts during pregnancy,  some aren't. Bruce was one of the more healthier kids born in our hospital at the time of his birth. Its very emotional for to hear about some of the other parents I know,  struggling with the different circumstances of their babies.

It's one thing to read about them online,  or even watch it on tv.... but when you know the family personally going through it,  the empathy can kill you.

I know kids with debilitating conditions, making their way of life very difficult.  I know babies with conditions that makes everyday life a challenge.  I know moms who did everything right, who stayed with their babies in the NICU for a very, very long time while I took mine home after a couple days routine hospital visit. I know some moms that didn't make it home with theirs.

Making a human is hard.  Even if you have the healthiest pregnancy known to man... it's a roll of the dice. We were lucky.

And it's unfair. No one should go through having a sick child. No one should go through the death of their child. No parent should go through the agony of not knowing what they could have done different,  to change the circumstances of existence. 

Life is a cruel, unfair bitch....

That's why I snuggle my son longer,  cherish everything a little bit more,  and keep counting lucky stars. Because things beyond your control can happen, and that's scary enough. We could have had a very bad deal. There could have just been some slight difficulties. But we could have also faced devastation. But in the end, we had a perfectly healthy baby boy, who has stayed that way so far.

We were lucky. And for that we are forever grateful.