The day we met

When I saw my son laying in ICU it was worse than I could ever have imagined. There were drips and drips and lines and monitors and lines and alarms. Then we are not even talking about the Ventilator and Feeding tube in his nose. My heart bled when I saw my son lying there. Weighing in at 2.2kg (1 pound) (which is a very good weight for a prem). There were 2 lines coming from his umbilical cord, one they used to draw blood for the Blood gas panels that they did every 6 hours. A temperature monitor was stuck on his breast; it was a little golden heart. He was less than 24 hours old and he was already getting drugs like you would not believe. They also had to give him surfactant for his lungs - 2 vials which carried a cost of about ZAR11 000 (+- $1 100). He was getting stuff that helped to regulate his heart beat and God knows what else. He had the most peculiar shakes and movements. He was just skin and bones. When he was struggling to breathe his stomach would jerk. It was very scary when I first saw it. His hands had a piece of plaster on and were pinned to his blanket to stop him from pulling out the ventilator and other lines. He was the smallest little miracle I have ever received. I will tell you more about this on another day. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.