Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Frantically Scrapbooking

I'm taking a little break from the frantic scrapbooking I have been doing this week to write this post.  I realized I had not scrapped since the babies were 3 months old and still in the NICU.  I had prepared their books up to that point to show at my baby shower.  Then the babies came home, we had to feed them every 3 hours around the clock for a year, take them to a zillion appointments, and well, that didn't leave much/any time to do anything extra, like scrapbooking.  Now, I'm playing major catch-up because I want to have their scrapbooks current for their baptism this weekend. 

I had purchased several stickers when I was still pregnant.  I have 3 unopened packages of pregnancy stickers.  They have cute stickers of big pregnant bellies that say things like "belly beautiful" and "patiently waiting" and "overdue" and "due date".  I guess the scrapbook companies don't think pre-term labor stickers would be very popular.  I needed stickers that said "16 weeks early" and "not ready yet" and "half-baked".  You can see why those wouldn't be popular!

Aside from the pregnancy stickers, most of the baby stickers aren't even applicable.  "Bundle of Joy" doesn't seem to fit when you are looking at your 1 lb baby struggling to live.  I did later use that sticker at about 6 months old.  You can't use the sticker "he's finally here" when he shouldn't be here for another 16 weeks.  When exactly do you use the sticker "newborn baby" for a micro-preemie anyway?  When they are born or when they should have been born?  One package of stickers says "Who came to visit?"  Well, we were only allowed 4 visitors in the NICU so the list wouldn't be too long on that one.

Then you have a slew of stickers you can't use because they are just so understated to the enormity of your situation like "tiny fingers and tiny toes".  No one knows "tiny" until they have seen a 23/24 week baby.  I didn't use the sticker "love at first sight" either because sadly, I don't think those were the first words that came to mind.  The order of my thoughts went more along the lines of- shock, disbelief, sadness, desperation, pleading with God, mixed with how much I loved them and needed them to live.


I just searched online and found that they do make NICU stickers (pictured above).  I should have searched ealier because I would have probably used a few of these.  Although, I have to say that it does seem a little strange to make a cute sticker about getting a blood transfusion or to make a sticker that says "bradycardia" with a heart for the "a" like it's a pleasant, happy thing.  Come on, scrapbook sticker makers; it's when a baby's heart rate drops significantly and scares the mother half to death.  The cutesy heart really seems out of place. 

 
I will get off my scrapbooking rant now so I can actually get some scrapbooking done!

4 comments:

Jessi said...

Ok some of those NICU stickers are just odd! I have a whole bunch of pregnancy stickers and I will probably end up giving them to a friend that likes to scrapbook. I'm just impressed you are a scrapbooker! I always have such good intentions, but then it ends up stressing me out :)

Marcie said...

I agree....very impressive that you are a scrapbooker. I wish I had it in me but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Did you really feed them every 3 hours for a year? Wow! I don't know you did it. That is quite an accomplishment.

Michelle said...

Marcie-

Yes, we had major feeding challenges, and Camdyn (daughter) would not eat very much at one time. Cade was tube fed, but I worked with him every feeding too so he would learn to eat. We did eventually get to a 6 hour stretch where I fed them at midnight and my husband fed them at 6 AM. Then every 3 hours throughout the day. We both got a good stretch of sleep when we were able to switch to that schedule. Just writing that now reminds me of the exhaustion. I'm so thankful we are no longer doing that!

I'm still working fervently on getting these scrapbooks up to date before the weekend. I do better when I make myself a deadline. After this though, I might just go to the photo albums you can order on Snapfish. This is taking way too long!

Sarah Pope said...

Michelle,
ohhhh how I remember the days of 3 hour feeds. Seriously...we did it for a year too. Could NOT get Samuel to grow.
Seriously? The NICU stickers are creepy. Maybe some people couuld make them look cute...but I'd never be able to pull it off.
I used to be a big scrapbooker until I had Samuel. I haven't even tried starting his yet.
A friend made me one though...and instead of using stickers related to babies or the NICU, she picked a theme (which happened to be African animals.) Turned out really cute. You'll have to post some of you favorite pages when your done. Good luck finishing in time!