The arrival of our second son was much less traumatic.

He was born 2.5 months early. He was the smallest baby I ever held. I remember calling my mom with the news of the arrival of her second grand son and describing him as a small roast, you could hold him in one hand.

His mom was so high she did not even know she was giving birth....she was using throughout her pregnancy.

The case worker spent about an hour with us, showing us all the things we needed to do for him.....his skin was paper thin and there was special cream to put on it to help protect it...stuff for his eyes, what his feeding schedule needed to be and above all info on detoxing infants.

When it was time for her to leave I just wanted to grab her leg and ask her to stay......

Raising Jarod was hard....it was impossible to comfort him thru the withdrawal....all we could do was constantly change his sleepers as he would sweat profusly and take a lot of, go stand outside breaks, while he would just scream blood curling screams.....

What stands out the most in my mind about those days was My oldest son trying hard to distract him.....they both knew pain and could relate at a very special level....

The next few years we would spend weeks at a time in Chicago childrens hospital for various digestive tract and respiratory issues. At one point he required air transport to Hope Children's Hosp. I remember watching life Flight leaveand then driving there without him in the rain....praying he would still be with us, sometimes I felt so selfish....
I remember one particular event. jarod was breathing like darth vader..he was admitted to childrens hosp....one of the tests revealed a mass in his chest....while dealing with the unknown we were recieving phone calls from our 1st sons case worker....his case was to be heard by the Supreme court...this is another story, but at that we were facing the potential loss of both sons...

Miracles happen...I am witness and believe in the strength of HOPE..as both are still here with me and healthy strong, bright young boys....the years of PT OT speech therapy have paid off

We still have a long path to travel....but what family doesn't

Whats the saying....what doesn't kill you makes you strong!