Imagines...

Imagine giving birth to triplets whose combined weight is less than your full term son's birth weight.

Imagine holding your daughter's delicate hand in yours and not being able to imagine when that hand was once the size of your thumb nail.

Imagine watching your beautiful daughters walk hand in hand into their first day of kindergarten and being able to see the shadow of their brother missing alongside them.

Imagine looking at the deformed body of your son and knowing that he is so absolutely perfect.

Imagine considering it normal to drop all plans on a moments notice to spend a couple days in the hospital.

Imagine that the ambulance drivers, the ER personnel and the pharmacists all know you by name...or at least know you as "Jacob's Mom".

Imagine that the volume of a 6 year old's medical records rivals that of the "over 70" patients in your doctor's practice.

Imagine taking adopted 8 week old kittens in for a well check and realizing that these tiny fuzz balls outweigh your preemies by at least a half a pound.

Imagine when your daughter asks how small she was as an infant, grabbing two pop cans, stacking them on top of each other and telling her THAT was how big she was.

Imagine your daughters bragging to their classmates that they lived in "incubators" when they were babies just like the eggs the class is hatching.

Imagine being eternally grateful that you beat the odds and embracing a life of chaos and medical turmoil because of one muffled "I Ove Ooh" spoken by your "nonverbal" miracle.

Imagine a lap filled with giggles, arms filled with love and eyes filled with awe.

Imagine forever knowing just how precious each life is...IMAGINE!

Julie Honeyman, mom to Dane-3/20/85, Jacob, Clare and Emily-1/31/93