Dear Precious Miracle Babies:

When Ava and Brennan were in NICU, I decided to write them letters. My goal in writing these letters was to one day show them their struggles and how strong they were. I wrote them when I was watching them sleep in their incubators, or their open cribs. I will spare you and only post a few of the letters.

The first letter was written on 11/13/08, when they were nearly one week old.

Dear Ava,
As I fill this out, you lay in front of me in your isolette. You are almost one week old. At this exact moment one week ago, contractions started and you and Brennan wanted out your cozy home. We like to think you just wanted a Christmas present. You are the most beautiful baby girl we have ever layed eyes on. You are more perfect than we ever imagined. We are so proud of how strong you've been, despite your tiny size. You thrive more and more everyday and you will never know how proud we are of you. You are our little hero. I know your miss your brother, and we are working very hard to have him back here with you soon. We are so lucky to be your parents. We love you more than anything, sweetheart and look forward to our lives together.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Dear Brennan,
As I fill this out, you are in NICU at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egelston. You've had a rough start. I sometimes blame myself that you were born early, and have had to endure so much already. When you were 3 days old, you were diagnosed with a perforated bowel. The Neonatologist told me you would have to be sent to either Augusta or Atlanta to Egelson. We were so afraid. We were so mad. It wasn't fair that our sweet baby had to have surgery and at only 72 hours old. The Angel Team came to get you and took you away from us. We left sissy in the care of Gammy and Pop and we left for Atlanta to be with you. We got to see you briefly before the surgery. We kissed you, told you how much we loved you, and cried. It was so hard for us not to be in control of our own son. You were taken away to surgery. Everyone was praying for you....everyone. After what seemed like an eternity, the surgeon came out and told us you had done great during the surgery. They ended up only have to cut a small portion of your intestine (a few centimeters). She informed us that there would be no long term complications and she expected you to recover nicely. Our prayers had been answered. God is so good. We never realized how powerful prayer was until you and your sister came along. You are still on the ventilator. They intubated you for surgery. They are keeping you on it to ensure that your pain medications won't depress your breathing. You are doing so well, though! You are on room air settings on the vent, which means you will probably be weaned tomorrow. They don't forsee it being a problem, since you had no respiratory problems at birth. We are so proud of you. You are so, very strong. It looks as though you will be back with your sister in about 1 week. You have to have a bowel movement, and then digest your breastmilk before you can go back to Athens with sissy. For now, they are giving your tummy a rest. Baby boy, you amaze us more and more everyday. You and sissy are our heros. We love you more than anything, sweetheart and can't wait until you're home with us. We are going to have so much fun together. Until next time, stay strong. We love you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy