T-Shirts and Our *Family*

Here is the final t-shirt design. I took it up to Sharp Ink (a local place) and she said the design looked great. I will be calling her this morning sometime to add my final count on the number of t-shirts to order. So far we have about 60 shirts to order!
Here is the design for the kids' t-shirts. That is...the preemies. I will be making these at home. I want to introduce you to the preemies on our team. All of these babies are graduates from the NICU at Mercy Hospital, thus the name "Miracles of Mercy". Each of these kids and their families we met and became friends with either because we were in the NICU together or after leaving the NICU and during a NICU graduate meeting. They are all dear friends of ours and we're super excited to have this great big family team made up of our awesome NICU friends!

You all know Ryan. He's mine. He was born at 24 weeks (23 weeks 5 days according to the charts we were keeping at home). He weighed 1 pound 8 ounces. He was in the NICU 90 days. Ryan is now 2.
Here is Macy! Macy is a twin. She was born 10 weeks early at 30 weeks. She weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces. She was in the NICU for about 2 months. She was on a ventilator for a week or two. Macy will be 2 in a week or two.
Connor is also a twin. Macy is his sister. He was born first and was the biggest of the two. He weighed 3 pounds 9 ounces. He was in the NICU for about 6 weeks. His NICU stay was relatively uneventful although still very stressful for his parents. He was on oxygen for just a day or two, but never had to be on a ventilator. He came home a couple of weeks before his sister, Macy. Connor will be 2 in a week or two.

Macy and Connor's mom, Janelle, had a lot of trouble getting pregnant and after much prayer and with the help of medicine God blessed her with twins. Needless to say she was terrified when she went into labor and subsequently delivered her twins 10 weeks early. I met Janelle about a week or two before her twins were born at a ladies' Bible study/fellowship. When her twins were delivered the babies were brought to the NICU and were in the beds right next to us. The were our neighbors! All of about 2 hours we were neighbors, for they kicked us out of the intensive care side of the NICU that evening. We've been good friends ever since. We have regular play dates and our kids just love to play together.
This is Lillie! Lillie was born at 36 weeks which in the world of medicine is only considered 1 week premature although 4 weeks before her due date. She weighed 2 pounds 15 ounces. Why so small you ask? Her mom, Sarah, had severe high blood pressure throughout her pregnancy. Finally, after being at 36 weeks and still never having felt her baby move, she went to the doctor and insisted that something was seriously wrong. They did an emergency c-section and out came this beautiful, tiny little girl. She suffered from IUGR (intra-uterine-growth-restriction?). Basically she was wasn't getting any nutrients while inside and was starving. I met Lillie and her mom at a NICU graduate meeting just recently. We've e-mailed back a forth quite a few times, and I hope to get to know this family better as time goes on.
Here is Ryan! Ryan was born 10 weeks early, at 30 weeks and weighed 3 pounds 7 ounces. I met his mom, Rebecca, while we were in the NICU. We met at a Parent meeting one evening and have been good friends ever since. Ryan was born 3 weeks after my Ryan. His NICU stay was amazing. He did so well and was able to go home several weeks before his original due date. Ryan is a little brother to an angel and a big brother to a baby-to-be. Gavin was the first baby born to this family. He was born at about 23-24 weeks gestation (same as my Ryan), but he passed away a week or two later. Rebecca is currently pregnant with "baby-to-be". She doesn't know what she is having, but she and her husband are very excited. She has been in the hospital on strict bedrest for 4 weeks, so I've had the pleasure of visiting with her and seeing her fairly regularly. She is now at 32-33 weeks with this baby, and is excited and anxious about meeting her new little one. She never dreamed she would have made it this far in this pregnancy. She went on home bedrest at about 20 weeks. If you think about it, say a prayer for this family.
Meet Peyton! Peyton was born at 33 weeks, 7 weeks early. She weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces. She is doing very well now, and is quite the *BIG* girl for being a preemie. She has some preemie issues though...vision problems, breathing problems. She just turned 1 on March 31st. I met Peyton and her mom, Ashlee, at a NICU graduate meeting. We don't get to spend a lot of time together, but we e-mail fairly regularly.