Baby Lily

My older sister had Lily on Sunday morning. Ben and I were planning on heading to Salt Lake on Friday to come and see her but we had a quick change of plans. We were sitting in sacrament meeting waiting for more texts and pics of this new sweet baby and Ben turned to me and said: "You need to be with your family." We drove home from church, packed up the car, and less then 2 hours later we were on the road. Thank you to my wonderful husband for getting me here.

Lily is my sisters fourth daughter, and second born with partial trisomy 16 partial monosomy 9...which is a chromosomal problem. Charlotte was her first trisomy baby and passed away February 2009 at 3 1/2 years old after being loved and obsessed over by everyone that knew her. We weren't sure how long Lily would be here but after a couple scary days, it seems she is here to stay for awhile. She is still in the NICU but is making progress everyday. My sister is an amazing writer and also a nurse and is therefore much better at conveying the details on her blog which is http://booferd.blogspot.com. We've been to the hospital a lot but somehow I always forget my camera...these pics are courtesy of her blog.

It has been so, so good to be here. So special to see such a beautiful new baby. So nice to be with my sister and family. So fun to have my girls play with their cousins, aunts, uncle and grandparents. Ben kept telling me during my bouts with homesickness that I was idealizing Utah but it turns out I wasn't. It really is THAT great.

Visiting Lily in the NICU has brought back so many memories from when Rosie and Evie were there. All the beeping alarms and tubes. Bad memories of postpartum sobbing, loneliness, and rocking babies that won't finish their bottles. But also really sweet memories of being there late at night with Ben on the Fourth of July. Being with my mom there in the mornings. Good friends making a special effort to come and see them.

While they were there, Ben and I talked about Charlotte a lot. I miss that little girl. We always knew Rosemary and Evelyn were going to be just fine but we got a tiny glimpse of how hard it is to have babies in the hospital. It is torture watching them be poked and pricked and not being able to take them home with you. I don't know how my sister and her husband survived it the first time with Charlotte, and now they are starting round 2 with Lily.

But I do know that they can do it. This is what life is all about. I know these babies are special and have a very important mission. They receive a body and are born into an eternal family which I think is the only part of their mission that is for themselves. They don't ever walk to take themselves places or talk to tell you what they would like to do. Their mission is selfless. Charlotte brought so much joy and love with her and strengthened our family more during her short life than any other single event. Having children teaches us so much about service and sacrifice and real Christ-like love. It helps us learn how to love like our Father in Heaven loves us and to become the kind of people He needs us to be. I don't think anything else comes close. These special babies intensify the process and have the power to extend that teaching and love beyond just their parents but into the world around them. They are the most humble, beautiful, tender of teachers. Their presence extends the arms of heaven.

I'm so grateful to have the Gospel and these beautiful truths in my life. I am so grateful that families are forever and that one day I'll be able to hug and thank Charlotte for everything she did. For now though, I'm so excited to get to know baby Lily and learn from her.