Blake and Derek

Blake and Derek seem to be handling things pretty well. We work hard to make sure that we spend good time with them and we explain what is going on. They also have been very interested in visiting Brandon and Katelyn. Our family visits have been fun.

One of the things that both hospitals offer is a class for the siblings of NICU patients. They spend about an hour doing crafts. They also spend time explaining all of the equipment and tubing that is often around the babies. One method they use is giving them a homemade doll. They can color these dolls. They put monitors on the dolls and explain to the kids how they work.

This is a photo of the dolls that our boys made. If you notice they choose to put the face on the backside so the hospital gowns open in the front. And of course, they have also chosen to make them anatomically correct with thier markers. Seeing Katelyn has also brought to their attention the differences between boys and girls. All of this may sound typical of a 4 year old but for those of you who don’t know our boys well; they like to talk to everyone. This means that all of the nurses and workers at the hospital get to see and hear about their dolls and they get to know if their “baby” is a boy or a girl. I guess we need to work on teaching them when it is appropriate to talk about stuff like that.