Withdrawal Babies

A few weeks ago as I was resting in bed before going to sleep, I checked my phone to make sure that I didn't have any missed calls or emails and when I did this, an article in the news section on my phone caught my attention.

I clicked on the article and it took me to this video.

Watching this video is hard because my Tater was one of those babies and it reminds me of the pain that he went through.  He had all the symptoms that the doctor describes in this video.  His little body had tremors like the babies in this video and honestly, his were a lot stronger than the ones you see here.  When he wasn't swaddled, his little arms and legs would shake.  It is sad to remember those rough days, to remember how helpless he was.  

 Even when he wasn't crying, he always had a furrowed brow, a sign that he was in pain and going through withdrawals. 

 He spent the first six weeks of his life tightly swaddled about 20+ hours a day.

We spent a ton of time sitting in the less than comfy recliner caring for our boy.  If we arrived and he was already asleep, we had to leave him in his isolette because picking him up would upset him. 

While he was in the NICU, we did everything we could to get him home faster.  We wanted him home, but boy were we naive.   We assumed that when they let him go home that his withdrawals would be over, but we were so wrong.  Yes, there were good moments, but we had lots of these moments. 

He wasn't the typical baby.  He didn't know how to self soothe and couldn't.  He could scream for hours and his cry was such a high pitch screaming cry.  Holding him and soothing him didn't always do the trick.  There were many times that I felt that he should have been back in the hospital, that they let him go home too soon.  It wasn't until probably the six month mark that we really started to see a big improvement. 

As horrible as the withdrawal was, he has no lasting effects from it and thankfully, he doesn't remember any of it.  He is a perfectly healthy and normal two year old.  Was the withdrawal horrible?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Yes.  So thankful that those days are behind us, that even though he had a rough start, he is one awesome little boy.