31 Comments:

Very cool idea about the postcards. Later, you could store them in one of those photo albums with the clear sleeves.

Okay, now don't call me crazy, but can they take a little breastmilk and either drip or swab a tiny bit into the irritated passages? As you know, human milk has healing properties. Moms use it not only to feed their babies but as a natural remedy to clear up skin irritations, pink eye, warts, baby acne, diaper rash and even ear infections. It is loaded with antibodies and white blood cells and seems to soothe and repair quite well. Well, just a wild idea that popped into my head. The nurses might laugh at you... or they might be interested in the idea. There are little pages all over the net if you google "breastmilk remedies" Here is just one so you know I'm not making this stuff up http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2330/ but anyway, you'd have to be careful not to use too much and make him choke and gag.

I can't wait to see photos around Eric's bed once these postcards start coming in!!
Hugs
C

By  Anonymous, at 8:18 AM  

thanks for posting the comment kati and letting everyone know who gave me the great idea. even if we don't get a single card from anywhere else, we'll very much enjoy our postcard from budapest.

and you just never know - perhaps someday we'll be able to take you up on the offer for dinner. i'm certainly not one to ever turn down free food :-)

thanks again. nice post today b.t.w.

By  e3, at 9:23 AM  

Eric -
I am a preemie father too, and I blogged my stay two years ago. My son, Andy, was born 1lb, 4oz and had 8 operations (including 5 for ROP) before getting out 106 days later. Andy just turned two, and while he is delayed in development, he is a joy and healthy. I now am a volunteer and speak for the March of Dimes. Visit their website http://www.marchofdimes.com where they have some good stuff on preemies. Trust the nurses, question the residents, and wear clean socks. If there is anything I can research for you, let me know, I am starting up a preemie parent support board, and need to do research anyway. robb@vaules.com - I will get Andy's blog back up shortly. http://andy.vaules.com - not that you need to relive it, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Don't forget to post pictures of family, and beenie babies are good for the issolets, some nurses use them for positioning.

Go to the doctor and have a full physical now. The stress can add up, and YOU need to be healthy too.

By  Robb, at 9:15 AM  

wow, andy. it's amazing how similar the stories are - i kept referring to kris' condition as preeclampsia as that was what the doctor's were calling it, but later we discovered that it was technically HELLP. our neighbors had preemie triplets are are very involved with varios local support groups including the march of dimes and i can see how this could motivate one to get very active in whatever way possible. i'm glad to see that andy is healthy and happy.

funny that you should mention getting a physical. i've put on a few pounds because i'm eating horribly and have stopped running. i happened to measure my blood pressure and it appears to be permantly elevated even though i feel fine. or relatively fine. i can certainly see how it could add up.

By  e3, at 11:01 AM  

Eric, God will watch over you and your little son. I will pray for him, and hope anyone reading about him will pray. There is so much power in prayer. I know, as I almost lost my son three years ago. He is fine now. I know God has a plan for him as well as your little Eric. I came across your site accidentally, now I check back everyday. I never heard of Kangaroo care, what a great idea. May God Bless you, Kris and Eric IV.

By  Anonymous, at 11:39 PM  

thanks "anonymous" for your kind words. i'm glad your son is doing well after what must have undoubtably been a very difficult time.

By  e3, at 12:07 AM  

i'm still working on a good way to give people an idea of where eric's postcards are coming from. we seem to get a couple and then a day or two will go by and we'll get a few more, so we always have a new place to describe to eric. while i work on a webbified way of looking at the postcards, i wanted to take a moment to give you a low-fi glimpse into where his cards are coming from ( in no particular order ).

kathleen in canada ( no particular province specified, as it's a picture of a "mountie" )
emily in massacheusetts ( postmark doesn't betray anything more specific than 'e central ma' )
judy from lake orion, michigan ( a handmade card with pictures of eric! how cool is that? thanks judy )
adam and johanna from sonoma county, california
adam and johanna from san francisco, california
adam and johanna from hollywood, california ( a threefer! thanks! )
janelle from maryland ( altough the postcard was of lambeau field in green bay wisconsin, which she was saving for a special occasion! )
anonymous broke all the rules and send a picture of a rhino and didn't sign his or her name.
nordic mama from stockholm sweden
suzanne from stockholm
becky from san jose, california
becky from san jose, california ( twofer! )
danielle from new york city
danielle from montreal ( twofer! )
candy from north carolina ( hmmmm. who could that be )
candy from north carolina ( another twofer - and yes, you get bonus points for your choice of sending a card that features a picture of the norse god odin. i have no idea where you found that. )
linda and dennis from grand rapids, michigan.
rebecca from cleveland ohio
monica of mount washington new hampshire, from massacheusetts ( we hike there as kids )
al from santa clarita, california
lili from ireland
susan from seattle

and, the person who started this all - kati - sent a card from vienna. so we haven't even really received our postcard from budapest yet.

she claims it'll be in the mail Real Soon :-)

of course, many, many thanks to everyone who has sent a card. it takes a lot of forethought to actually go out and get a postcard, write on it, get a stamp and put it in the mail. we greatly appreciate each and every one.

By  e3, at 7:19 PM  

arrggh. why can't you edit blogger comments, ev or steve :-)

suzanne from is from scotland, not stockholm. bit by the ol' cut-and-paste bug.

By  e3, at 8:21 PM  

Awesome list!! BTW - Kathleen is from Toronto Ontario

By  Anonymous, at 8:08 AM  

more postcards!

ruth and dennis from new hampshireliz and walker from phoenix, arizonajustin and melissa from memphis, tennesseeallison from sacramento, californiatherese from corvalis, oregon

By  e3, at 1:09 AM  

uh. obviously, i can't properly put line breaks in the comments.

By  e3, at 1:10 AM  

Hey Eric,

It's Jon Gross from those hazy days at Evergreen, and I stumbled upon your site again, which I've been known to do from time to time. Historically, I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about 95% of the time (p<.01), but I ran across your Eric IV saga, and I wanted to let you know that Christian and I mention you and your family everytime we get together, and I wanted to let you know that I hope things go well. I'll keep myself posted.

Cheers.

Jon

By  Anonymous, at 11:04 PM  

hi jon! i thought i'd completely lost contact with you and christian. i'm sure eric would enjoy a postcard from the great northwest :-)

send me an email so i know that i have your latest email address.

By  e3, at 2:09 PM  

wow. the mail room must be stockpiling cards because we got a whole bunch today after going a few days without getting any!

edie from grand rapids, michiganjen from new york, new york ( yes, you - jen from granduate school! )
ann from victoria, british columbia, canadalillian from green bay, wisconsingrandpa and grandma salmi from gladstone, michigan ( his first "yooper" card! )
rebecca from cleveland, ohio ( twofer )
annie from pasadena, california ( finally got in annie, thanks! )
don, sherri and nicole from gladstone, michigan ( another "yooper" card! coincidence? naaaah. )
kc from waterford, michiganmatt, deborah and malbec from chicago, illinois ( wooohooo, go lance armstrong! )
emily from nova scotiamark, barb, piper and aidan from dayton, ohio ( thanks! someday i'll call you back with our home address :-) )
adam, paula and isabela from sacramento, californiabruce and susie from grand rapids, michigan ( how come nothing from your neglectful son :-) )
grandma and great grandma rier and kirk from machias, mainejon from seattle, washingtonthanks everyone! more than a few people have commented on how difficult it is to find a pastcard these days in certain parts of the u.s. and the world, so thanks for going through the effort!

By  e3, at 12:08 AM  

wow. there is definately a bug in blogger's commenting code because i know there were line breaks in that last comment. sigh.

By  e3, at 12:10 AM  

jon was talking about the evergreen state college in lovely olympia washington, so i probably didn't run into travis, unless he ended up going to college there.

and there's no limit as to how many postcards he can get from a particular city :-)

By  e3, at 3:22 PM  

Didja get both postcards from N.S. or just the one??

Emily

By  Anonymous, at 8:41 AM  

Didja get both postcards from N.S. or just the one??

Emily

By  Anonymous, at 8:41 AM  

we did get both cards emily, thanks! the one you sent especially for us was very funny and makes us laugh everytime we look at it. i need to fix my scanner so everyone can see it :-)

By  e3, at 9:48 AM  

the cards keep trickling in. we were thinking of visiting all the places that received postcards from, which should keep us travelling for years to come.

malbec from chicago, illinois ( a twofer! who knew you could get two cards from a dog? he's putting all you humans to shame :-) )


rena from holyoke, massachusettslori from palm harbor, floridarachel from olympia, washington ( hi rachel! hope you're having fun in bloomington. )



tina from tuscaloosa, alabama ( thanks for the wonderful comments, tina, and the pictures of your beautiful 30 weeker ).

By  e3, at 12:57 PM  

and more still!

adam and johanna from new york, new york ( fourfer! keep 'em coming :-) )

auntie monica from machias, maine ( a twofer! )

great aunt linda and uncle jim from machias, maine ( actually, it was postmarked from portland, but we'll call it machias anyway :-) )

aaron from anaheim, california ( glad to hear your doing well, aaron )

kirsty, steve, katie and nicolette from birmingham, UK. ( thanks for the card from waaaaay across the pond and i'm glad to hear katie's doing great ).

By  Anonymous, at 1:02 AM  

d'oh! for reasons that i can't explain, blogger occasionally thinks i'm 'anonymous', but i really did post the previous comment. really.

By  e3, at 1:08 AM  

Hi,

Your web site was posted on the preemie-l board, so I just had to check it out. Your site is wonderful and your son, well, beautiful. I am mom to Becky, a 30-weeker born last September. Your son is in our prayers. And by the way, you can get those Soothie pacifiers at www.childmed.com - a bucketful, I think is $40.00. They have all different sizes.

Respectfully,

Deb Discenza
Mom to Becky, 30-weeker, 9/7/03
ddiscenza@mac.com

By  Anonymous, at 9:22 PM  

woohoo! more postcards! thanks! and keep 'em coming so we have even more places to visit when eric gets old enough.


deirdre from west warwick, rhode island ( deirdre is a nurses aid in a level II nicu and is yet another person to note that it's really quite difficult to find a postcard these days. )

jen from long island, new york. ( jen encourages us to take a vacation to long island, which i agree we really must do )

neil from edison, new jersey ( neil is a self proclaimed "blog addict" and sent us a great card with a picture of nearby washington crossing, new jersey which doesn't look anything like the new jersey i've seen. i a good way :-) )

ali, diva and scout from dulles, virginia ( ali knows we have a bernese mountain dog and sent us a wonderful postcard with berners on the front. thanks! )

By  e3, at 12:16 AM  

taking a moment away from the snowdeal show...

ali, diva and scout from dulles, virginiai don't know if you meant to do it or not, but you're one of two people in my entire life who have referred to me as ali. the other? my friend craig from canada. i haven't talked to him in ages, thanks for reminding me to track him down. :)

okay, back to the snowdeal show...

By  Allura, at 1:42 PM  

and still more postcards!

matt ( and deborah and malbec ) from chicago, illinois ( a threefer! well, a threefer if you count the two cards that their doc, malbec has sent :-) )

the robinsons from yosemite national park ( we'll definately come hiking the half dome with you when eric IV is old enough in a few years )

gavin from chicago, illinois ( who says, "fight all you can, but when all else fails keep on truckin'!" )

allison and doug from denver, colorado ( hi allison and doug! thanks for the card and hopefully we'll see you in grand rapids sooner rather than later )

johanna and adam from st. louis, mo ( jeez, louise - a fivefer! you're putting our family to shame :-) )

johanna and adam from medocino, california ( a sixfer!!!!!! i'm on to you, you're just trying to make our lives more difficult by giving us an impossible number of locations to visit when eric gets older )

stacy from san francisco, california ( thanks for the beautiful poem! )

aurelia from austin, texas ( i'm glad your mommy reads the blog, aurelia, and thank you very much for the card )

karen from morro bay, california ( i think we've received more cards from california than any other state. thanks! )

lori from palm harbor, florida ( if i'm not mistaken, this a twofer from lori. with any luck, i'm quite certain that we'll visit disneyworld someday. )

By  e3, at 1:33 AM  

our daughter, now 20, was fearful to the point of tears in places where things like chandeliers or museum displays hung from the ceiling, and we only learned about 8 years ago that that sort of creepy feeling was common among preemies. even now, she'd rather stay away from certain restaurants and museums. maybe it won't be an issue with odin, but if it is, maybe you'll be more understanding than we were for such a long time.

By  Anonymous, at 8:16 PM  

we received a few more postcards in the past couple of weeks. hopefully we didn't lose too many in the move to the new nicu. the old nicu has been good at forwarding us the postcards, but i don't know how much longer they'll keep forwarding them, so be sure to use the new address if you're going to send a postcard ( or anything else :-) )

ava from toronto, canada ( ava is a 28 weeker, now 13 mos old and weighs 14.5 pounds! and who knows ava, maybe your paths will cross someday. )

autie valerie, cousin richele and uncle dan from old orchard beach, maine ( howdy! )

christine from vancouver, canada ( thanks for the great card of the ferry crossing near vancouver. i miss friday harbor and the straights of juan de fuca ;-) )

rebecca from ohio ( a threefer! thanks! )

matt and deb from chicago, illinois ( a fourfer! )

vanillasky from manchester (?), UK ( thanks for sending the card from so far away, it might take us a few years to get to the UK, but we'll get there eventually :-) )

caterina, stewart, george, jason, cal, and dos pesos - aka the very fine folks at flickr ( there were a few scribblings i couldn't read, so i might have left off a few names, sorry! you all have been supportive from the very beginning and i'm mighty appreciative that you took the time to send a postcard. maybe we'll have to bring odin to vancouver visit the sprawling flickr world headquarters. thanks!

By  e3, at 9:25 PM  

i apologize since this one is looooooong overdue, as it nearly slipped through the cracks in the move to the new nicu. anyway, a very special thanks to rebecca from clevelend, ohio who, in additional to sending many postcards, also sent odin some music, including "Mccaughey Septuplets: Sweet Dreams", " I Can Only Imagine: Lullabies for a Peaceful Rest" and michael card: come to the cradle.

thanks rebecca!

By  e3, at 4:45 PM  

we're back from the nicu and we're stillllllllll getting postcards - some from very far away!

Sigurrós from reykjavik (?), iceland ( you remembered! you're brain isn't a sieve! )

carolyn from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England ( thanks! )

jessamyn from tunbridge (?), vermont. ( she mentions the "fall colors" and probably doesn't know that we used to live in orford, new hampshire are kind of miss the "crazy onslaught of tourists" ).

catherine (i hope i got that right, the writing was small :-) ) from minneapolis, minnesota ( thanks for keeping him in your thoughts! )

mike, kim and anna from charlevoix, michigan ( wow! hi mike and family ( mike's a long lost friend from grand rapids )! it's been a lomg time since i've heard from you and i hope things are going great.

laura from salt lake city, utah ( finally, we can plan a trip to salt lake city!)

cari from the smithsonian natural history museum in washington, d.c. ( another long, lost friend who is now rooting for us along with everyone lese in the department of mineral sciences! )

leslie from chicago, illinois ( hi leslie! maybe i'll see you in atomix someday again :- ) )

jen from austin, texas ( who amusingly crossed out the "texas" in "don't mess with texas!" and replaced it with "eric". )

christian from somerville, massachusetts ( another long lost friend! thanks for the card christian. )

candy from charlotte, north carolina ( wooohoo another threefer! )

dana from henderson, north carolina ( who thanks me for my generosity in sharing odin's story of "strength and hope and love". you're very welcome and thanks for the very thoughtful card. )

By  e3, at 8:01 PM  

Hi,
came across your site while looking for info about our own micro-preemie. Little Eric seems to have done all the things our Jamie has done, and some more besides! Best wishes to you, and if you get chance you might like a quick look at jamie-and-tom.blogspot.com . Jamie's still waiting for his exit ticket but is doing OK so far - sadly his little brother Tom didn't make it; we lost him when he was just over a month old.

Ant.

By  Antony, at 10:12 AM  

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