since we were back in grand rapids for the holidays we thought it would be fun to make a quick trip to the nicu where odin was born on the fourth of july. nicu nurses rarely get to see the children they take care of after they leave the hospital and really enjoy the opportunity to see the wee ones as they grow.

it's hard to believe it's been five years(!) since we last visited. odin as just learning to roll over and i completely forgot that we brought a camera and printer as a gift ( amusing since i'm still remembered as the dad who took a lot of pictures ).

it seems the downturn in the local economy has reduced the birth rate which has, in turn, reduced the numbers of premature births, so there were only two nurses on duty when we visited and a mere four beds filled. but we sure were happy to find that those two nurses were two of our favorites during our stay.

in addition to her calming presence, nurse jan, on the right, is the kind of nurse who will take a video for your while you're away from the nicu ( see her giving odin a massage in day 13: the fourth. part two. ). and i still remember nurse cathy b cuddling with odin on our last day in their nicu before odin was transferred to another hospital for emergency surgery.

both are fantastic, compassionate, wonderful nurses and human beings and it was great fun to get a chance to see them again.

kris and i, of course, weren't allowed to go into the nicu, but they bent the rules a bit for odin and took him to bed 4 to show him where he spent the first 78 days of his life (out of 96 days in intenstive care ). odin told us later how he could see the tiniest hands and feet in the bed.

it's hard to get a good picture when you're standing outside a neonatal intenstive care unit but odin does his best to liven it up by sticking his tongue out in yet another attempt to stymie my attempts at photography.