Florida

For Zane’s fifth birthday this year, we traveled to Florida with my parents to celebrate in the place where he was born: Cape Coral/Ft. Myers. It was Zane’s first flight. We were very nervous about spending four hours in the air with him. Zane is not a big crier, but he often vocalizes. Very loudly. At times, it is impossible to quiet him down. But we were thrilled by how well he did. And he truly seemed to enjoy the experience.

We visited the hospital where Zane was born. A flood of memories returned as we drove the same route, walked through the same front doors we left behind five years ago, spied the children’s memorial we once visited, and rode the elevator to the floor that holds a wide breadth of emotions for us. But we reconnected with one of the neonatologists and three of the nurses we came to know well during Zane’s 17-day stay in the NICU: Heather, Karen, and Peggy. We loved seeing them again! They treated Zane and our family with so much respect and love that we will always cherish them. We met and chatted with them outside the family room where the news of Zane’s trisomy 18 was delivered to us. Neither Jeff nor I even ventured a peek into the room. And that was okay. Some things are better left to the past.

The trip would not have been possible without the generosity of my parents. Thank you to them for sharing the anniversary with us. Also, many thanks to my Uncle Frank for allowing us to use his vacation home in Cape Coral: the same home where we lived for a short time before and after Zane's birth.