1999 - Part III (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

We missed a lot during Kellisa's time in the NICU, but Lisa missed one of the moments that moms cherish and remember forever, getting discharged with their newborn. It wasn't the same, but a nurse wheeled Lisa out of the hospital with Kellisa on her lap. Even with oxygen, monitors, and wires everywhere, it was a beautiful moment.

 

The one normal thing we did was order a large wooden stork to be placed on our front lawn for Kellisa’s arrival. It was huge with a large red heart painted with Kellisa’s name and date of birth. When we arrived home, we took celebratory pictures of Kellisa with the stork in front of our house. After the pictures, Lisa carried Kellisa through our front door for the first time. Kellisa was home.

 

1999 - Part I (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

Lisa and I rarely purchase alcohol. We decided to buy a bottle of champagne on the last day of 1998. Before checking out, Lisa decided that she wanted to purchase a pregnancy test to be sure she wasn’t pregnant before taking her two sips of champagne to ring in 1999.

 

After many years of countless negative results, I failed to get excited while Lisa went through the process of completing the test. To our shock and excitement, the test came back positive. It was after 10pm on New Year’s Eve, but we wanted to be 100% sure before we got too excited. Lisa found a clinic open and we raced to have another test completed.