When the Saints Go Marching In

After 99 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Clara Marie McGarvey came home on Saturday. Since nothing about this experience has been normal, we decided simply bringing Clara home in customary fashion would not be appropriate. Instead we threw a Homecoming Parade in which Clara and Wilson were the Grand Marshals (yes, they were the only float, but they were still the Grand Marshals). What actually happened surpassed our wildest expectations and will forever be one of the happiest days of our life.

For us, the parade started at Kosair Children's Hospital. We had been full or part-time residents there for 109 days (including the days Chris was hospitalized after her water broke) and grew close to several of the wonderful people who work there. In one of the more touching gestures of the day, a neonatologist who has shepherded our kids toward recovery since the delivery room asked to carry Clara to the car.

We drove home and parked the car one block away so the parade attendees wouldn't see the parade "float" until we were closer. We loaded Clara and Wilson into their double stroller, pressed "play" on the ipod system we put underneath the stroller, and rolled down the street with Lady GaGa's "Born this Way" blasting from the happiest double stroller in the world.  

We quickly rounded the corner onto our street but were not prepared for what we saw. Thirty or more of our friends and family were lining the sidewalk holding balloons and cheering for Clara and Wilson. We threw out candy, kleenex and hand sanitizer before taking the star attractions out of their stroller to meet those in attendance. 

The parade was wonderful and reminded us once again how lucky we are to have so many wonderful people holding us up and helping us through this experience. We've stated this numerous times before but can't say it enough; none of us - Chris, Morgan, Clara, or Wilson - would have made it to this point without your love, prayers, and support.  Thank you!

Of course, now that the kids are home, the parade is over and the party has started. These two night owls are a bunch of fun and we look forward to continue telling their story. We'll have more tomorrow (hopefully) on what it is like having all four of us under the same roof (here is a one word hint: crazy). We also have two doctor's appointments this week, one with the pediatrician and our first follow up with the neonatologists, and will let you know how those go. However, it is now time for the midnight feeding.

PS - We tried to insert video from our friend Bailey of the Homecoming Parade but we keep getting a message that an "error" occurred while trying to process our video. It plays on our our computer so we're sure it's our fault and will try to get that fixed as well.