Better known as skin to skin, because your baby’s bare skin is touching your bare skin. But I’m sure you already knew that. Since Xavier is a preemie, I wasn’t able to hold him right away. He had to go straight to his room in the NICU and get hooked up to different ventilators, feeding tubes, etc. So seeing him everyday and only being able to touch him through gloves and incubator sucked!!

We were supposed to get that opportunity on the 19th (well me) to hold him, but the respiratory therapist got busy with another baby and well, we had to leave for Leonard’s bday party. So we were ready to try again on the 20th and doctor said no because that’s when Xay had a little set back and wasn’t feeling to well. I got off the phone crying because frankly I WANT TO HOLD MY BABY! I also wanted him to be ready too so I understood that I had to wait. All week I never mentioned it to the nurses or the doctors. Then Sunday, the nurse practitioner did her daily call and asked if I had held him yet. I told her no and she said that we should give him one more day, but if he does well then she doesn’t see why we can’t go ahead and get momma and son together. Yall, I had to keep my composure but I was ready scream!!!

So Monday comes around and I’m trying to work, but in the back of my mind I’m like Please baby, I hope you are having a good day. It didn’t help that I didn’t get one phone update that day either. Just radio silence. That feeling of anxiety was just picking at me constantly through the day. We get to the hospital a little early so I could pump some fresh milk for his 5:30 feeding. The nurse said that she would call the respiratory therapist and an additional nurse to come in and get things set up. Apparently, it really takes 3 adults to move a 1lb baby because of everything he’s hooked up to. Sidebar: Leonard also changed his 1st diaper in life!! It was so cute, I had to capture the moment. After getting me situated in my rocking chair, everybody began to remove Xay from his bed. I’m just sitting there watching and hoping nothing goes wrong. Then it happens…. They put him on my chest and I just start crying. It felt like it took eternity for me to be able to hold him and I was not about to let him go any time soon. He wiggled a little bit, but for the entire 3 HOURS that I held him, he was extremely peaceful. He wanted his mommy just as much as she wanted him. At that moment, nothing would top this time that we got to share. How fitting that it was National Son Day.