Lucas James Stisher: May - Mother's Day and Anat Baniel

This is one of my favorite pictures! Its the first time sitting by himself for a haircut.

Bran and I continue to serve on the Parent Advisory Committee for the NICU at Children’s Hospital. This year I am heading up the events committee and coordinated a gift for Nurse’s Appreciation Week, and Mother’s Day/Father’s Day gifts to the parents with babies in the NICU. Since we spent both holidays with Lucas in the hospital, I know it is a difficult time for parents. I remember how touched we were on those days to walk in and receive a gift at the bedside “To Mommy” and “To Daddy”. This time, I got the privilege of working on this from the other side. We decided to give a stamp kit to capture tiny footprints, and I created a special card for them. The nurses stamped the footprints before the mothers came in that day and had it waiting by the bedside.

It was also meaningful to me because it was difficult to get footprints of Lucas in the early days of his life… but these tiny-tiny footprints are one of my most cherished items from his birth. I delivered 50 of them... but that also means 50 babies were fighting for their lives on these days, and 50 sets of parents were hurting… its not right. The sad reality is, since the babies that are at Children’s tend to be the sickest ones, many never make it home. If I was able to give one parent something they can cherish forever with these footprints, I am happy. We did a similar thing for Father's Day with a photo folder, and a place for a picture.

We went to New York for a weekend of therapy with Marcy again and two sessions with Anat Baniel herself!! It was amazing (and expensive)… but seeing her work with Lucas was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I know it sounds hard to imagine, that two sessions with one person can make an impact, but you have to just see her in action to understand. She told us at the end of the second day that she sees so much potential in Lucas, specifically because he is so alert and attentive to “listening” to his body when she is working with him. This is a huge sign that he has the capacity to learn these movements. She told us at the end, “every once in awhile I meet a child that I am burning to get my fingers on…. Lucas is one of these children because I see so much potential.” She reminded us that our critical window of learning is right now, and we have to keep focused on this over the next several months.

"Happy Mother's Day" Footprint Cards