Scrappy Doo

So, Hand to Hold, a local non-profit focusing on NICU residents/graduates, preterm labor and pregnancy and infancy loss, is having a competition called Preemie Power where people enter their preemies as Preemie of the Year as a superhero.  I wasn't going to do it because I knew I wasn't going to ask people to vote, but a friend who works there asked that people submit to get more involvement/awareness and so I did.   You can see what I wrote at: http://goo.gl/Tgocc (it's short for http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/154302/voteable_entries/33446259).

Filling out the application had me really stop and think about it and the kid really is Scrappy Doo.  Scrappy Doo is a nickname one of his NICU nurses called him, because he always seemed a bit stronger than they anticipated at every stage.  Still remains true.  I guess I'm bothering to write this to reflect on the fact that he is strong, good-natured and just all-around a good egg.  And I think we should keep him.

In other news, Trajan has requested that Chiron be Scrappy Doo for Halloween, so there will be a picture coming of Chiron in Scrappy Doo attire!

While I'm not attempting to get people to vote for him, it's worth taking a moment to look at http://www.handtohold.org/, because it's a really cool organization.

Wow!  I'm editing this because what I said isn't true anymore.  I wrote this post because I accidentally published it to Facebook that I had voted for him on my wall and that made me think about it.  Well, that same click has resulted in an amazing number of people voting for him.  He's flown from somewhere 60th to 70th place to 11th in the last hour! 

What I'm really drawing from this is that people really care about this little, scrappy fella.  He made a frequent appearance on my Facebook page since well before he was born and I really think he must have a lot of cheerleaders for that progress to have happened. 

The other lesson is that perhaps I should think about opening up more to the general world on the issues of prematurity and stillbirth and the like, because there are people out there that will hear.  Not harp or anything, but perhaps a bit more reference.  I posted the same night we found out about the demise and was floored by the response from that.  I posted throughout the NICU stay and really was amazed by the compassion and connection of people.  The other day I posted just a little picture showing that he was sitting and was truly astounded by how many people stopped to comment or just take the time to hit the like button. 

So, I like humanity and am glad to be a part of it with y'all.