I wasn’t sure what to do about this beard. It’s a bit of a story.

My family was in town in July and my dad was growing out his vacation beard. It was around the time Kate was entering the third trimester and gestationally exactly when my first son, Henry, was born. I don’t usually have a beard, but thinking about beards and the third trimester, naturally had me thinking it was appropriate to grow a third trimester beard.

I’ve watched enough professional sports to know that the teams with the biggest beards win in the playoffs and if beards bring success and longevity to the playoff teams, certainly beards bring health and longevity to the third trimester of a pregnancy. So I stopped shaving in July.

So now that George is born, I’ve been debating if I should shave the beard. I think of the NICU as an extension of the third trimester. I certainly want to do everything I can to support good health during George’s NICU stay, but longevity in the NICU didn’t excite me as much.

So I’ve thought about it. And for two really big reasons, I’m keeping the beard until George comes home.

1 – George was born as healthily as I could ever ask for. Sure, he was small and had all the usual complications that come with that, but he was HEALTHY. So clearly the beard worked for that part, and good health is more important than longevity anyhow.

2 – I’m happy to spend a lot of time in the NICU if it means that he comes out of here healthy and strong. Besides, it’s not like the beard did much for longevity in the first place. 😉

PS – George is doing great. He’s done with breathing support and his IV. He’s up to full feeds in his gavage tube. We’re entering into the slow part of the NICU stay – figuring out how to eat.