Dad Documents First Harrowing Year in the Life of His Premature Baby
Ward Miles was born nearly four months ahead of schedule.
Though he may have been in a hurry to be born, it seemed the world wasn't quite ready for his arrival.
He ended up making up the difference with a three-month hospital stay that was rife with uncertainty and dread.
In the happy end, however, Ward was allowed to go home with his mom and dad to start the life that had been put on hold.
His father, Benjamin Scot Miller, knows exactly when he knew everything was going to be OK:
At the 6:00 care time, we were holding his hand, looking at him, talking to him. His CPAP mask was off, and his feeding tube was out as well. He was feeling good since he didn't have any of that on. While we were watching him, he turned his little head towards us, and then opened his eyes. We know he can't see at this stage, but the fact that he opened them, and opened them so wide we had not seen before. He stared right at us. He held our gaze. Just looked right at us. Didn't blink. I had enough time to get a photo of it. After a little while he shut his little eyes and turned his head back to the ceiling. I will never forget that moment. I feel as if he was telling us 'I'm okay!!! Don't give up on me!
A filmmaker by trade, Ben spent a year putting together a special video for his wife that documented their son's bumpy landing on Earth.
"I had tricked her into thinking I was working on other projects late into the night," he told The Huffington Post. "I called her back to my office and as soon as she saw Ward on the screen she knew I had been working on something for her and she started crying."
As have hundreds of thousands of others. As will you.
