After spending 11 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), my newest son Isaac has finally come home. I beg you to indulge this proud father one more time. Last week I wrote about my disappointment and fear at having my newborn hooked up to various pieces of breathing apparatus to help him as his underdeveloped lungs slowly got stronger. It was hard to see him in pain and not be able to comfort him.

But all of that came to a sudden close when I got a call from a nurse at the hospital yesterday saying that my son was good to go. I was worried he might need to take home some oxygen equipment that I would have to learn how to use, but thankfully he was breathing on his own without the need for any assistance.

Here he is just moments after he arrived home with his big brothers and mom (sans his sister who was busy elsewhere at the moment).

As it turns out, Isaac’s extended stay in the hospital was more fortuitous than frustrating. In the week after giving birth, my wife had been shaking terribly whenever her pain medication wore off. She had never experienced anything like that in the past after all of her previous pregnancies, so she didn’t know what was wrong. It turned out that she had gotten an infection that sapped her strength and made her very tired. She got treated for it over the weekend and was able to sleep through most of Sunday. And now she’s back on her feet just in time for our baby to come home.

It’s like Isaac’s stay in the NICU was perfectly timed to coincide with my wife’s own recovery from the pregnancy. I have seen so many coincidences in my life that I consider nothing less than miracles, and this is one of them.

I promise this is the last one of these I’ll write for a long time. I’ve got so many wonderful articles about films I can’t wait to share with you, so I’ll get back to my usual subject matter next week. Thank you for joining me on this journey of discovery. I am humbled by the prospect of raising four wonderful children, but they give me the courage to keep moving forward in my work and ambitions.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.