Saturday, April 4, 2009

Babies, Babies and More Babies

Brace yourselves! Thursday and Friday were VERY BIG days for VERY little people - AND us!!

Thursday was a very grey, rainy day (like one of the worst rain storms I have ever been in!). We got up early and headed over to the Byrne household to help with 'behind the scenes' stuff.  David had done a wonderful job of getting the nursery ready for George, Olivia and Samuel's homecoming - but washing and folding baby clothes was not high on his agenda. (Not a guy thing.) And, there were bags and bags of baby clothes given to the Byrne Babies. So, I spent time washing, folding, organizing and putting away all those cute little clothes while Gary put dressers and strollers together.

(A parenthetical note - it helps to know that Bethany went in for a doctor's appointment the end of January. They immediately sent her to Charleston (about 1.5 hours from Beaufort) for more testing. At this point, Bethany thinks she will return home and have several more weeks to 'get things in order' before the babies are born. Instead - she was put to bed there and the babies were born the next day - January 28. The babies went to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NNICU) in the Children's Hospital in Charleston and Bethany moved into Ronald McDonald house across the street from the NNICU and has NOT been home since. So - no time for Mom to get the nursery in order as she would like it!!)

Then it was time to get on the road to Charleston as we had classes waiting for us. The drive there was 'interesting' as the rain was coming down in sheets! We arrived just in time to sit in on the doctors briefing - which occurs every day around noon. The doctor and all residents and nurses gather to go over each baby (each baby has its own assigned resident doctor and nurse) discussing changes, weight gains, new care instructions, etc. This is quite a site! The other good news today is that Samuel had been moved to the Special Care Unit - so all babies were in one place! This was REALLY special - so there will be more about this in a minute.



Briefing - What a great team

Then we had to scoot to class - first we had our baby CPR class followed by monitor training. All I can say is that I truly hope we never need to use either! And, the good news is that Olivia has not had another episode in several days.

Now - back to the news about all babies in one place. This may not seem like much - but it was a BIG DEAL. All three babies were in the same room and could now be put together - something which had not happened since they were born! What an event - what a day. Needless to say there were many pictures taken - and here are some 'family photos'! (Gary and I even got in on a few.)

Together again at last


David, Bethany, Olivia, George and Samuel



Gary, Elizabeth, Omi, Mom, Dad and kids

By this time - Gary and I were exhausted!! So, we left the proud parents and Omi (David's mother Westley) with the three little ones and headed 'home' in the still pouring rain. There was no scrabble this night as we both fell into bed. However - remember that thing about the worst storm ever?!?!? Again, we were under storm/tornado/flood watches. A little before 3 AM we both woke up with the sounds on the roof of the Bus. Gary said - hail. We both just listened until there was this HUGE thud right over my head - which scared the crap out of me!!! Again, Gary said - hail. I said - NO WAY was that hail - it would have had to be baseball size to make that noise! Next morning we found the culprit - a limb from one of the many trees over our head - picture below. We were among the lucky ones with our camping spot - as we were not underwater as many of the sights were!



Things that went bump in the night




S
Thank goodness this was not our spot

We did manage to get some sleep and were up on Friday for another BIG day as George and Olivia are coming home today! We did errands in the morning - things for the Bus, grocery shopping, etc. Then back to the Byrne house for more baby clothes laundry while Gary worked on the Bus. Then - the BIG event. Here come Olivia and George with Mom and Dad! This was REALLY SPECIAL - and we are so happy we got to share in the moment!!!! I will let the pictures tell the story -----


Olivia and George arrive home

Their first home cooked meal

Now that we have this posted-we need to get ourselves in gear and get to our post at the Byrne house to help where needed.  More later-E&G


1 comment:

  1. I as so happy to read and see this blog I laughed and cried for an hour! When your heart is full something has to come out. Thankyou both for showing your love this way to the old kids and the brand new ones. The new pictures are wonderful of all of you, but Sameul, olivia and George are my favorites. MO - temporary name bestowed on Betty. Love,Mo

    ReplyDelete