Nighttime

It’s Sunday night and we had an eventful day. I just remembered the time when I drove up at 9am last Friday morning to move in a load of stuff into the Ronald McDonald House. Driving up the street there were about 12 police cars including a police van and a whole bunch of officers outside (well adjacent corner to RMH). One had a shotgun out he was pointing at the ground. My first thoughts were that I was wondering what kind of neighbourhood this was and was it going to be safe? Well it’s been about a week now and I’m sitting on the third floor of the Ronald McDonald House at the end of the hallway in one of their comfy Lay-Z-Boy chairs and borrowed Gabby’s laptop. I’m pretty comfortable now. There’s no wireless internet access here, just wired internet access here so I’m glad I brought my wireless router here and installed it in our room to give some private wireless internet access to us. I needed access so I can work remotely starting this Tuesday until Gabby delivers.

At this end of the hall I can hear a constant sound that sounds like a heart beating, I don’t know what it is maybe coming from the laundry room? Its a sound like someone outside in their car with a boombox in their car but this is consistently the same sound for the past 15minutes or so now. It’s a sound more often than not that seems to occupy my thoughts these days. I think of the kids that go through the heart surgery and the recovery period they go through, and with all the access to any information these days, we can even see operations on YouTube. Gabby found one specifically for HLHS but I haven’t looked or watched it yet. I’ve mentioned to her half-jokingly a couple times that I feel like I want to be in the operating room even if it’s an all day operation.

We’ve been away from home a week now and I miss home… even more so when Hayden says at the end of the day that he wants to go home in his bed it kind of saddens me…. I think that he’s had such a great day spending almost every moment with the entire family but ends with him really missing home. It’s only been a week and I am expecting to be here at least 4-5 more after Gabby delivers (due on Apr 23). I took last week off using some vacation time, I’m happy I have vacation time banked up close to 7 weeks this year so I have the added flexibility to be with my family this time. Work has been great in supporting me through this and extends their support beyond the working relationship. It was really nice to know how supportive and how much they expressed they respected me. My worries about being away from work for an extended period of time were alleviated.

Last night we picked up a few groceries now that we have access to a fridge and cupboard space. It is still a little limited even though this place is huge. The Ronald McDonald House we’re staying at can support 30 families at once. I will try and take some pictures/video of this 3-story “house” + basement + underground parking later on this week. There are 3 quite large kitchens with double appliances. It’s rarely ever crowded in there though, I think most people eat out or maybe busy at hospitals. Throughout the week, various groups come in to cook a meal for everyone which has been awesome. Yesterday, the family enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes with ham and scrambled eggs and toast for brunch. Yum! We all had a big nap later and I woke up extra tired. Hayden had a couple cute comments (well 1 cute one to me) as he usually is a pretty sweet and gentle kid after a “sleep”. His first was telling Mom, “you have to be careful when you gets up because… because.. you don’t want the baby to fall out!”… Sitting with me while I’m laying down he says, “Daddy! your belly… it’s getting bigger” HAHA, funny boy! We all laughed (some more than others haha). I wonder if that had anything to do with me checking out the crosstrainer for 20minutes in the basement this morning. It did actually feel nice to get back on the exercise equipment after a number of years. There is a small universal weight set and an elliptical/cross trainer and whole bunch of free weights (but only to 5lbs weights? I couldn’t figure out why there were so many in the bin). Anyways, today another group came in to make dinner. This time it was spaghetti and garlic toast and roasted peppers and a fruit shake (mixed berries with yogurt and pineapple juice I was told!) I think I am going to need to work overtime the next time I get on the crosstrainer. Actually it’s 10:15pm and I’m still full?

This afternoon before we had dinner, Gabby and I went with Hayden and Hayley to a park across the street (Google StreetView isn’t cooperating. Rotate to the left) from the Ronald McDonald House (Rotate to the right to see RMH). The kids enjoyed it there and Hayden made a new friend Maya a few months older than him. Gabby and I started to talk to the parents (who adopted Maya and waited 6 years to adopt her. They are looking to adopt a second from Haiti). We started talking and as it turns out, the father is a retired General Surgeon and him and I started talking about the operations our 3rd will have to go through. In the end I think Gabby found out a church they go to as we were looking for one to make our temporary home while we were out here. They also were very nice to give us their contact information as they live nearby as well as her parents. They offered their help and to contact them whenever if there was an emergency and Gabby had gone into labour! Wow, my first thoughts were that God sure knows how to put people into our lives paths when we need them most. I always remember the verses from Philipians 4:4-9. It was from the Philipians Course we took at our church with Vern and Cindy. These verses always always help me through many times…

I find that everyone at the RMH is very pleasant to talk to when they have the moment to sit down and talk with you. Sharing each others stories many will say they will pray for our little one. Wow, they will pray for our little one… Not we will be thinking of you or our thoughts are with you, but they will pray. I know I’m sometimes cautious as to what they mean when they say they will pray but after short conversations, I find that there a number of them including surgeons, doctors, nurses go to a Pentecostal church nearby. Truly Amazing!

When I first started this post, I had 98% battery, now I’m down to 59%. Gabby is sitting beside me now and I think she wants a turn 🙂

Video Clip of 3rd Floor of RMH.  (Quicktime doesn’t seem to play this file back that great on my PC, I use VLC. I also don’t have the fastest internet connection on my server so it may take a minute to download. Let me know your experience viewing it).