Twisters & Tubs - Update #19

Four days ago things looks rosy. We were settling into our routine of me driving all the way into town and seeing the girls when I could, Jo being closer at Easter Seal house and spending most of her days at the hospital. All this was fine and dandy. The girls had been moved from the critical care room to the intermediate room. There was still noise, it was just a different kind; crying babies instead of beeps and buzzes. We had the Easter Seal house booked for two months and were burrowing in for the long haul. As many mornings as I can I try to be a fly on the wall when grand rounds happened and the docs converge on my girls incubators to discuss the days course of action. Thursday morning was no different. I was expecting the same old, 'increase the feeds 2cc every 6 hours' yada yada. Near the end of the skirmish the head neonatologist looks at me and says how would I like to move? I said 'sure sounds great, what kind of time frame are we talking here?" To which she replies, "how about today?" Well I felt like a loony toon cartoon character, jaw on the floor and all..... Quickly, flashes of the main bathroom stripped down to the studs zipped through my mind. These visions were erased as I realized Jo would be home in her own bed for the first time in almost 3 months. As with most things in our life they come quick and leave us to kind of pick of the pieces. Where the breakdown in my twister analogy happens is actually the good part. WE HAVE BEEN MOVED TO ABBOTSFORD!! This particular twister lifted us up unexpectedly and chucked us back out to the valley. The move happened later Friday night. Thursday didn't end up working as the girls needed to be on full feeds before they could move, this happened midday Friday. The infant transport team came that evening and by 9:30 the girls were in their new home. Abbotsford Hospital is brand new, everything is squeaky clean, state of the art and most different is its quiet. Prime reason for the quiet is that this hospital isn't equipped to take critical care babies and as a result; less beeping. They settled in and we headed home. I was pretty excited, Jo was...well a bit weirded out. It was special. To have been so disjointed for this long to have my wife home again truly was a blessing. We set up a bed downstairs, as I don't want her traversing the staircase just yet with her incision still healing.

The work started in the morning, and a new habit is starting. I trucked Jo off to the hospital said hi to the girls and quickly headed back to the house to address the serious lack of bathroom issue we have. A helpful friend has been more than generous with his time and soon we will be bathing in our new tub.

Abbotsford hospital has some regulations that were both disappointing and reassuring at the same time. The main issue was the topic of visitors. Basically the head nurse told us point blank last night: No Visitors. Period. Parents only, no grandparents, no siblings, no long lost friends, no one. At first we were taken a back, but realized A: There's nothing we can do about it. B: Its probably a good thing with it being flu season and especially the H1N1 strain, the little ones immune system is not yet equipped to deal with those problems. So we just adjust and move on, take lots of pictures and continue to pray for the day when my girls can come home.

Ryan