Hi guys! So we made it here just fine. And we are totally impressed with the NICU so far. Sigh. It's been a long day of waking up early, packing, driving to houston, getting settled in, looking for a hotel, not finding one, checking into the ronald mcdonald house (which is where I am at now), and finally ordering a pizza for dinner. Insert pumping between every activity, and you have my day thus far.
The Children's hospital in Houston actually has the largest NICU in the country. There is something like 300 beds here! It's really easy to get lost. They have a super nice milk bank where I can go to pump, so that's good. We brought a whole lot of frozen milk with us (Ezekiel is now eating more per day than I produce) so he won't need formula. I would post pictures but we can't do that from this computer. But I will do that when we get home.
Ezekiel is supposed to see the opthalmologist in the morning, and then I will let you all know how long we should be staying here. He took the trip really well. We weren't in the ambulance, but they said he slept almost the whole time. When we arrived, he immediately took a whole bottle with no problems! It is possible that we won't even trasnfer back to Wilford hall-- ezekiel may be discharged from here.
I never really knew what a ronald mcdonald house was before now. It's really nice here! There are bedrooms for people to stay in, and then a large common area with a kitchen that has food, a tv, computers, a whole lot of books... etc. It's nice! The only down side is that we can't just plop into a room and stay.... every morning we have to check out with all our stuff, and then we can check back in at 7pm. That sort of stinks. But the ronald mcdonald house is right down the hall from the NICU-- it's literally in the hospital! I think tomorrow we will try to find a hotel. Fortunately the military put Daniel on medical TDY and sooo he has a daily stipend for food, lodging, and gas. Our lodging stipend is $110 a day, food is $54, and gas is just however much we use. I am so relieved we don't have to worry about extra expenses--- we couldn't afford them. AND the army has let Daniel off work until we go back to San Antonio. I don't think they knew what they were in for when Daniel enlisted.... so far Ezekiel has cost them almost 2 million dollars. Yes, you read that right.
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5 comments:
So glad you made it there safely, and that Ezie was able to snooze and rest up on the way so that he'd be wide awake to take a bottle. He's got the right idea!
What time is his appt in the morning?
Rest well!!! Love you!
Geez! You didn't tell me you were going there!!! I somehow missed all this Houston stuff. Geez!
I have done some volunteer stuff at Ronald McDonald House so i knew what they were like. I might end up staying there in Cincinnati when Sophie gets her surgeries.
Love to you all, and our prayers of course.
He's worth every penny! You know, when you think about it, it's just almost a miracle that you all were in the army when Ezekiel was born. The Lord is with you all. And all those stipends! So nice to not have those worries. We love you and are praying for you all and Ezekiel. Love,
Nathan and Aimee
Hi guys!
Teresa- It was totally out of the blue!! They told us wednesday afternoon/evening that we would be leaving thursday morning!
Aimee- You're right- God totally knew Daniel needed to be in the military so our baby would be covered. And the stipends rock-- we are staying in a $265/night hotel tonight, but with the military rate, it is only $110 which is exactly what we have to spend. The hotel is RIGHT across the street from the hospital, and there is a starbucks on the way! Perfect!
Mom-- I will call you soon-- our cell phone is dead right now, but I will call sometime today!
Wow! 2 million dollars?! I can't imagine how families without the military pay to care for their babies in Ezekiel's condition...it's just insane to think about. I hope you don't mind that I let Sarah and Kyle know you were in Houston. We were talking and you obviously came up. They are thinking about you and so are we!
It is SO exciting to think that Ezie might just go home after this trip!!!!! YAY! I hope, hope, hope that happens, it would be a great Christmas present to have him cozy at home with mom and dad! =) I know you have a lot of people to update, so when you get some time please give me a call when you find out what's going on!
I know we don't usually do Christmas presents, but I got Ez something, so please don't feel like you have to send anything to us because of that! I will let you know when I put it in the mail so you can watch for it! Yay, Christmas!!
It snowed here last night! Just enough to stick on the roofs and cars into the afternoon today...I'm already listening to Christmas music!
Yay for a Starbucks on the way to the hospital! I had a chai eggnog latte with extra whip today. Yum!
Love you!
Jamie
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