We woke up fairly early so we would have time to get ready
and head over to the Ronald McDonald House between 9 and 10. We went down stairs and had breakfast with
Kevin’s Dad before he took off to go back home to Canfield. We loaded up the car, said our goodbyes and
headed to the RMH.
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| Main House of The Ronald McDonald House Cincinnati |
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| The Lobby |
We pulled up to this massive structure that was guarded by a
gate. We pressed the CALL button and
told them that we were The Kane’s here to check in. They opened the gate and we found a parking
spot. We walked into the main entrance
and the place was beautifully decorated for Christmas. A huge Christmas tree in the foyer and a
Christmas village was there to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. Although it was the holiday season, Christmas
was the last thing on my mind.
The person at the front desk told us to have a seat and a
wait for a manager to come and get us oriented with the place. After about 5 minutes, a woman named Barb,
came over and brought us into the office area and had us have a seat in a room
with a couch and a television. She told
us that we would watch a movie about The RMH and then she would be back in to
go over everything with us. To me, the
movie was all about how it is so nice for the RMH to serve food 3 times a
day. There was a family who just went on
and on about the fact that they provide meals.
Yes, that is a very nice thing but I don’t see why we needed to watch a
10 min movie on it.
After the movie, Barb came back in and went over the policy
and procedures. I was a little taken
back by all the rules that were in place and that we had to follow. I just lost one of my sons and my other one
is fighting for his life every day and I really just needed a place to sleep
and shower. To tell me I have to follow
all these rules was the last thing I wanted to do. There is a huge white board in the lobby and
it has every families name and when you are in your room, you have a magnet
that you have to move to “IN” and when you leave, you have to move it to
“OUT.” You have to wear a lanyard when
you are in the building so people know you are a resident. You have to use your room at least once a
day. You cannot have snacks in your room.
The refrigerator in our room was only meant for water and breast milk. And the one rule I couldn’t believe they were
telling me I had to do was that you have to visit your child at the hospital at
least once a day. Why the hell were they
telling me to do that? That is all I
WANT to do! I understand why they have
all these rules but I just felt like I was being treated like a child and I
just needed the freedom to do what I wanted.
The RMH is run solely on donations and volunteers. But Barb said that residents are encouraged
to give $30 a night. Now granted that is
much cheaper than a hotel, but we didn’t know how long Nathan was going to be
in the NICU. I was hoping we would be in
Cincinnati until the end of March because that would mean Nathan would be going
home with us. So that is at least over
100 days at RMH. Then right after she
told us that, she said that she saw on our paperwork that we had twin boys. My
parents put in the application for us and they must have put down that we had
twin boys. I told her that Colin died
that past Saturday so we just have Nathan now.
She got up and came over and gave me a big hug since I started to cry. She said that they would waive the $30, which
was very nice of her. She also gave us a
bag that had a stuffed animal in it and a blanket and some kids things. That was sweet and I could only hope that
Nathan would play with that someday.
So after she went over everything and we signed everything
we needed to sign, she got another woman to show us around the place. It is truly a wonderful place for families
that have kids with illnesses. Some of
the kids stayed there and you would see children with masks on or ones that
have baldheads from cancer treatments.
There were 2 sections of the RMH.
There was the main part where we started in and then there is a second
part that is connected by a 2nd floor bridge. We would be staying over in the second part,
which was quieter. It also had a separate
kitchen. The main kitchen that they
would serve all the meals in was in the main part but this kitchen still had
everything if we wanted to make any meals.
We had our own section in a freezer and in a refrigerator that we could
put anything in that we wanted. We also
had a cupboard with a lock on it that we could put anything in as well.
We finally got to our room on the 2nd floor. The key fab that hung on our lanyard opens up
our room. We walk in and it is just a
little bigger than a hotel room. It has
2 queen beds, a dresser, a television, a mini-fridge, a built-in with a hanging
closet and drawers and then a bathroom.
It was a nice room and I was hoping it would be my home for the next 3-4
months.
Now that we were oriented with the place, we were on our
own. We decided to unload the car real
quick and then head over to the NICU. We
would unpack everything later. I wanted to see my baby and I had already taken
up a lot of time at the RMH. After a
couple trips up and down what seemed to be the slowest elevator known to man,
we were ready to head over to see our sweet sweet boy.
Once we had arrived, Nathan seemed to be doing very well
again. I can’t tell you the joy he
brought me. To touch him, to hold his
tiny hand, to look into his eyes, it warmed my heart and I would get so
happy. The amount of love I have for
this little tiny person is nothing like I have ever felt before. Once again, I got to do skin-to-skin with
him. I offered it up for Kevin to do
again but he let me do it for the 3rd time. I would never argue with him.
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| Me Kissing Nathan |
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| Holding my Baby |
Now that we were in the RMH, we left the NICU around 5:30 so
we could be back in time to eat dinner at 6 pm since that is when they serve
it. So after sitting by Nathan for 5
hours and doing his care when he needed it, we headed back to eat dinner.
Since we cant be in the NICU until after 7:30, we ate dinner
then we spent the rest of the time unpacking and making our room as homey as
possible. I would not be living out of a
suitcase because I was not planning on ever going back to Columbus until Nathan
was coming home with me. Since Nathan
was doing so well, Kevin was planning on going home so he could work. He would work Mon-wed, come down on Wednesday
since it was his early days and spend a few hours down in Cincinnati, then
drive back that night and work till Friday and come back for the weekend. That was the plan as long as Nathan was doing
well. When he would leave, my mom would
come down and be my driver since I was not allowed to drive. She wouldn’t be able to go in the NICU with
me so it would just be my boy and me.
We headed back to the NICU to spent a few hours with Nathan
and to say goodnight to him. I would be
able to do one of his cares in that time frame.
He was getting a few more mL of my milk that I would bring in, and his
diapers were a very good amount. I can’t
remember what day it was but Kevin had stepped out of the NICU to go to the
restroom or something and I was changing Nathans diaper when we got his first poopy
diaper. You would have thought I had
just won the lottery. I yelled so loud
that he had pooped! I was so proud of my
little boy. His bowls were working and
his kidneys were working too. I was such
a happy Mom. The nurse asked if I wanted
to save the diaper for Kevin to see. I
thought about it but then realized he wouldn’t care to see it, he would just be
happy he had one. It’s clearly the
little things in life that make me happy.
We said goodnight to our little man and headed back to the
RMH. I told Nathan that we would just be
2 blocks away so we were not that far away from him if he needed us. Once we arrived back, Kevin started to pack up
things since he was planning on heading back to Columbus the next day given
that Nathan’s status was still good. We
had our first night in RMH and all went well.
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