Living like nomads

A little background:  Isaac is a patient in the NICU of CHKD (Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters) in Norfolk. Laura was a patient in the adjoining hospital, Norfolk General. When she was discharged on May 24, she and Michael rented a 'courtesy room' in Norfolk General for $25/night. Meanwhile, they live in Yorktown, about a 45 minute drive away. 

So, what is a typical day in this situation? There really isn't one. But there are some things that remain constant:

1. Laura, and either Michael or I, spend the night in the courtesy room so that she can be near Isaac. We are in charge of the alarm that wakes Laura to pump every 3-4 hours during the night and to help wash the pump parts. 

2. Laura sees William some every day. Mostly he comes to the hospital, but a few times Laura has gone to Yorktown for the day. When she does that, generally I stay at the hospital with Isaac. 

3. We all eat, one way or another. Yay for the Harris Teeter we found about a half mile away!

4. We all sleep. Some more than others. (Laura least of all). Whichever person is home with William is not interrupted every few hours for pumping. 

Every day (unless Laura comes home) we load William up for a visit to the hospital. We are thankful for his very nice stroller. It serves way more than just to carry William. Some days I feel like a homeless person with a shopping cart and all my belongings hanging on the sides....

The stroller usually contains William's diaper bag, and coolers containing food (sometimes dinner), and my overnight bag if it's my night to stay, and coolers either empty or full of pumped milk to be taken home to the freezer. Yes, a few days ago we purchased this new chest freezer at Sam's! 

You can read specifics about Isaac's progress on Caring Bridge, but he now gets (very) small amounts of milk every 3 hours, but it will be a little while before he chips away at this stockpile. 

Tonight I left the hospital with William at about 6:30. The parking lot is pretty empty now, but was full earlier. I am heading toward their van (on the right). My Prius (on the left) is parked where I left it when I arrived yesterday. We'll figure a way for me to drive it home soon. Thankfully, we have been able to get all of our parking tickets validated in the hospital so far, or we would have spent an arm and a leg in the 'place-to-park' as William calls it. 

So, tonight I sleep at 'home'.