That said, this last trip to the hospital had some pretty AWESOME moments to it, not the least of which was the big family party we had on our last Friday night there.
The Child Life Specialists let us borrow Chicken Run. Bridget was completely off oxygen and had found two skateboards you sit on and wiggle to move. That's how I would describe it. It is actually this:
and it is way cool. She stashed one for Christopher and one for her to ride around the room. Our hospital room was actually big enough for them to ride around in these.
Dave stopped by Trader Joes and got a bottle of wine for us, root beer for the kids, and a big bag of popcorn. 6:30 arrived and we started our family movie night.
And wouldn't you know that about 7:00, I realized one bottle of wine was not going to cut it for the amount of adrenaline I needed to quell. You can judge me as you'd like, but Dave and I knew early on that this was a two bottle night.
So I did what every other no other mother in a hospital does : I updated my Facebook status to ask for any of our friends who live close to the hospital to drop us off a bottle of wine. Within minutes, I was negotiating types of wines and in less than 10, I was in the driveway at the front of the hospital making the exchange. John T., you blew our freaking minds. He even included a bottle opener, because the first one Dave brought was a screw cap. (Classy!!)
I came back up to our room and resumed our incredibly noisy, loud, family party. Kids were scooting. Popcorn was flying. Nurses and respiratory therapists were in like deer in headlights and out as soon as they could. Actually, that is not true: our RT for that night was one of 5 kids. He had just moved to NC from San Diego. He was so at ease with all of us and all that noise, I think we actually reminded him of home.
And seriously, if you want to know just how messy we were, our nurse the next morning came in and tugged on the sheet of the bed, and multiple popcorn bits went flying around the room.
You want to know what was even more amazing? The next morning, I woke up and there was an unfamiliar bag on one of the "sofas" in the room. I looked in it: another bottle of wine, two glasses with napkins, SNACKS, and a beautiful cutting/serving board (along with a cork screw). ANOTHER friend had dropped off more wine and snacks. She did this at a reasonable hour, but after those two bottles of wine and my post-adrenaline crash, I was already fast asleep. We won't say "passed out," but I didn't hear anything.
Here is where I first felt guilty. One bottle of wine delivered to the hospital is amazing. Two bottles feels selfish. Now here is where I feel grateful. We left the hospital that day, dancing our way out the door. But when I got home, it felt like I was supposed to jump back into the Working Mommy routine and have a typical Saturday doing chores and making meals. It actually takes me a couple of days to get back to normal. My mind still echoes from all the noises at the hospital.
So late that afternoon for Happy Hour, with real tears in my eyes, we opened up our second bottle of wine, drank it, and greedily ate all the treats. Well, most of them: she gave us a lot! That first day out of the hospital is almost as emotional as that first day in. And sometimes, like the time Bridget was finally diagnosed with her Funky Lungs, it is worse than any time in the hospital because that is when I have to face all the information we received and emotion I've repressed in front of Bridget. That said, how could I possibly ask for help when we are out of the hospital? Thank you, Allegra H., for making that first day back less stressful and I didn't even have to ask for help. Sigh.
We ended up buying Chicken Run on Amazon and I think the whole family would agree it's one of the happiest movies we've ever watched.
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