Ronald McDonald house

Matt and I have recieved so many blessings thru this little trial of having Sienna in the hospital. One of the greatest blessings was getting into the Ronald McDonald house. For those who don't know what it is it's a house that becomes your home while your child is in the hospital. I don't know what it costs or is like at other Ronald McDonald houses but ours is pretty fantastic. It only costs $12 a night to stay here. You have volunteer groups come in every night and make you fantastic dinners, like we are talking roast beef dinners, lasagna, chicken dinners, with so many left overs you have lunch for the next day. I have never ate so many mashed potatoes in my life!  And there are always people coming in and making treats like cheesecakes, cookies, muffins...etc. They have arts and crafts night, movie and popcorn nights and they have people volunteer to give you things like free massages, haircuts, or photography sessions. I am so bummed the NICU Sienna is in is on lockdown. Only moms and dads can come in because flu season is still around so in order to control that from spreading to the babies no other visitors are allowed. If they were though I would've seen about getting the photographer to come to the NICU and take baby pictures of sienna, regardless of tubes. Maybe she could use photoshop and make those disappear. It would just be nice to get pictures when she is a little baby as she will likely be about a month old when she gets out of the hospital and from what I have heard its best to do newborn pics before they are 2 weeks old. Anyway, not a big deal because at least my baby is okay right? I just want cute pictures of her cause I have been thinking about that since I found out she was a girl.

Examples of the yummy food we get.

Examples of the yummy food we get

So we pretty much love the Ronald McDonald house and are very lucky we got in so soon. Before getting into the house this is how our travelling looked. Matt drove in Wednesday morning to be with her, came home Wednesday night so he could be with me. We went in Thursday. Come home Friday afternoon. Went back up Saturday afternoon, drove home Sunday. We decided for our benefit we would stay home Monday-Wednesday so we could get some rest emotionally and physically. We called the RM house Sunday afternoon to find out what position we were in for getting into the house. They told us we were fourth in line and that they didn't have any families leaving until at least the end of the month, we were pretty bummed about that. 

Monday came and  I had a breakdown and just started crying and telling Matt how much I missed Sienna and wanted to be with her. I couldn't imagine waiting until Thursday to be with her again. Not more then 10 mins later Matt comes and tells me that the RM house called and that a spot opened up but we had to confirm by 5 that we wanted it and then be there by 9. Well there was no way we were going to miss this opportunity! It was an answer to ours and many others prayers that we got into the house. Now we are just a 5 minute walk away from Sienna and can come over whenever we want to. From this experience Matt and I know we will be a lot more likely to donate to the children's hospital or the Ronald McDonald house. I've thought about how many times at Dairy Queen or mcdonalds I have been asked to donate to these two places and I just say no thank you. Now I wish I would've always donated cause they have blessed my life so much! I am so grateful for these organizations and will probably go broke from donating to them every time I get a chance. 

Here are some gifts we have recieved from the Ronald McDonald house thru the donations of generous people in Calgary. 

Diapers and wipes. I know it's just a small dent in the diapers we need. But 1120 wipes plus the pack of 900 my mom got for us I think we should be set. 

This is a little gift basket that was in our room when we got her. It has so many baby essentials and that Winnie the Pooh blanket is so soft and cuddly. I hope it becomes her favorite blanket as for Matt and I it is special and reminds us of the kindness we recieved while here.