Our trip to Philly

      Our trip to Philly went off without a hitch! We arrived very late Monday night and navigated our way to the hotel. Who knew Philly had so many highways and toll roads? Unfortunately, due to lovely Hurricane Irene, we ended up eating in the hotel at 1am because we couldn't find an open food stop. After our quick dinner fix, we were off to bed with much anxiety and high levels of anticipation.
    Tuesday morning, we were up early and on our way to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia otherwise known as CHOP. I have never seen a hospital so beautiful. The decor is definitely made to put children at ease. We made our way to the Fetal Cardiac Center where we started off with a two and 1/2 hour long ultrasound. They measured everything from her mandible to her toes and all looks fantastic. She, like usual, did not make it easy yet the ultrasound tech was very nice the whole time she struggled. After that, we moved on to the fetal echo. No surprises there, luckily and we moved on to our consultation with Dr. Rhychik, our social worker and the nurse coordinator. They were so very nice and explained the whole process from start to finish about what we could expect, barring any complications.  We then made our way to filling our paperwork and we met with a very nice Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor. After going through all of the questions, she felt as though I would be better off delivering at the hospital across the street due to my history of perciarditis. The delivery unit at CHOP does completely uncomplicated deliveries because they do not have an adult ICU if something were to go wrong. The doctor tried to get us over to the HUP delivery unit, but wasn't able to so I will have to go meet with them when I go up for good. I was disappointed at first, yet this journey is not about me so Olivia must be top priority. We finally took a tour of their CICU and the cardiac step down unit and asked any last minute questions we had thought of that day. We left the hospital with a sense of comfort and excitement. It all just felt so right.
  We then journeyed to The Ronald McDonald House in Camden, New Jersey. Camden, New Jersey isn't the best neighborhood in New Jersey and they had warned us ahead of time. When we arrived, the house was beautiful. It isn't the best surrounding area, but they have a lot of security and do everything they can to keep it as safe as possible. Because the Ronald McDonald House is run on a first come first serve basis, we placed our name on the waiting list, yet won't know if we will have a room until we get there. If worst case scenario occurs, we can get a room in a local hotel and wait until they have an availability. We also found out that because they don't have medically trained staff on duty, someone old enough to drive must stay with me the whole time in case I go into labor.
   After the long day, we headed back to the hotel for a nap and to recharge before we met one of Brett's best friends from high school for dinner. It was a nice change to talk about something other than our sweet sick angel. That dinner was the first real meal we had had since we got in town and we enjoyed every bite. We didn't realize how much we took our good home New Orleans food for granted. Tabasco sauce will be a necessity when we return.
   This morning, Brett woke up early to talk to a radio station about the fundraiser. Man, was he nervous. I woke up to him practicing and trying to think of anything and everything they might ask. When the phone rang, he pulled it off without a hitch. He was cool, calm and collected.
   Our trip home was uneventful. The plan arrived 20 minutes early and we were very happy to see our two excited munchkins waiting in the car for us. Tonight, fundraising crack down takes place. While we have been away, our two auction queens have been finalizing items and putting together last minute details. We must finish all the program information tonight to get it to the printer tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we have to finalize all food items and whether we have to pick them up or if they will be dropped off. It is hard to believe that this fundraiser that was so far away 3 weeks ago is just around the corner. A week and a half doesn't seem like enough time, but we know with the help of all of our family and friends it will be a huge success.
    Tomorrow, we get back to work, football, homework and time will fly by. 5 and 1/2 weeks, we know will pass before we know it.