The Durant Family

For those friends and family following this that do not know much about the people I work with, I don't know that I can impress upon you what it means to be a member of The Durant Family. Let me set the stage: it is a large school, a multi-track year-round middle school which requires a large staff of about 125 people.

I have taught there since 2002, and each year there are several staff members, students, and student families who are met with some tough times. Deaths of loved ones, surgeries, illnesses...and it is really something the way we all rally around these people. The staff members send out what has become the traditional 'thank-you mass email', which is much more moving than that description suggests. These emails are powerfully worded, the author so appreciative of whatever amazing outreach of love has been bestowed upon them in a difficult time. When I open these emails, I always smile - " Isn't that so nice? Durant came through for someone again! We sure do care about our own..."

I mention all of this because the other day I received in the mail my leave forms from Wake County Human Resources. (I had only had 16 1/2 sick days, not nearly enough to cover a regular maternity leave, let alone the current situation my family and I are in.) I opened the form and saw it - twenty-nine days. Members of the staff had donated their own hard-earned vacation days...a total of twenty-nine of them. Twenty-nine. How do you write a thank you email to people who have given you the incredible gift of six weeks of time with your family when it's needed most? What could one possibly write that would somehow accomplish giving enough thanks for such an act?

I also instantly had an even higher appreciation of these thank-you emails. How hard the author must have worked to consider his or her words to convey the deepest appreciation. For the first time, I truly understood the enormity of their gratitude. And even more than feeling loved, how they had felt so completely humbled. One could certainly never feel deserving of such immense generosity.

As I said, this is not rare but commonplace generosity at the school where I am lucky enough to teach.

And that makes it all the more special.

from box to bucket

Sorry for the delay in posting something new. Things have been busy! The big news is that Aidan has been moved from the isolette to a "crib". I put "crib" in quotes, because as I told my mother on the phone, it's more like they have moved him from a plexiglass box to a plexiglass bucket...

Many of you have asked about when Aidan will be released. "How old does he have to be?" or "What weight are they shooting for?" are the usual questions. As it turns out, for preemies there's not an age or weight limit. There are three major things he has to be able to do, on his own and consistently, to be released:

1. He has to be able to maintain his own body temperature.
2. He has to be able to eat via nipple instead of tube.
3. He has to be able to breathe without oxygen and air pressure support.

The isolettes are heated and humidified, and moving to a "crib" means he is now able to maintain his body temperature. The nurses actually considered the move as an afterthought. Apparently, he ripped out his feeding tube in the middle of the night and his lastest milk meal went everywhere. They has to take him out, give him all new tubes - including the nasal cannula, new bedding, bathe him, and so on. They were going to get him another isolette (the other one was going to need major detailing) when one nurse said, "You know, he has been warm the last few days checked, and he's barely on any heat in the isolette as it is. Think he could make the move to a crib?" They gave it a shot, and so far, so good. Good to know ahead of time that Nathaniel will not be the only Speaks boy who can make a real mess! =)

The eating on his own will come in the next two or three weeks, I am told. Preemies have to get to about 34 weeks developmentally in order to be able to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing. (Aidan "turns" 34 weeks Saturday.) We've been working on some preliminary feeding this week, but it's a work in progress!

The oxygen support is really still needed right now. They are trying to wean him gradually, but they have to watch the desats. When he has a fully belly, or is laying on his back, or especially both, he has the most trouble.

Corey is NOT in London!

Someone has hacked into Corey's hotmail account (usccheer@hotmail.com) and is sending out emails to people in his address book claiming to be him, and that he is stranded in London at a business conference and needs you to wire money. (You know, there are so many emergency gymnastics conferences in London these days.) Ignore any email about this, and be wary of anything sent from that address in case it bears your computer ill will. Corey is contacting hotmail (MSN) to try to clear it up. Clearly, the fates thought that we might be bored with our current level of daily challenges. =)

Halloween '08: Nathaniel Weldon

Halloween '08: Aidan George

Aidan is sleeping away in his Halloween costume!

The Jack-o-Lantern cap is a gift from some of my co-workers.

The hospital has someone who makes and donates the knit pumpkin caps every year.