In North Carolina

Sunday April 13

We made it to Durham, NC today. We left yesterday evening around 8 p.m., drove a little over half way and stopped in Charleston, WV to get a hotel at 3 a.m. We weren’t planning on leaving so late yesterday but we discovered it takes so much longer to pack for 3…especially when that 3rd one is for a baby! It’s incredible how much stuff a baby needs!!

Cayman did very well with the drive. I was feeling very nervous about this road trip…mostly for her and some for me. I was afraid that much time in her car seat over the last 2 days would be tough on her plus make the drainage from her head worse. But she handled her car seat very well, slept most of the time and her head is actually less sunk than it was. Two answers to prayer!! I was nervous for myself because I’m still a little sore from my C-section 5 weeks ago. I did well though. The soreness intensified only as I was climbing between the front seat to the back seat. The front passenger seat reclines very far back so I would sit there to take a nap, and then climb in the back to be with Cayman when I wasn’t sleeping (which was most of the time).

Mike and I were impressed with ourselves how well we have managed such a big trip as first-time-parents...we didn’t forget the baby, leave anything behind, run out of diapers, or lock ourselves out of the vehicle. It’s always a success when these things don’t happen. :o)

Our more dramatic road trip moments were:

• Last night Mike felt the urge to pray for our safety again when we were about 4 hours into the trip. It wasn’t even 10 seconds after he was done praying when a deer ran out in front of us. Because there was no other cars around Mike was able to pass into the opposite lane to dodge the deer. “Thank You God!”
  
• We stopped today for awhile to give Cayman a break from her car seat, feed her, change her, and get something to eat for ourselves. The dramatic part was when Mike changed her diaper. It took 5 diapers in this single changing:
  1) the messy one she was wearing-it was full
  2) the 1st clean diaper: Mike was changing her on his lap in the van. He slipped the clean diaper under the dirty diaper that was still on her bottom. When he opened the dirty diaper and discovered how full it was he had to pull it out to wipe her bottom clean, which made the clean diaper now dirty.
  3) the 2nd clean diaper: Mike slipped this one under her and as he was about to fasten it she peed all over his hand and the new clean diaper
  4) the 3rd clean diaper: So Mike did the whole process again, slipped a clean diaper under her and pulled out the dirty one. He actually got this diaper fastened when we heard it…..a very large, juicy fart. This diaper was filled with more messiness!! We were laughing so hard at the insanity of it! He waited a bit before changing out this diaper to make sure all her jobs were done!
  5) the 4th clean diaper: finally a winner! So we put Cayman back in her seat and hit the road, leaving a sack full of dirty diapers in Virginia.

Our hotel (Millennium Hotel) here in Durham is pretty. The hospital got us our hotel reservation at their medical discount rate. It's a great deal! And what a blessing to stay at such a comfortable place that is still affordable. Our bedroom is large with 2 queen size beds. I have access to wireless internet only in the lobby. I hope that doesn't hinder my blogging since I don't have the internet right in our room, but it might. The hotel is only one mile from the Duke University hospital and the Medical Center. The Medical Center is where we'll be going tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning. It's Tuesday morning when Cayman will receive her stem cell infusion. How exciting!!

That's all I have time to write for now. Cayman's crying to be fed. Didn't I just feed her?!! hehehe She's so cute! As soon as I find where we packed the card reader I will post pictures of her from our trip.