Family Time

1087 January 27, 2024 – May 12, 2024 Family Time

This has been the longest we have gone without posting since we started traveling and writing 6 years ago. A lot has happened!

The last blog had me flying from Miami to Baltimore to go and help Kyle and his family. Allison was 32 weeks pregnant and hospitalized with severe preeclampsia. The goal was to manage her blood pressure and other complications for as long as possible to allow the baby more time to grow. On January 29^th, Wade Thomas Pearce made a very early appearance. He was 16 inches long and weighed 3 pounds and 9 ounces. He initially required some CPAP assistance with his breathing but was quickly weaned. His job was to rest and grow. He thrived with the excellent care of the nurses at the Sinai Hospital NICU. Fortunately, Allison recovered rapidly after an emergency C-section. We spent 35 days driving back and forth to the hospital. Wade gradually started feeding and began to gain weight. Each day that we visited we had some good news. He was the biggest and healthiest baby in the NICU and we were so grateful for his progress. Finally, he was able to come home.

Tim and I stayed in Reisterstown to help. We washed bottles and cooked meals and did laundry. We stayed up with the baby until midnight and we were ready to help again at 6am. We got lots of baby snuggles! It was an absolute gift to be able to be there and take care of this new family.

We made sure that my mom got to come and visit often. She loves babies too!

We did get to spend some time with friends.

On April 22^nd, Kyle assumed responsibility for a second clinic, Allison went back to work, and Wade started daycare. On the 23^rd, Tim and I left to travel to Atlanta. We had promised to watch Oliver and Austin so that David and Dre could travel to Baltimore for a wedding. We took the boys camping in the Jeep tent at Stone Mountain Park while the parents were away. The boys had lots of playground time, we went fishing, cooked our dinner outside, had a campfire, and slept well! We stayed in Atlanta another week to celebrate Austin’s 6^th birthday.

On May 6^th we drove the Jeep back to Maryland. We took two days to travel, stopping overnight at Kerr Lake in Henderson, North Carolina. Tim’s family called Henderson home.

We stayed with Kyle and Allison again. We got to spend more time with the baby, picking him up from school and on Thursday, we kept him for the entire day. My mom got come and help and she even brought dinner.