Thanks by the Letters: G

Giraffe:

Not the animal... the Giraffe was Max's isolette bed. I guess they named it that because it had a long neck, so the entire top of the thing could come off, like an automatic convertible on a car! The sides dropped down, the two doors on each side opened, it had a temperature control, humidifier, it was like a little space ship! That thing tilted and raised a lowered and rolled and warmed and had an xray slot underneath so he never even had to move! It was where I first saw him, when I was wheeled to his bedside, and where he stayed for more than 2 months. That bed was his first home, and it was also the barrier that kept him warm and safe from the outside world and all the germs that come with it.

Globetrotter:

Again, not like it sounds, this was not stunt basketball player. The Globetrotter is the transport bed that brought Max from the delivery room to the NICU, it's what he rode in for all his trips to surgeries and MRI and his barium enemas, etc... It had an on-board ventilator, monitors, etc... and well, he HATED IT!!!! By the time of his ostomy reversal, he was fighting NOT to go in, kicking and screaming and sweating because he hated it so much, he did the same thing for his hernia surgery, and they DOUBLED his sedation that time around. Max may not have liked going into that little clear, rolling box, but it kept him safe, and warm and brought him back to me after surgery... so at least one of us is thankful.

Gavin:

I love my girlfriends and they really came through for us when Max was born, but I can't miss my friend Kimmie's husband, Gavin, this time around. Perhaps the first hurdle we faced was when Max was just 5 days old and needed emergency surgery. We got the call before the kids were even out of bed that morning. We gave permission over the phone and needed to get there FAST if we even stood a chance of seeing Max before the operation. I was crying, Troy was scrambling to get everyone dressed and into the car and we had no way to get the kids to childcare. I called Kim in a panic and, as we often do, she volunteered her husband. "Gavin is on his way, he'll meet you in the parking lot!" I flew out of that car to Max's room while Troy and Gavin moved the kids from our car to theirs and Troy dashed upstairs too. It was a moment when we truly needed a rescue and Gavin was there for us. It was one of the only times the kids ever saw me cry and Ella said "Mommy I'm scared! What's going to happen to us?"
Once I told her that Mr. Gavin was on the way, everything was fine. Gavin was our knight in a shining Buick that morning!