Ronald McDonald House

Today was our first day with nothing medical to do. All that means is we didn’t have to go to the hospital for anything. We will have to go on Wednesday and Thursday. I decided to let Hana sleep in a little. We finally got a good night’s sleep – there was a short period where she was tossing and turning and crying out but she was fine. We are still doing middle of the night tube feeds, so I have to get up to start and stop that but maybe my body is just so used to that by now that it’s no big deal.

Today after a late breakfast we walked to a playground. The playground at the Ronald McDonald House is off limits to Hana during summer camp and she is too young for camp so for most of the day we will have to go somewhere else for a playground. Anyway, Hana loved going to the playground! She went of the swings and the sliding board. She like watching the other kids. It wasn’t too crowded where I felt she should wear her mask and we used lots of hand sanitizer. We did leave when they came to spread new mulch.

​​
Hana took a real nap today! She loves exploring the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). The house is brand new. They just started moving families from the old house (next door) over the week before we got there. I’m sure we are the first family to occupy our room. Everything feels new and clean.

You get to meet a lot of people here. Often, you see the same people – families I’ve seen over and over again over the last several months. It’s usually because their child has had an organ transplant or maybe cancer or maybe a baby in the NICU. People come from all over. I met two families from Hawaii. One woman with her son came all the way from Poland. She just got here and looked quite lonely. She was speaking Polish with another woman that I’ve seen around the hospital with her son for months. 

We share a community kitchen, dining room and living rooms. We have our own assigned pantry, refrigerator space and freezer space. It’s so much better than the hospital! They have gas stoves and ovens, toasters, cooking equipment and microwaves. It’s nice having something other than a tiny microwave to share! There is also shared pantry items and refrigerated food. Some miscellaneous fresh fruit and vegetables appear too. Hana is enjoying opening and closing every drawer and cabinet.

The living space does not seem to get utilized too much. There are playrooms, by age, that seem to be locked up most of the time. In fact, there seems to be a lot of great space that is locked up most of the time. The back patio/yard is nice too – they have tables and chairs and a few very nice grills.

Our room is nice. All the rooms are uniquely and were designed by a bunch of fancy design firms. The room is kind of small for all we need it to do. We have a small refrigerator for medications and then a freezer for storing breast milk. These are only available upon request. We brought in one of our storage carts from home to store medical supplies and to serve as a workstation for drawing up medications. We have a queen sized bed with a trundle bed underneath. They both have Temperpedic mattresses. Very comfortable. My mom’s been sleeping on the trundle. Hana is in her Pack N Play. We brought the toybox because it also serves as a bench. There is “closet area” but no drawers. This is where we park the stroller. I don’t think the rooms were designed to hang out in. They are also strict about no food or drinks in the rooms. It’s okay for now, but this newfound privacy feels kind of limited.

We feel very fortunate. It’s 200 square feet all to ourselves.

The location of the RMH is great. It’s a ten minute walk to the hospital, a fifteen minute walk to downtown and its across from the Stanford Shopping Center where I probably wouldn’t buy much but it’s a very nice place to stroll.