First Visit to Children's Hospital: 30 weeks 1 day in utero

Today we got up early and went to Children's Hospital to speak with their financial advisor. It was the first time we went to the hospital, and we were very impressed. It's a very nice place, and they've clearly gone to great lengths to make it as child friendly as possible. You can see a picture looking back at the entrance below.


Everyone we met was friendly and helpful, and the person we met with with full of great advice and explained our options very clearly. Not far outside his office was an indoor atrium with an amazing sculpture hanging in the middle. Here's a picture:


We left feeling much better about how things were going to turn out: Seattle Children's Hospital is going to be a good place for our son to fight for his life.


After we went to the hospital we returned home and decided to rest before preparing dinner. In order to prepare the dinner, we just had to go to the import market. We ate lunch there and bought lots of cooking materials. We returned home and began cooking. Pui cooked up a delicious 4-plate New Year's Eve dinner that we shared with my parents and our friends the Standings. It was very tasty, and happily there are lots of leftovers! Now we are full and happy and wondering if we'll be able to stay awake for midnight.


Happy New Year everyone!

Storms in Seattle: 30 weeks in utero

We've been in Seattle for one week now. It's been pretty bad weather, one storm after another. But the last two have been rain and wind, so the snow is pretty much all gone now. It was pretty, but inconvenient and tricky to drive in. But bad weather does mean that we have a good excuse to stay in and ... cook!


Below is Pui preparing some prawn. There is a great store here that has a lot of Asian imports, and we have made 3 visits already, with another one planned for tomorrow. We are going to make New Years Eve dinner for everyone, and will have to get the materials we need, so gosh darn it we're going to have to go back to the market. My parents celebrate the New Year at Greenwich Mean Time, which is 4 PM in Seattle. I think.


Besides cooking, we are spending time tying up loose ends in Bangkok from a distance, filling in paperwork, opening accounts, and generally doing everything we need to do when setting up a household in a different country when you have had only a few week's notice that you are going. Our son will never need to doubt that his parents will do anything to help him survive. I plan to use this story mercilessly when he's a sullen teenager.

Merry Christmas! 29 weeks 2 days in utero

Merry Christmas!


We have been sleeping for most of the last 2 days. When we haven't been gaping at the snow. The view out of our window just about an hour ago was the picture below: Christmas in Kirkland!

When we arrived, we were shown to the room my parents prepared for us right away. It's above the garage and is next to the upstairs bathroom, at the far end of the hallway off the stairs. It's very private, and well-insulated - my parents had added a space heater, and the room was actually hot. We felt right at home. :-)

I took the picture below from the door, looking into the room. You can see Pui sitting on the sofa, recovering from our ordeal of sitting for hours and hours.

Yesterday we were going to have a couple of relatives over for Christmas Eve dinner, but another storm blew in so it was only us four for an enormously delicious feast. After all of that eating and napping, we needed to catch up on some more sleep.

Christmas morning I woke up early and went downstairs while Pui slept. I fixed breakfast for her, and after a couple of hours she came back up and snuggled in for a nap - that's the picture below.

All day long so far, it has rained or snowed. This weather makes it hard for the local wildlife. There are a bunch of hummingbirds around that have to be awfully cold. The picture below is of a bird about 3 1/2 inches long (8 cm or so). You can sort of see the snow falling behind her.

Walking is treacherous in this stuff, much less driving. We are very glad to be somewhere safe and warm! Just one more in our long list of things to be thankful for on this day.


Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Made it to Seattle! 29 weeks in utero

We arrived safely in Seattle! It's every bit as cold and snowy as we expected, but the room Mom and Dad prepared was toasty warm. We traveled for 18 hours and are now exhausted - neither of us slept much (or at all) on the plane, so we are going to just hit the hay.

Goodnight.

Last post from Bangkok - 28 weeks, 6 days in utero

Today we did not do much to materially prepare for our trip: we just finalized some bank stuff and picked up a few gifts to give to relatives of friends in Seattle. But we did a lot of emotional preparation - we spent most of the day at Pui's mother's place. We said our goodbyes to Pui's family and my cats over a couple of delicious meals and lots of conversation. There are so many reasons to like Bangkok and Thailand: the weather, the food, the people, the scenery, etc., etc. It's not easy to go.

Now I have one last re-packing to do, and then we need to try to get some sleep before going to the airport. Once on the plane, I'm thinking of obnoxiously singing "Up in the air, junior birdman!" at the top of our lungs for hours on end until we either get the front bulkhead aisle seats, we get upgraded, or they physically restrain and gag us. I guess laryngitis is a possibility as well.

It will probably be a day or two before our next post, from Icebox Seattle.

Good bye, Bangkok!

More preparation - 28 weeks 5 days in utero

Today was mainly a day of getting ready. We had a great lunch with Pui's family at a belt sushi place, where we ate ourselves silly. Then we shopped for about five and a half hours. We returned to our condo and dragged up all the stuff we had bought over the last two days, and I realized that the bags I had packed already wouldn't cut it. So I unpacked them and got out the Big Purple Bag. I put all the heavy stuff in the Little Gray Bag, most of the rest of the non-clothes stuff in the Middle Red Bag. The Big Purple Bag is packed with an amazing amount of clothes, and actually weighs just over half of the Little Grey Bag. I got everything in and packed and managed to watch "Transformers" on TV at the same time. I imagine I'll have dreams of the suitcases transforming into Customs Officials.

I talked to my parents this morning - they were preparing for a storm they expected would hit Seattle that night. They have an emergency generator all set and ready to go. It was snowing hard when we talked, and they expected high winds to arrive in a few hours. Snow to weigh down trees and wind to knock them over. Fun times! Here in Bangkok it was sunny and 88 degrees F. We're going to have some adjusting to do!

A busy day preparing - 28 weeks 4 days in utero

Another very busy day for us. We left in the morning and took care of phones and internet, shopped for some warm clothes, visited the hospital to get our full records and some last-minute questions for our doctor (He's very good), got cat supplies and returned home. Once there, we packed up the cat supplies and toys and loaded them into the car.

The cats - Prima and Zorro - were already freaked out by the suitcases being filled. When I pulled out the cat carriers and started packing up their food bowls and toys they knew something was up. Prima retreated to the bedroom, and Zorro hid. I gathered every thing I had packed and left to load the car. As soon as I was out of the door, Zorro re-appeared. When I returned a few minutes later, he kind of glared at me like he was saying "You shouldn't scare me like that!" and then sat comfortably by the porch screen.

So I grabbed him and stuffed him into one of the carriers.

I grabbed and stuffed Prima also, and we brought them to their new home: Khun Mae's house. The cats had previously charmed my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, so they agreed to take them. Once here, both cats immediately dashed under the bed in the room we freed them (Pui's old bedroom). It wasn't long before Prima was exploring the house and totally charming everyone all over again. But Zorro is still under the bed, glaring balefully at an entire world that is so unjust as to allow such indignity.

It feels good that we have found them a good home where they will be given the care and attention they deserve. We are staying at Khun Mae's tonight, partly to re-assure the cats and partly to re-assure ourselves.

My last day at Agoda - 28 Weeks, 3 days in Utero

Seattle is now 3 days away. Today was my last day at Agoda. It was a little sad, but it's all for the right reasons. My Boss, Khun Joost, took me and the entire QA team (And the IT Manager) to a farewell lunch. The picture below shows, from left to right, Nong, Yung, Arjan, Chidchai, Yong, Joost, and Nok.


I've never seen a harder-working QA Team, and I'm going to miss them, Arjan and Joost, and even the hectic schedule. Agoda was not an easy place to work, but it was never boring, usually interesting, and often quite entertaining. I turned in my computer, my insurance card, and my elevator pass and walked out of the Agoda offices... only to walk right back in. Without an elevator key card, I couldn't summon an elevator to take me down to the lobby.

Immediately after leaving Agoda, for the last time, Pui and I went home to meet a delivery van bringing two big boxes full of baby supplies we had bought for Nong Pat before the HLHS diagnosis. It was a little hard sorting through the material, deciding what to take and what to leave behind, knowing that even if he recovers quickly he will be too big for most of what we have before we can use it.

I hope our second child is a boy, because boy or girl they will have a lot of blue infantwear.

We had a nice dinner with friends, and returned to continue packing. Now it's late, the bags are packed with what we have so far (this is just the first time - I'll probably re-pack at least twice) and we are ready to sleep: tomorrow is another busy day. I'll bet I can get at least 1 re-pack in.

28 weeks, 2 days in utero. 5 days until Seattle

Today is Thursday and we arrive in Seattle early Tuesday morning, and we still have a *lot* to do. Today was a long day. It was Pui's last day in the office, and I got to play 'beast of burden' bringing her things down to the car. I think my Mick Jagger impersonation isn't very good: I only got worried looks and puzzled frowns. 

We managed to get the Skype set up at Pui's Mom's house. We set up a repeater and had a brief conversation from the upstairs room to the dining room. The quality over 35 feet is surprisingly similar to the quality from the other side of the planet. One Skype, one world. I think it will help a lot to be able to see and talk to her Mom like she's in the other room. I know it helps me.

Now it's late and I'm a little punchy. So is little Pat - he's been trying out some calisthenics, to Pui's discomfort. And we have months to go. We're pulling for him to get as big and healthy as he can, and if it means a little discomfort for Pui, well, I will sympathize as much as I can. ;-)

 

28 weeks 1 day in utero

Today a bunch of Pui's friends took her out to lunch, and she had a great time. Leaving Bangkok is going to be tough for her. I had some troubles when I came here a year and a half ago, but I had almost six months to prepare and get mentally ready. Pui has about a week. And she's pregnant, a time when she would really like to have her friends and family around. She's very brave. Fortunately, we will have friends and family around - just not the ones we originally expected.

We are beginning to pack. It's odd to be digging up as many warm clothes as we can find when it's so warm here. It's after 9 PM and 81 F, and I'm packing heavy wollen sweaters. Pui has a bunch of new clothes from friends and family. She's going to be nice and warm, and fashionable too! We're also trying to figure out what of the baby stuff we bought here to pack. The Carriage is out (won't fit in the overhead compartment) and one of the breast-pumps is on the cusp (220V only). Do we bring the bottle-warmer, or not? What about the very cute but not very warm clothes we bought? Maybe.

:-)

28 Weeks in utero

Plans for travelling from Bangkok to Seattle are proceeding apace. Both Pui and I are wrapping up our jobs and getting everything in order. Pui has most of the work to do - we need to take care of taxes and payments and all sorts of financial stuff. I am mainly planning what to pack and wishing I could be more help to Pui.

Everyone we know is being very helpful and supportive. My workplace has been very accommodating, especially since we are leaving with little notice right in the middle of a very busy time. Pui's company has been even more helpful.

After work today we spent no small amount of time trying to set up a strong wireless signal so Pui's mom could easily talk to us on Skype when we are in the US, but still don't have the signal we want. We'll make another go at it tomorrow.

Now it's late, and time to get some sleep.

Hello! First Post - 27 weeks, 6 days in utero

This is the first post in the blog we - Pat's parents - are going to have so that anyone who wants to follow his progress can.

Pat has HLHS - Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This is a serious condition that is invariably fatal if untreated. We are going to get him the best treatment we can.

The picture is one we got from ultrasound from 25 weeks 6 days, and is the clearest we've seen so far. How cute! Who would have thought a digital rendition pieced together from sound waves could be so cute?