The Ronald McDonald House is Wonderful!

 

I lived at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) from November until the middle of February. Each family gets there own bedroom, bathroom, and access to the kitchen. Volunteers come and cook the house guests' dinner and breakfast each day. Anyone can request to do this. Sometimes it was a local Baltimore business or a church, and sometimes it was family who came.

 As soon as the girls were born, the hospital social worker began the process to help me get in to the RMH. At first I was very reluctant. The thought of living some place strange did not appeal to me. I found out where the RMH was and I took the hospital shuttle over to take a tour. The building was beautiful and the staff very nice. I decided to give it a try.  Luckily, I didn't have to be on the waiting list for very long. I feel so fortunate to have gotten into the RMH because I was able to stay at the hospital with the girls during the day and it was only a short walk from the RMH to University of Maryland hospital and a short drive to Hopkins. If it wasn't for the RMH, I would have driven an hour and half one way to get to the hospital every day to see Abigail and Elizabeth.

I learned a lot about myself and life living there. Some people came to the RMH only for a night or two and then there were some people like
me who stayed longer. There were some children who actually lived there who received out patient hospital services, and then there were parents like me who had children in the hospital that couldn't leave. I met some of the most incredibly strong parents there.      I met people who really cared about me and always asked about how the twins were doing. Staying in a place like that helps you  realize how precious life is and how important your loves ones are. Some parents had to support their children through some horrible sicknesses or injuries.  It really makes you realize that there are people in this world who honestly don't know how fortunate they have it in life. There is nothing in life worse than seeing your child very sick.

The Ronald McDonald House is an amazing organization. I will always be so thankful for what they did for me. If you are a NICU parent and the social worker asks you if you want to stay there, my advice is to do it!