Our daughter Arlynn was born at 34 weeks via C-section due to a pregnancy complication known as Vasa previa. The delivery went smoothly without any complication, but when Arlynn was born the nurses and doctors decided she needed to be cared for in the NICU before coming home. I had already spent 30 days in the hospital as a precaution, so more hospital time was not ideal.
Finding out Arlynn was going to need to stay in the NICU was absolutely devastating to me. I remember driving the hour back home to Niagara in tears over the fact that I was going to be so far away from my baby. The next day, as we drove back up to McMaster Children’s Hospital, our caseworker thankfully set us up with a room at RMHC South Central Ontario.
I remember walking into the House feeling a sense of relief, comfort, and rest knowing we weren’t going to have to drive 50 minutes one way each day to see our new baby. It was also a relief to know we wouldn’t be taking on the burden of additional expenses like parking, fuel, and food; all of this brought me so much peace, particularly as I was a recovering c-section mama and my husband and I were first time parents.
Staying at Ronald McDonald House really felt like home. Eating meals in the dining room and seeing familiar faces from the NICU created a sense of true community like we were all rooting for each other.
It felt nice knowing that every morning when we woke up there would be breakfast waiting and every evening there was also a hot nutritious dinner. This meant that we didn’t have to worry about what we were going to eat or cook our own meals.
With RMHC providing so many resources and taking care of our needs, we only had to worry about our daughter and her needs. When we got the hard news of Arlynn’s need for surgery, it was nice to have a place close to the hospital that felt like home. RMHC is a necessary and important resource. We cannot thank those enough who contribute by donation or volunteering. Our journey would have been a lot harder if it weren’t for this service!
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