LaughingSeven

2:35 PST
Nathan is in the ICU. He has RSV and possibly bonchilitis (a more
severe virus). He’s having a hard time breathing and hasn’t eaten well
in the last 24 hours. They are going to keep him in the ICU at least
overnight, likely longer. He is hooked up to an IV and has oxygen
being forced into his lungs to help clear up the breathing passage.

It’s pretty serious.

First and foremost, we need prayer. Pray for Stephanie, myself, and
mainly for Nathan. Pray for his recovery, pray for his health, pray
for his life. Peterson and Gabby both have vicious coughs as well (to
the point of both throwing up at some point due to the extreme
coughing). We’re tired, scared, and feel limited.

Thank you

despite a broken finger, a recent power outage, a 7-week old, and post-christmas blues … i am still here. click the picture below to see my christmas break in pictures.

We’re still in the hospital, going to be heading home in the next few hours. Both Nathan Andrew and Stephanie are doing well.

Below is a quick video so you can see a little bit more of him (it’s on the blog and in QuickTime Format and is about a minute long):

Click Here: http://www.samuelrainey.com/Nathan_Andrew.mov

Welcome to the world, little buddy.

7lbs 11oz, 21″
Born at 1:21 on 11/20/07

It’s 10:49 right now, and I’m sitting in a quiet house. Steph is at bible study with the kids. She has had a handful of contractions since she got home from the hospital yesterday morning, and feels better today than she’s felt in weeks. We have no idea when this baby will arrive.

It’s a strange feeling to be sitting in the OB Triage at 5 in the morning expecting to meet the newest member of your family, to sitting in your living room 24 hours later with no sign that he’s coming anytime soon (soon - within hours/days).

So, we’re just going to wait until he’s ready to come out. She’s at 37 weeks, so it could be another 2-3 weeks for all we know.

Woke up this morning at 4:30 to Steph telling me to get the car ready, we’re having a baby.

12 minutes later car is packed, we’re dressed (well, I am … she’s staying in her pj’s) and on our way.

That’s really early in the morning to be driving fast, in the rain, with you wife telling you to drive more smoothly. Have you ever driven on the Seattle interestates? Worst. Interstates. Ever. I digress.

After running 3-4 red lights, we get to the OB Triage and Steph is transformed into bionic woman due to all the cords, staps, and goo to monitor her and the baby.

Long story short, no baby. We stayed at the hospital for 4 hours, and they sent us home. We’re tired, I have class today, and little man (still don’t have a name, btw) will likely be here in the next 24 hours.

Stay tuned…

I was in the middle of my 1st semester and with 6 weeks left in the semester, I had 19 Papers to be written …

This year at the same time …. Only 8 papers. Thank goodness too, as baby #3 (due to arrive in the next 2 weeks) will disrupt those 8 papers.

My sweet princess recites the pledge of allegiance…

Last Saturday I had the awesome honor of taking my 3 year old out for a date. I picked her up at 12:15 and we went purse shopping at her favorite toy store (Top Ten Toys) and then to Starbucks for some tea in her new tea set (from her birthday). Here’s some pics of the beautiful princess, my date.

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Location: San Francisco, CA

Sunday morning we get up at 7:30 and leave hotel at 8:15. Our hope is to drive 2 hours to Carmel, CA (quaint city by the ocean) and hang out there for a bit before our flight leaves San Jose at 5:45.

One hour into the drive from San Fran to Carmel, we run into a triathlon….the biking portion. We’re driving on highway 1 (beautiful scenic byway that goes along the coast), so for an hour and a half or so I’m driving two-fisted on the wheel at roughly 20-30 mph dodging bikers on both sides of the roads. Think Tour-de-France with open roads. There where over 2,000 bikers. Until the triathlon, our trip had been amazing. Usually we encounter at least 2 or 3 situations in travel that border on insane, so the fact that our trip had gone by without a problem until now was pretty amazing.

We finally make it to Carmel at 12:30 (2 hours later than expected due to said triathlon) and get lunch at an awesome Italian bistro: Great food and great company. We walk around the town for an hour, and then hop back in the car to drive to San Jose to fly home.

Our flight leaves at 5:43. We get to the airport (hardly worth calling an airport… more like a place that has airplanes, and that’s it) at 4:20, and are a little nervous about making our flight. This fear is quickly thrown out the window when we walk into the-place-that-has-airplanes and see the ticket counter, the security screening, and the departure gate all within 30 feet of each other. I was afraid they’d ask me to help fly the plane, or at least help load the luggage on the plane.

The strange thing is that this is an international airport. Either the folks at San Jose don’t believe Seattle is apart of the United States or they make one flight a year to an airport situated on the border of the US where the wheels of the plane roll over the border during landing and thus can be considered international. In either case, this is not the picture of an international airport that will be featured in any airline or airport (or place that has airplanes) documentary.

So, back to the story. We get to the airport…er…place-that-has-airplanes at 4:20 and are sitting at the gate by 4:25. I could have made it through the security screening 200 times by the time our flight was to depart (not that’d I want to by the way). Anyway the boarding call comes at 5:15…. Ooops, that was for the wrong flight. That was for the Boise flight departing at the gate next to our flight. So they board the Boise folks.

This is where the fun begins.

We’re next to board. They call for us to board at roughly 5:30, which is a little late, but no big deal. A hundred ore more folks (in a room that now feels no bigger than a ) get in line to board. After the first 10 passengers board, the line stops moving. No moving for 10 minutes. We’re all in line wondering what’s going on. Rumors make their way through the line that the flight might be a ‘no go’.

Then this: “Ladies and gentleman, the pilot has found a problem with your aircraft and is looking into the problem right now. You can be seated as it’ll be a few minutes before we know anything.”

Rumblings throughout the terminal (The entire terminal is literally the size of a big Starbucks coffee shop).

So we sit. I go up to the counter to check on options in case our flight doesn’t leave tonight. There’s another flight leaving San Jose at 8:05 (2+ hours later). Well, at least we have options.

Thirty minutes later, they tell us that the flap on the right wing has gone awry. They’re waiting for the mechanic to check out the problem and should know something in 15-20 minutes. Time is now 5:55. I make my way to the ticket counter, and all of a sudden there is a hoard of folks coming through the gate next to us (the Boise gate).

Through mumblings, I hear that their plane (the Boise one) is now grounded with engine failure. Their flight is cancelled. Sucks for them, but I’m getting out of this damn airport-er-place-that-has-airplanes tonight to see my kids. I get booked on the 8pm flight, and a smile of my resourcefulness is seen on my face (I got two of 12 seats on this later flight). My wife loves me. I love me. My kids love me. I am the greatest….

I am hungry.

Stephanie is pregnant and is hungrier. The people at the desk tell us that food vouchers are available for those of us who are waiting on the flights (which is all 3-400 in this room), just get in line… Remember, two flights have now been cancelled (or postponed) so now people are spanning (I use the term spanning very very loosely) 4 gates with 8 flights supposed to depart within the next 2-3 hours. You should read this as “LOTS of people in the room.

So, the line for the meal vouchers is long. I wait for an hour and decide that my $12 of cash is worth more than their $12 of vouchers given that it’ll take me another hour to get the voucher in my hands, and then I’ll have to stand in line for the food. The hits keep on coming.

I buy dinner at Joe Bob’s sandwich shack (amazing there was a place with food in this ‘place that has airplanes’). After dinner, 7:20pm or so, the plane with the flap failure (our original flight at 5:45) is having a part driven down from Oakland so that it can be fixed. This part is rumored to consist of match sticks, bubble gum, and some silly string. But hey, whatever works…right?

Meanwhile, the Bosie flight (with the engine failure) is rumored to begin boarding in the next hour. Good for them. We’re happy for them, we’re happy for us as we have a flight scheduled to leave at 8pm, and we’ll be home by 10:30 or so.

Wrong.

I learn from the airline folks (at this point I should mention that a grand total of 4 flight attendants are working 3 gates for the 8 flights) that 3 planes in Seattle scheduled to depart for Northern California (including the 8:00 flight we’re supposed to leave on) are all grounded due to mechanical failures. Yeah, that’s right. At least 5 planes all bound for either San Jose, Seattle, or Boise are all grounded with mechanical failures.

So now our plane in Seattle supposed to depart from San Jose at 8:00 PM hasn’t even left Seattle (it’s 7:30 now) and won’t be in San Jose until at least 10pm. The flap on the other plane is still broken (evidently the bubble gum and silly string isn’t working) and there’s little end in sight.

But wait, there’s more. We find out that San Francisco (45 min from San Jose) has a flight leaving at 9:05. We might be able to make that flight. So we, along with 6 other hopeful stranded passengers, hop on a van to be driven to SFO (San fran airport… yes, it’s an airport and it has planes) in hopes of getting on that flight.

After an uneventful drive (amazing, we know) we arrive at the SF airport at 8:15. The plane boards at 8:30. We make it through the security just fine, and get to the gate at 8:25. I see the plane out the window (note, the San Jose airport doesn’t have windows. not sure if it’s underground….or maybe under water, I still never saw a single plane, or passenger, leave the building through a gate). So I see the plane out the window, and I’m thrilled. We’re finally going home.

I then hear “Ladies and gentlemen there is a problem on the jetway. We’re switching to gate 22 for this flight.”

Are you kidding me?

Again?

Another delay?

Thankfully that was the last eventful happening in our trip. We got on board, in first class thanks to my superior negotiating skills with the Alaska Air attendants, and made it all the way to Seattle. Thanks to some baileys and coffee on the flight, I was finally resting well after 14+ hours of travel that day.

We finally got in bed last night at 12:40.

We don’t know where our luggage is. but that’ll figure itself out.