Hard To Say Goodbye

Yesterday my sister-in-law Jill finally got approval from her insurance to transport her and her preemie Sydney back to her home in Texas. She was so excited to finally get back to her home after being here for 9 weeks straight. It was hard to see her go since she had become a part of our "home" family. Nine weeks ago I was starting down the road of pre-eclampsia and we knew I was not going to be able to stay pregnant much longer. She dropped everything and came to help me out with the kids. Little did we know that the night she came in I would be leaving very early the next morning to be admitted to the hospital. She was thrown into the chaos of taking care of four children on maybe two hours of sleep without any help. She did fabulous. When I got home from a surprise c-section and a 9 day stay at the hospital she took care of everything from laundry to dishes to taking care of all the kids--no easy task. She also was a support while I was dealing with having a preemie on a ventilator all the way to feeding issues. When things finally settled down and I was feeling well enough to take back over my post, that's when her problems began. The day before she was going to leave to go back to Texas we had to make an emergency run to take her to the hospital because she was having contractions and was bleeding. That is when we got the news she was going to be admitted and on complete and total bedrest for as long as her body could stay pregnant. She was able to stay pregnant for an additional two weeks until Sydney had to make her appearance at 27 weeks 6 days. What a roller coaster the next month was. However, Jill became an even bigger part of our home family. While visiting Sydney in the hospital she also got to participate in our Family Home Evenings and our movie nights. She was able to eat dinner with us and she drove Josh's carpool to school every morning. We were excited for her when we heard the news that her insurance was going to pay to transport her and Sydney back to a hospital by her home in Texas. She was able to leave yesterday, but it was hard to say goodbye. It will be best for her to be by her husband through the ups and downs of having a preemie. They made it safely back to Dallas last night riding a Lear Jet with a neonatal medical transport team. Now comes the hard part of trying to explain to the kids why their Aunt Jill isn't living with us anymore. We are all missing her. We are missing the Sonic drink runs and the starbursts :). We will eternally grateful and indebted to her for dropping everything to come to our aid and for all the help she gave us. Judging to what a wonderful job she did taking care of my kids she will be an excellent mother to Sydney. Thanks a ton Jill!!