Boise to Portland Day 1

Needless to say friends it has been a long day. Janelle and I spent the night with Janelle's cousin Sami Jo and her husband Ben. Thank you guys so much for having us. It made the start of the day so much easier. Bright and early at 5 this morning was our wakeup call. We headed to the airport first to drop me off at my flight and then Ben graciously took Janelle to the hospital to travel with Hadley.
Funny Story: Janelle could only carry one backback with her on the small life flight plane so I had the majority of the baggage for both of us on the trip. This included not only a carseat but Janelle's breast pump machine. I got some pretty funny looks from the guys in the security gates because there were a bunch of guys behind me and a bunch of guys ahead of me! I had to finally speak up and tell them it was "mine." They gave me a pretty funny look and immediately told me they'd have to check it out. Not one to make waves, I agreed. Soon I was on my way to my flight!
Well, we all made it pretty much at the same time to Portland and with the gracious leading of our friend Hilary, she got me to the Doernbecher's shortly after Janelle and Hadley. It was a pretty emotional time for Janelle because it was a lot of hustle and bustle transitioning her to and from ambulances and into the plane and hospital. Well, we spent the morning in the NICU getting Hadley settled. We got lost in the HUGE buildings with all the skywalks and floors. It is amazing to see such a huge hospital with so many specialties.
After we got her settled we talked with a pediatric doctor about the surgery. She answered all our questions and helped set our minds a little at ease for the procedure. Hadley is going to be in surgery at 7:30 am tomorrow and the surgery is expected to last between 5-6 hours. We also took a tour of the PICU which is where she will be spending the week after the surgery recovering. They have tried their best to prepare us for all that is going to happen tomorrow and what we will see when we first see Hadley after surgery. I don't think that one can fully prepare to see your own child, only 5 days old, in the shape Hadley will be in after surgery. I've done a good job of taking pictures so far, but tomorrow will definitely be tough. I really just want to document all the events so that you have a good picture of what we are doing over here AND to help me cope with this whole situation.
On a good note, we just got an e-mail from our great friend Ben Earwicker who has a company called Garrison Photography in Boise. He was so nice to come and take some pictures of Hadley yesterday and he has them posted on a special website for us. Please go to www.garrisonphoto.org/gpfriends/boothby/ to see the beautiful pictures. I would also encourage you to check out the Doernbecher's Children's Hospital website to see the amazing hospital we are in: www.ohsuboernbecher.com. Finally, please visit the Ronald McDonald House Charity webpage, www.rmch.org They have been so gracious to give us a room here and that is currently where I am writing from. It is only $20/night and we get to stay here. The only thing we need to do is one chore/day to help out in the communal areas of the house. It is a 5-7 minute walk to the place where Hadley will be having surgery tomorrow and only about 10 minutes from where she currently is in NICU. An amazing place with amazing hearts. Thanks for reading!. NOTE: The computer at Ronald's House is a MAC and I have NO experience with it. I want to get my pictures from our camera to this blog and it's plugged into a USB outlet, yet I can't find it. ANYONE WITH EXPERIENCE WITH MACS PLEASE WALK ME THROUGH THE ROPES VIA A COMMENT OR SOMETHING. I WANT TO GET PICTURES OUT!!! THANK YOU.

Casey