The title above doesn't even fully capture what my family has done and went through in the last couple of months. I don't think I've made a post yet in 2021, so happy 2021! I'll organize all that's happened by months. Let's start with January!
January:
At the start of January our family flew to FL! It was amazing! This was my second time flying to a different state. The weather was pretty nice! We met a guy that wanted people to play tennis with him, so we did!
We came back to freezing cold Indiana, and returned to our normal/not-normal life. In about a week, I came home from the pet store with a small cardboard box. Though we aren't focusing on the cardboard box, we are focusing on the long haired Syrian hamster in the small cardboard box. We decided to call him Snowball, but I call him Snowlove, Snowhoney, Snowbaby, and anything else that involves snow!
Snowball has been a cute and fluffy friend to all of us! Even mom has found a special place in her heart for him!
February:
In February we got snow and went sledding several times! We celebrated Dad's birthday with Ruth (my sister) and Zach (her husband).
March:
I started playing Pickle-ball more often. And Ruth was preparing for labor. Ruth's water broke early in the morning on the 31st! To fill you in on some details, Ruth had gotten COVID 3 days before her water broke! That means that she couldn't give birth at the birth center she had planned on going to. She was left with only one choice; The hospital. But that's not all. Her mother-in-law who was supposed to be her dula, also got COVID, so she couldn't come to the hospital! Everything was going wrong for Ruth. Anyways, she drove to Methodist Hospital downtown indy and was sent to an isolation unit. Soon after, my mom went to help Ruth. My mom was told that if she wanted to stay with my sister, she couldn't leave because of being in the isolation unit.
April:
On April 1st Ruth started giving birth! When Ruth was giving birth, she was told that the baby was dying! She had no energy left, but kept pushing. The baby came out grayish-greenish. The baby didn't make a sound! As soon as the baby was fully out, the baby was transferred to Riley's Children Hospital and had a billion tubes connected to her tiny body.
Here's a photo to show you how bad she looked. Because of the baby almost dead, Ruth pushed hard and fast. She had internal damage and had to have stitches. The next day when Ruth was released, she went to Riley's to see the baby. She was told that she couldn't have skin contact with the baby. And one more thing... SHE WASN'T ALOWED TO USE THE BATHROOM!!! Because she had COVID. Luckily her husband felt better and was allowed to see Evangeline. Oh yeah, her name's Evangeline Ruth Elliott! 2 days later (April 3rd) Evangeline was taken home!!
A few days later we got to hold her!
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we had COVID that week too. Our whole family had almost all of the symptoms. And when we started to feel better, we lost our smell. This was after my sister got 2 negative COVID test results. I got my smell back fully first (around a week after I lost my smell), then Dad & Sarah got their smell back. Hannah, Ben and John cannot fully smell, but can smell some things.
So yeah, a lot has happened!!!
If you need more baby photos to brighten your life up, I have plenty!
-Verla Jubilee Burger