Team Thad: How to explain medical stuff to a very observant, very curious six-year old!

The kids have been very excited for "new baby" to arrive. We didn't share the name before he was born because we like to have a little bit of reveal since we knew the gender and delivery date. Also then people can't weigh in ahead of time on whether they like the name or not! And we couldn't tell the kids, because we know how well kids keep secrets! Ha!

So kids were excited to have new baby join the family. When Wade and Thad were on their way via ambulance to Manhattan Regional Airport to board a fixed wing plane to fly out, I got an early discharge despite my cesaerean and went home to throw some clothes in a bag and let the kids know what was happening.  How do you tell a 3 and 6 year old that their baby brother turned "dusky" multiple times and was headed to another hospital? You get very creative...no need to scare them or cause panic.

Something like this.

Dr. K. Is like a detective trying to solve a mystery. She used all of the tools she had and looked for all of the clues, but she couldn't solve the mystery, so she is sending him to a different hospital that had more tools and could look for new clues to find out what was making him not feel well! Then we talked about how Thad was getting to ride a plane, and they thought that was pretty cool!

It kind of fell apart when I told them I was going to be with Thad...they had had a new sibling, gotten less sleep than usual, and were in a stressful situation with a momma who was trying to control her emotions!  They cried and begged me not to go, or to take me with them, and why mommy isn't new baby home with you.  It was a long hour trying to get them calmed down and out the door, but we all survived. They were in good hands with Wades's mom and dad!

Next dilemma...how to explain all of the cords and tubes on Thad when they came to see him in the hospital!  We talked about how the ng feeding tube in his nose could allow mommy milk to be put in the tubes and go straight to his stomach. We talked about the sensors stuck on his skin connected to wires leading to a computer were like the stethoscope Dr. K uses to listen to their heart "beep" only they were always there! Ad we talked about how neat it was to be plugged into a computer.

They reacted really well to seeing him in his hospital bed. Other than really wanting to hold him (with so many wires it made me nervous, but I held him and they patted and kissed and loved him), they were just really happy to see him and to see that we were both okay. They picked out a balloon for him and colored pictures to hang in his space.  Friday Gabriel spent at least an hour back with him, charming the nurses and loving his new brother.

If you have never been to Children's Mercy Hospital, I hope that you never have reason to. However, it is a pretty neat space! Lots of visual art and displays and neat things for kids to see.  Gabriel said that it was a pretty fun hospital...I am glad that he could see it that way, thinking to myself that it is all in whose shoes you are standing in, but I am thankful that they will be able to remember this little hiccup as just another adventure in life rather than something scary!