How a Nine-Hour Trip Turned into 128 Hours

Leave my parents at noon on Monday, Dec. 28, lunch with my sister, flight at 2:50, arrive in Dallas at 6:45, shuttle to the car, and arrive home by 8 p.m. An easy day of travel if all went as planned, but we all know my air travel rarely goes as planned. I did arrive home by 8 p.m., but it wasn’t on Monday – I arrived home on Saturday, Jan. 2.

What turned a nine-hour trip into 128 hours? When my flight landed in Houston to catch a connecting flight to Dallas, I had a text from Renae that her daughter-in-law was having issues that required them to take the baby due in later February that very day. In fact, she was getting prepped for a c-section right then. Rather than catching the flight to Dallas, I caught the Super Shuttle to the hospital and arrived about the time Lillianna Jane was born. Soon afterwards, her father found me in the labor and delivery waiting room. He was flying high! After he caught up with his wife in her room, Kevin and I went into the NICU to see the baby.

She was amazing. At 3 lb., 8 oz. and 17 inches, her legs and arms were so long and yet so skinny. Her little fingernails and toenails were barely visible. I could have looked at her forever.

Meanwhile, Renae was stranded in Michigan due to an ice storm and couldn’t get out until Thursday. I spent the rest of the week running between Kevin and Christie’s home and the hospital getting whatever they needed and keeping their rabbit alive. Thursday I picked up Renae at the airport and took her to the hospital to meet Lillianna.

We spent time with Kevin and Christie on Friday as well as quality time looking at Lillianna in the NICU. On Saturday Renae rented a car, and we drove back to Dallas after stopping by the hospital to visit with the baby, of course. By the time we returned the rental car and picked up our vehicles, we got home by 8 p.m. Right on time.