Thank You's

Brooke and I have had some time today to spend thinking about just how many people have helped us out lately. So I wanted to take a few minutes to write some personal “Thank You’s” to people who have gone above and beyond:

• Jill, Brooke’s sister: Jill has been staying at our house and taking care of our animals for us. It’s been a huge relief not having to worry about things at home and being able to focus on Brooke and the babies. We owe Jill a lot!

• John, my brother: today we found out that the babies are going to need some extra blood, and the doctors prefer to get it from family. Since Brooke and I are both ineligible donors, we both immediately thought of John. We called him to ask and he immediately left work, drove all the way here, and then rushed to the blood center. How great a guy is that? (Not to worry: most premature babies need blood transfusions. Annaleigh is just going to need it sooner than we thought because she's so small, hence the rush. John's blood is more than enough to help all three babies for a long time.) EDIT: Thank you for all the offers to donate blood! Just to make things clear, there is no emergency at all. It's just good to have a little blood stored for when the babies need it. John acted quickly because the babies will most likely need some blood in the next few days and it takes a few days from the time of donation for the blood to be ready. Since we'd prefer to use blood from someone we know rather than the blood bank, John made sure to donate today. His blood will last them a long, long time, but again, thank you so much for all your offers!


• Kara and Audrey: Tucker first started going to doggie daycare when he was just a little pup, and we were blessed to meet Kara and Audrey from Ain’t Misbehavin’s Canine Sleepover. He has a second home at their house, and they have been great about taking care of him with little-to-no notice and keeping him from going crazy. More importantly, they have become like family to me and I can’t thank them enough for their friendship. If you’re anywhere close to Jackson, NJ and in need of a place to board your dog, there is no better place in the world.

• Tommy and Jerry, Kara’s parents: since this whole insane pregnancy began, Tommy and Jerry have had their whole small-town Texas church praying every day for us. Their pastor even calls to check up on Brooke and the babies! We’re so grateful!


• Ryan and Stacy, our friends from college: We’ve been pretty surprised that nobody has yet questioned us about Lily’s middle name (Kevynn). She’s named for our dear friend Kevin Paulson, who died suddenly almost six years ago. Ryan and Kevin and Broke and I were great friends in and after college, and we still think of him nearly every day. Our babies were born at 9:00 pm on Saturday night, and by Sunday morning Ryan and Stacy had used the internet to track down Kevin’s parents, who have since relocated to Florida. We wanted them to know about Lily’s middle name that we still miss and love Kevin very much.

• All the people from the Triplet Connection, SAIF, L & L, WC, and the private multiples boards: we have gotten so much feedback from you all on this blog, on facebook, via email, and on the different message boards. There are only a small handful of you whom Brooke has met personally but she feels such a connection to these boards and you all. It has meant so much to us to have all of your support through this insane time in our lives. When I posted my facebook name in a post a couple days back, I was inundated over the next 24 hours with friend requests—I was overwhelmed with how many of you care about our babies and about my beautiful wife.


• Lauren & Pat, Cox, Colleen, Jenn, and Christina & Doug: we honestly didn’t realize until just recently how many friends we have living in the New Brunswick area! And all have offered to open their homes to us in the months ahead since we will be here every day to visit our babies. I’m sure it’s going to be a long, long road and we will probably need all the local help we can get, so thank you!

• Genmab Inc, Brooke’s work: the people at Genmab, especially Pam and Vikki, have shown an uncommon level of compassion over the past few months. Brooke has had so many issues since first getting pregnant and they have not only never given her a problem but they have supported her in every way. Most people I know have never heard of a company that is so much a family as Genmab, and Brooke is truly lucky to work with such wonderful people.


• Walter, our next-door neighbor: Walter cut my grass last weekend. That’s a nice thing to do for someone going through all this, but that’s not the whole story. He cut the front lawn (unbeknownst to me) on Friday night. I came home Saturday morning planning to cut the grass before going up to the hospital (and before Brooke went into labor). But he insisted on finishing what he started with the back lawn before it rained, which meant that I got to leave for the hospital much earlier. Well, Brooke went in to labor so quickly and the babies were born so fast that if I weren’t already with her I would not have made it to the hospital in time to be with Brooke during the delivery. Granted, I had been at the hospital for hours that day before the contractions started, but the time I would have spent cutting the grass could easily have made all the difference in the world. Thank you Walter!

• Our Parents: yeah, there’s too much. Just… thank you.