Notes from the Hospital with Finn

It's 9:45pm on Monday and Finn is finally sleeping soundly, so I got out my flashlight to post a note and give you all the thumbs up that Finn is in Georgetown Hospital but doing great.

I tried to check on Mom and Dad and the ice storm earlier, but couldn't get through to Dad. Turns out he's one of the unlucky ones with no power -- and not likely to get it anytime soon. But Mom has been checking on him all day and has offered her house should he need a place to sleep and get warm. Hope you get power soon Daddy! Glad Mom, Monica and Chris have managed to hold on to their's. OKC was the lead story on all the networks tonight because of the ice storm.

Poor Max was sick for his birthday last week but managed to rebound in time for his Captain Hook/Peter Pan party on Saturday. Unfortunately Finn went from feeling punky after his flu booster shot on Thursday to feeling HORRIBLE on Saturday. I was tempted to take him to the hospital then but really wanted Max to have his party, so Finn stuck it out --- thanks to his Essy (Aunt Shannon) literally holding and rocking him for five hours straight on Saturday (with only ONE bathroom break AND the THUNDER of 60 kids and parents directly overhead).

By Sunday night poor Finn had cried and not slept for 48 hours and was having such a hard time breathing that I couldn't bear to make him suffer through one more night, so Doug held down the fort at home while I headed to the ER at 6pm. By midnight they made the decision to admit him to the Pediatrics ward at the hospital. We actually got seen within our first hour in the ER but they treated him there for a long time, hoping to get his breathing under control and enough fluids in through IV to let us go home. No such luck. Out of the four kids there simultaneous to us and the 8 there as we were coming and going, Finn was the only one admitted for an overnight. All the kids in ER with us had the same thing as Finn but he was the only one who tested positive with the RSV virus (Apparently they've had to admit a lot of kids this week. One nurse wearily asked me how many more kids were down in ER when we got our room after midnight, so she could gauge how many more beds might still have to be available to get through the night.)

We're in the same ward Max and Gus stayed in 3 Christmases ago when they both had pneumonia, but they are taking some extra precautions with Finn. Since he has RSV, he can't go out to the kids' playroom or any other part of the hospital and no one can come in our room without donning protective wear from head to toe (except me, Doug and the kids -- apparently we've all been so exposed it doesn't matter at this point). My kids and Josh, Shannon, Doug and I aren't at any big risk I'm told, since RSV seems to primarily infect kids 2 and under. (The nurses have to stay protected so they don't infect the other little ones in our ward.)

When we checked in pooor Finn was in such a catatonic state he could barely hold his head up and just cried and whimpered nonstrop. By 3:15am the IV fluids and the breathing steroids had kicked in -- BIG TIME. Mommy was the one catatonic at this point and Finn was ready to play!!

Doug took the day shift from 10a-3p so I could go home and sleep and then get Gus and Max and bring them here to see their brother, while Melissa helped out as well. Tonight I'm back at the hospital with Finn and tomorrow we should be going home.

The staff at the hospital have been great! They even gave me the secret combo to the room with all the juice, milk, diet Cokes etc in the fridge and gave me carte blanche to come and go from there. (They told me you'd be appalled at some of the parents who come here and act like it's a hotel or just make themselves a little TOO at home. I didn't even ask to get in to the secret room but they let me in anyway, so I appreciated that! After hearing one mother lecture the ER doctor about how she had studied biochemistry and knew the difference between diarrhea and a loose stool, I really felt for these people having to deal with one too many Washington power tripping parental unit.)

Finn was so bouncy this afternoon and tonight that he was downright bored under lockdown. Mom had sent him some money for his birthday so I went to the gift store and found some toys that he is now loving -- a musical Redskins dinosaur (sorry doug but gus will love it!), a toy whale with a tail that wiggles when you pull its string, a Kwanza kids book (hey -- it was $4.99 and the others were $20 plus and he loves it) and an eyeball that lights up and shakes (from the Halloween clearance pile and it's one of his all time favorite things now). We didn't buy him any birthday presents since he has so many hand me down toys from his brothers and got gifts from so many of you, so I figured it was okay to break down and buy him something for his hospital boredom.

Now he's sleeping and I'm hoping to do the same very soon. They check his vitals every few hours and give him his breathing steroids (a Nebulizer -sp?- that vaporizes the Adderall -- sp?). That was every two hours yesterday, every three hours today and tonight at 8pm he tested well enough to go to every four hours. That's the magic number to graduate from the hospital and get your treatment at home! So that's where we are headed tomorrow morning.

His brothers miss him and were very sweet and loving to him at the hospital. Max told me he was really nervous to see Finn "all plugged in" at the hospital, so it was good for him to come here and see how great his brother is doing. (They've also both been very kind and loving to Indira's son Devan. They've arrived in Washington, where they'll be living for the next few years while he gets his chemo. Devan practiced saying "happy birthday max" all week and i watched him practice with Ringo and his parents down in our bedroom. Then he froze up in front of max and max patiently smiled and waited for devan to regain his courage and get the words out. it was the sweetest. Max and gus told me they love having Devan as a new best friend. It's a huge upheaval for the whole family and now Indira is starting the Bloomberg beat she will now have to make all this work -- instead of her Beijing beat she will be covering the presidential campaigns -- a big shift in assignments to bone up on! No rest for the weary....)

p.s. -- The Peter Pan/Captain Hook birthday party turned out great for Max and the rest of us all survived! Five different kids stopped me at school today to request a playdate with Max because they had so much fun at his party. We did a 5p-8p party, a feat never attempted before with these kindergartners -- and they loved it. I made some of the dads dress up like Tinkerbell and some of the moms dress up like Captain Hook for our game. The parents all loved the party because they just kept sneaking over to Doug's museum -- where he had a tapped keg. I loved the party because my sister was holding my baby so I wouldn't worry so much about one brother while the other brother got his big day. But it was honestly the loudest night of my life. Even Gus was a little startled by just HOW loud so many 5 year old girls can be. He in fact announced he is OVER his crush on 5 year old Sophie Stein because "she's just too much for me right now." (i'm so not kidding. he actually said that!)

Finally -- Doug had to give a presentation that day before the DC Humanities Council judges, defending his grant -- along with the other grant recipient. He said it went "well." Then our friend and neighbor who went with him to watch called me and said he just had to call directly to tell me how amazing Doug was. "He blew the judges out of the water," the neighbor told me. "They made it clear they had never seen anything like it. They also congratulated him for being the one of the first to do ANYTHING to record native american history in this area. They couldn't believe how much he accomplished with how little money they had given him. One judge even told him to apply for more money, because they WANTED to give it to him." (Of course APPLYING is a whole full time job in and off itself. ) Doug used his grant money to make a video about prehistorical tool-making and you can view it on the museum website at http://www.pmop.org/. By the time he paid everyone who participated, I don't think he ended up with ANY money to pay himself a salary, but hopefully the great grant presentation will lead to more funding for the museum.) It was nice to hear such recognition for all his hard and impressive work!

love to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rebecca

Flashback to Last Week: Shannon & Josh Visit

Dinner to Celebrate Shannon's Birthday on October 27th!

What to Wear for Halloween?

While we remember Halloween 2006 as Batman and Robin, what did the boys wear for Halloween 2007?

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Well ... before I share photos from this Halloween Fest, I will let you check out some of the costumes that were being considered... But not to worry Uncle Brian (and any others worried about Gus' street cred), in the end, the Pink Power Ranger getup did not get the final vote for Halloween attire! Which costumes actually got the go ahead nod from the Dupin boys will be posted later. First, here were some early contenders:

(When Gus announced to me that he wanted to be the PINK Power Ranger, I told him that was fine with me -- but warned him some kids might tell him he was a girl Power Ranger. He insisted he didn't care what other people said, he wanted to be PINK. Still not entirely convinced, I agreed to get him Pink Power Ranger boots and gloves -- but not yet the skirted outfit. Well, as you can see, he now loves his boots and gloves. And he clearly is confident about his 'look.')

Gus as the Pink Power Ranger and Max as Woody the Cowboy

The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
Nicholas Butler(1862 - 1947)

FinnDORABLE!

Ten Month Old Finn Townsend Dupin doing his Happy Thing! September, 2007

Kelsey & Dawn Marshall visit the Dupins,

Sept., 2007

Aunt KD requested a newer photo of Finn and -- thanks to that request -- I came across these two great photos.

(Doug had e-mailed them to me last month but I had failed to see them.)

One is a picture I had taken of Finn being his just usual happy self in his highchair at home, and the other is a picture from when our Marshall cousins came to visit.

Kelsey was selected for a leadership conference here in Washington in September, so proud mom Dawn flew here with her. We had just enough time for a quick visit on the Sunday before the conference started.

One of my most favorite pictures from Doug and my's wedding is one of Kelsey giggling as her sister Kailey prepares for her duties as our flower girl. Kelsey's just as cute as a teenager as she was at age two!

(And for any of you who haven't seen Dawn in a while, I swear she looks the EXACT same age as she did when she and Andy lived here ten years ago....don't you think?!)

Smooches before my Thursday night live shot -- Rebecca

My story today picked up on POLITICO and Drudge Report : )

As the fires continue to burn in California today...

This is an AP picture I kept from the Lake Tahoe fire -- dated June 25, 2007. Doug, Max, Gus and Finn were there and could see these fires burning every day from TuTu and PopPop's deck overlooking Lake Tahoe.

My story today on the federal response included a phone interview I did with former FEMA Director Michael "Brownie" Brown. It got posted on the Drudge Report today (http://www.drudgereport.com/) thanks to my pal (and Allbritton colleague) Mike Allen writing about it for POLITICO http://www.politico.com/. : ) Rebecca
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Brownie: Bush not doing heckuva job on fires

By: Mike Allen October 24, 2007 02:37 PM EST

President Bush isn’t doing a heck of a job balancing National Guard call-ups to Iraq with states’ needs back home – and that’s crimping the government response to the California wildfires, according to the man who took the blame for the botched federal reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Michael D. Brown, former chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told WJLA-TV reporter Rebecca Cooper in an exclusive interview Wednesday that the administration has not recognized how much of a “problem” it has with disaster response since so many National Guard troops are in war zones. He did not directly criticize the White House response to the fires. “The White House needs to recognize that we are overstretched and that there is a problem,” Brown said in a telephone interview. “They need to increase the size of the regular Army and stop relying so much on the National Guard.” Brown was the recipient of Bush’s infamous compliment in Mobile, Ala., at the height of the Hurricane Katrina chaos on Sept. 2, 2005: “Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 — (applause) — they're working 24 hours a day.” Brown is now on the board of directors of Atlanta-based Charys Holding Company, which provides consultation on emergency planning, response and reconstruction. Cooper’s report on Brown’s comments will run Wednesday night on WJLA Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in Washington. WJLA is a division of Allbritton Communications Company, which publishes Politico. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) complained on Capitol Hill Tuesday that the ability of the state's National Guard to respond to disasters like the fires has been compromised because too much of its equipment and personnel are committed in Iraq, The Associated Press reported.
'Plenty of Guards'Brown’s successor as FEMA chief, R. David Paulison, defended the National Guard’s strength when asked about it Wednesday morning during a series of television interviews from Los Angeles. “I have not seen an issue with the Guard,” he said on CBS News’ “The Early Show.” “In fact, they're moving a lot of National Guards in here on the ground.” Paulison added on CNN’s “American Morning” that “plenty of Guardspeople” were available. “There’s emergency management assistance compact between states where we can move more guardsmen in,” he said. “The fact is that there are plenty of people on the ground.” Brown, who later was named first Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response, made the comments in response to an e-mail asking how much of a burden a catastrophe is for FEMA when a large number of a state’s National Guards are elsewhere during an emergency, and whether FEMA has the capability and infrastructure to be the substitute for so many Guards deployed overseas. "It doesn't affect FEMA as much as it affects the states,” Brown said. “FEMA's job is to pick up the phone and call another governor and say, ‘Hey, California is short on National Guard. Can you spare a few?’ “But you can call any governor in the country and everybody is stretched. Another problem is that literally some of these guys are home from National Guard duty in Iraq for literally five hours before they have to turn around and respond to something here, and that's not good.” Bush, who has led an aggressive administration response to the fires in an effort to show he has learned the lessons of Katrina, plans to fly to Southern California on Thursday to survey the fire damage and response.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Bush will leave the White House early Thursday morning, participate in an aerial tour of the damage via helicopter, then receive a briefing by local, state and administration officials on the wildfires. The president held a video teleconference on the fires and talked with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) earlier Thursday.
Schwarzenegger thanked Bush on live national television Thursday afternoon.
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