Finally

I finally got a solid amount of sleep last night!!!! 9:30pm-9:30am. 12 hours! I was so tired. THANKFULLY- it was recovery day on Insanity or else I would have failed. (Calves are still killing me).

Jenna and I finally got to do what we came here for- work with the babies!

Yesterday (Monday) morning we met with the ladies of FFR at the Children's Hospital (spitalul de copii). Mary met us at the gate and walked us in where we met Sarah, Steffi, Mary, Alisha, and Raeleen. They were all so nice and so welcoming. Alisha showed us around the hospital and explained how everything worked.

She told us how it all started and came about:
Sarah met Steffi while over here working for an organization that was helping out in a children's orphanage. Then I forget the little details but basically when Romania joined the EU they disbanded the orphanages and that organization went somewhere else. Most people began to believe that the orphan problem in Romania had disappeared because there were no more orphanages. Wrong. Sarah and Steffi knew that this wasn't true and that those kids were just now floating around elsewhere. So they went on a mission to try and find the children that were once in that orphanage that they had worked with. They finally found them at the Children's Hospital. When they got there they found the children all wrapped up in dirty rags. The nurses at the time were doing the best that they could, but Sarah and Steffi knew that this wasn't okay. They took money from their own pockets and went to the stores and bought as many diapers as they could. They came back to the Children's Hospital and started changing all the babies out of the rags and into fresh diapers. This became the start of what their organization Firm Foundations Romania does. They now work in part with the nurses and doctors in the Children's Hospital raising money and collecting donations for diapers, clothes, toys, blankets, etc.

The hospital is 5 stories high and every room is filled with children. They have them separated by floor. I believe that the first floor is surgery, the second is surgery recovery, the third is infants, the fourth is toddlers, and the fifth is special needs. FFR works mostly with the 3rd and 4th floors. There are two different shifts that are worked. There is the morning shift from 9:30-12:30: where you go around assisting the nurses or the play therapist for a bit and then pass out diapers from floor to floor. The afternoon shift is from 3-6: which is much more relaxed because most of the nurses and doctors are gone and you just get to hold the babies for 3 hours (aka the best shift). Luckily we have the afternoon shift Mondays, Tuesdays, & Fridays. And we have the morning shift Wednesdays and Thursdays. I think it will be important to get to do both shifts, but I definitely think I will like the afternoon one more.

Alisha helped remind us that they work WITH the hospital in doing what they do. And this means that basically the nurses and doctors are going to do things their way, and we are expected to comply. She said that it is going to be hard because we are going to see them doing things that we think could be done better, but we have to remember that they are farther behind technology-wise than we are, and they are doing the best that they can with what they have. And I agree, it was hard to watch sometimes. The thing that I noticed most was just the way that they handle the babies. It was like they had emotionally removed themselves from the situations and treated them like just another numbered kid in a bed. They didn't seem gentle or caring, but rather than they had a job to accomplish. So that will take some getting used to, but then Alisha reminded us that that is what we are there for- to offer the nurturing love side of it all, and the nurses and doctors are there to offer the medicine and treatments. Hearing that made it all a lot easier to take in.

After showing us around the hospital, Alisha took Jenna and I around town and showed us where to grocery shop, what is and isn't okay to eat, good places to get certain items, and fun spots in town. It was very helpful information!! Then we met up with the rest of the girls at one of their favorite places for lunch. I got spaghetii!!!!! It was very yummy! (yayy i'm not going to starve!!). The girls were all so nice. They asked about us, our families, what we do, what we like, what we are excited for, etc. They invited us over to their place tonight for... that's right.... MEXICAN FOOD!!!! We are looking forward to this very much!! They asked if we had any plans to travel while we are here, and we said sort of, but they encouraged it very much. They said that there are two other volunteers that get back today from a weekend in Venice; they are from Pennsylvania. We are hoping they are nice and will maybe want to hang out with us! That would be cool! Overall getting to hang out with all the ladies that work there was exciting and fun. Having other people to talk to and laugh with was much needed!!!

After lunch we went back to the hospital with Alisha and Raeleen to work the afternoon shift. We put on our scrubs (I felt very official with them on PLUS getting a badge with my picture and name on it!!). We grabbed some toys and some books and went to one of the infant rooms on the 3rd floor. It is a mixed variety of emotions getting to sit there and just hold one of the babies. I felt happy and comfortable (as I always do) getting to just sit in a rocking chair with a little one laying against me. But at the same time, I felt sad knowing that for a combined total of about maybe an hour a day these babies get held. The rest of the time they are just stuck laying there in their cribs with no attention. Some of them have been fully abandoned by the mother, some the mother comes to visit because she can't take full care of him or her, and the others seem to go in and out of the hospital switching back and forth between there and at home.

After the third floor we moved up to the 4th floor, toddlers. I think that this was the most challenging thing to witness. I have been around so many blessed, loved, & cared for children in my life. Seeing the way that these toddlers were was heartbreaking. Some of them wouldn't even make eye contact with you, some just had a constant murmur of whining even while you were holding them, and others could barely walk because of how much time they spend in the cribs everyday. They was one little girl that they said had been there since she was an infant, and she seemed content. She laughed, smiled, played with you, etc... because she knew no other life outside of this (which in and of itself is sad). But the others, the ones that did have part-time families or moms, they were the ones that seemed to have it worst. At that age they are aware of what is going on, and who people are, and what they want. So they were the ones that it seemed to have the biggest emotional impact on. There was a little girl that came by from another room, about 5 years old, and she was crying and rambling on non-stop telling a story that all I could catch was the last word which was "momma". I asked Alisha what she was saying and she told me that she was telling about how her mom brought here there, but she knew that she would be coming back for her. It was very sad to hear.

We left the hospital at 6pm and started our walk back to our room. We decided that we needed a little pick me up ice cream on our way home. Once we got back we were both exhausted. It had been a very long day physically and emotionally. I was so tired. I took a shower, cleaned up a bit, and crawled into bed and fell asleep early.

All of the ladies at FFR seem to have a good attitude towards it all, which I think will help us get through. They said you learn to take the good with the bad, and use your time wisely with each child. It may not be the best, but it is the best that you can do. Hearing that helped. Yet again, being here and now witnessing everything, has made me appreciate everything and everyone that I have back home even more.

We are off to go do some grocery shopping and then heading over to the hospital for the afternoon shift (yay!).

I love you all. So much.