"Por que! Why do you want a friend to watch the girls when we can?" We in English meant Abuelo. Which is fine but we need to give family a break from the constant issues. Which during any given day can be one or ten. Jeanette planned the escape using her "Familia" friends, coordinated by Alexandra's Madrina, we had imposter mother's lined up for at least two extractions this week. All know the girls, the situation, and are experienced mothers. We even debriefed Amanda before bed. We showed her pictures of the imposters and gave her a quick briefing on what to do if the Liana alert sounded.
"If she cries, calm her down. If she starts throwing shit, duck. If she starts screaming, go under the covers and call her name. IF by any chance, she really gets out of control, Yell the word "Bacon, three times to get her attention ... then try and calm her down."
The now 6 year old memorized the name ... "Gloria" and the picture ... and the day they met face-to-face. Amanda whispered her words of acceptance during bathtime "Shh. I think Liana wont notice." I just shook my head. Never, I repeat, NEVER say any word you don't want Liana to hear or she will nag you until she gets something out of you.
The mission changed while I was making dinner and Jeanette was getting pastries for the NICU nurses (it was Alexandra's 1 month after birth celebration). Alex was coming by after work. Most of you might already know the Pacheco family but they live in Georgia now, eating peaches and talking with a lisp "Hoe-Law Ya'all" (that's southern cuban for Hello everyone). Alex work is nearby and he was able to stop, see the girls (Padrino to Liana) and meet us at the hospital to see Alexandra.
I quickly added another plate to the table and got the girls fed. Jeanette got another batch of pastries for Alex, knowing the rare delicacies are not sold north of Latin America (Miami). Alex came in, gave the girls a hug, gave them gifts, ate dinner and was off before bath time. That was a quick touch down and take off in the Latin world. But it was perfect. The girls opened up, we talked had fun and Liana loved her little doll she called "Axandra" close enough to her real name. Issues started to arise ... Abuela did not like the Operation Escape plans, they were flawed. Someone, was going to watch our children, what will Liana do, how will they behave, what if, what if ... the list went on. Another phone call "When should I be by?". My response "Talk to the mission coordinator." Never, I repeat never assume responsibilities or talk to anyone when you do not have complete authority. I was not in charge of this mission, Jeanette was. I cannot and will not talk on her behalf, or assume what should or will happen. That is mission control central. I was just a puppet. 15 minutes later, another call, from another informant "So, when should I be there? Mother said to come asap." Dam, our cover is blown. She dropped the Mother name. Was this planned well enough, did we have a change already. I stuck to the plan and spoke what I knew "No, no need to come. We have our imposter. No need to make the trip."
"Mother will not like that answer ..." I grabbed a napkin, sweat started to form on my brow, was it the stir frying or the situation at hand? I did what I was trained to do ... push all blame on the mission coordinator "I am only doing what I was instructed to do ... abort any movement to this area." I set the phone down and looked over at Jeanette. She knew what the call was. But luckily our cover was not blown. Liana was arguing with Amanda over the dolls current feeding "Juice", "NO Milk!", "No Juice. Axandra drink Juice now. NO milk!" spouted Liana as she pushes Amanda's milk bottle away.
Bathtime and bedtime came and went. Our imposter was waiting outside just before the drop time 8:45. Angie was early, waiting outside until we called her in. Now rule #1 during this operation was minimal talk. Our mice have ears and Liana's are very good during the initial sleep stage. She can hear a bag of chips opening, a SpongeBob episode starting, a computer game playing. Any noise of value carries and she will get up for water, bathroom, kiss, hug, whatever her little mind can scrounge an the moment. Crap, Amanda had to go to the bathroom. One area we didn't cover. "Me go, Me go too" I could hear her cry in the dark. But Mission Coordinator covered that one during book time by changing her diaper while standing. Not an easy task but one that paid dividends as she said "Liana, you already had a change, no need to get up."
After a couple brief minutes we gave Gloria an update "Bathroom, there, TV there, girls sleep there ... bye." We scampered out the door with our communicators both on knowing a call meant the operation failed. I called Alex, who was at a nearby hotel. He was already en-route to the hospital. We all met at the doors near 9pm. So far so good. We all arived and another issue came up. "How do we all get in? They only allow two at a time?" That was the mission coordinators worry. I replied that we will be ok. Just give them the pastries, go to Alexandra, spend a few minutes then leave to pump. That was another issue handled with care. Jeanette's pump time was at 9 so she planned on a traveling pump. Which works in the same theory as military planes that refuel while in flight. Just hook up the pump at a remote setting. She brought her tubes and containers and would do so in the NICU. We held our ground at the security desk. We were seasoned visitors and we did not balk at the sign of 3 visitors. We made small talk and kept the excuse ready to be used, but not needed as we made our way toward the NICU. All of us arrived, before anything was done to Alexandra as the nurse "Nadia" was busy (that name always brings to mind the hot girl from American Pie). The NICU was very busy, too many parents our cover was blown ... but we stuck to the plan "I will just change her diaper, take her temperature then go pump." and Nadia had no issues while Alex and I watched Alexandra stir.
Alexandra gained a bit more weight and is now at 2lbs 14 ounces. All signs going well. Her feeding is at 27ml every 3 hours. She was cozy and doing ok for the entire visit. All bodies left the hospital just before 11 as we all knew so far all was going well, why risk a blown operation. We made it home just after 11. All was quiet. Our imposter mother was doing well, no signs of movement, no issues. We breathed calmly as all went well without too many issues. We knew we had to deal with our debreifing interrogation tomorrow, the "how could you" and "why" issues but it went as we hoped it would and as it may another day. Thanks to all who helped.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment