Adventuring Elf Sisters

I haven't gone geocaching in a couple weeks, and there's a good reason for that! I've spent most of the last two weeks at the hospital with my brother and sister in law. There twins were born last Sunday!

The last two weeks have been full of adventure. Becca went into to the hospital about 4 days before the boys were born. There was concern with some of her labs and her liver counts. At that point they were saying that they were going to monitor her and try to wait another two weeks before the babies were taken out c-section.

The next day John (my brother) ended up in the ER with the mother of all nose bleeds. We estimate that he lost about a pint of blood. He has a history of nose bleeds, but this was bad even for him! He continued to have nose bleeds through out the weekend but none as bad as that one. We're all pretty positive it was just a stress reaction (there were some other things going as well as Becca being in the hospital).

Sunday was when everything went crazy. When I go there around noon they had just told Becca that her latest labs were really bad and that they were going to have to do the c-section soon for the safety of her and the boys. At that point they were saying "today or tomorrow." Then it became, "in the next 8 hours," then, "3 hours." As you can imagine that was NOT a fun afternoon for any of us!

The hardest part, other than the rush of it all, was getting the IV's and such into Becca. She has bad veins and they were NOT co-operating! It's a really good thing I'm not a needle-phobe or I would have run screaming. We estimate it took around 13 pokes to finally get the IV's needed and the blood draw...

The boys were born at 6:12 and 6:15 that evening. No complications, and everyone was so happy and relieved!

Since then the adventure has been what I think of as "life at the NICU." Since they boys were 34 weeks (roughly 6 weeks early) they are in the NICU for awhile. They need to gain strength, weight, and keep their body temperatures. They also need to be able to do all their feedings on their own. Right now they are (during the day) alternating between nursing and being fed through a tube.

Life in the NICU means lots of hand sanitizer, quiet voices, and holding tiny precious boys.

I'm spending all the time up there that I can, but I'm also starting to have to get caught up on the rest of life too :P

So what about you? Any adventures lately?

Picture this: It’s a beautiful day outside. You’ve signed up with www.geocaching.com , done some research, and figured out what cache(s) you want to start with. You’ve studied the information carefully, know (at least approximately) where you’re going, and your full of excitement and ready to get started!

What comes next?

If you’ve been geocaching for a long time then you know exactly what to do, but if this is your first foray into this fun realm of treasure hunting, then you might be a little nervous and lost at what to do once you step away from the computer. Hopefully these tips will help you to step out with confidence, and if you’ve been doing this for a long time, maybe you’ll get some new ideas! Or, feel free to leave a comment and give us your tips, I know there’s always more for me to learn!

If you want to have a fun and successful geocaching trip there are a few things you should do to get ready before you ever leave the house. It all starts with picking out the cache, or caches, that you are aiming for. There are many ways to do this. You might pick one because it’s near your work and you want to try to find it on your lunch break, or maybe it’s in a park you’ve always wanted to check out, whatever the reason for picking out the cache(s) you will need to record the information about your choice(s) in some way.

Now, the brave of heart might simply jot down the coordinates they are looking for, and a few general hints about the cache. For some people (or maybe some caches) this might be more than enough. Another option is to print out the sheet the information is on. That way you know you have all the pertinent information (that’s given at least) and you can reference it easily. Of course there are also high tech solutions for this, including iphone apps, storing the information on a pda, and some gps’s are set up to specifically record information and hints about the caches.

Once you know where you are going you want to stop and think about your destination a little bit. Is it an urban location? Is it in a park? What are the weather conditions like today? You will need to plan accordingly.

If the cache you are seeking is in an urban location than your biggest concern is going to be the weather. However if you are going to be in a more wilderness setting (rural, a park, hiking), then you need to be prepared for the hazards that can go along with that. You can encounter mud, nettles, bugs, snakes, and more. What you can encounter will vary according to region, so be aware of what is around you, and prepare for the worst. It’s always better to be over prepared than underprepared!

I recommend wearing jeans and having good shoes when geocaching outdoors, even in hot weather. This will allow you to crawl and scramble without worrying about tearing up your knees and shins. Good shoes are important because you may be hiking quite a distance to reach the location, and you may be dealing with uneven footing. With good shoes you will minimize your chances for injury and potentially reduce the amount of soreness you feel later!