On June 21 we encamped at the North Memorial Medical Center at 0605 hours. For the next four days, our lives were centered in Room 333. It became Olsenfam Central Command!

There are photos below.

The Chief Strategic Purpose of our central command was the birthing of Henry Stark Olsen. This actually spawned several strategic and tactical meetings, with varying agendas from the more esoteric "who do we tell, when and how" to the longer implications of "when we go home" and the very mundane "when Burn Unit was going to get a shower".

Strategic meeting agenda: checkdown and final clearance
Key focus: Henry was scheduled for extraction from his beautiful lifepod (that'd be Leann, an important nonplayer character) at 0800
-tactical items-
- nurses gave us outline of surgical procedure. Henry did not take notes, but Leann was given duties as his chief proxy.
- Burn Unit was tasked with several items of paperwork and briefed on where to stand and who to talk to
- a chipper anesthetist appeared to instruct Leann (and Henry) about procedures (those anesthesia guys are always so upbeat!)

Strategic meeting agenda: The communication plan
Key question: who will we contact first, and how
-tactical items-
- Burn Unit volunteered and took complete control of communications while Henry and Leann were in Recovery Mode through days 1 and 2.
- Burn Unit decided to make phone calls to many, and text messages to others.
- The phone number for the room was given out sparingly; most calls were routed through the cell phone.
- Family were phoned, followed by friends and then a wave of text messages.
- Several return calls were missed.
Strategic meeting agenda: family reunion
-tactical items-
- Eleanorest was retrieved from day care by Grandma & Grandpa.
- We met as a family of four for the whole time. Eleanor chaired this meeting, as the main concern was focused on integration of the newcomer to her domain as big sister.
- Eleanor offered to hold Henry and was shown how to do so.
- Good quality relaxation time followed as we relaxed together, snacking and watching a little TV.

Strategic meeting agenda: kids need to learn about babies
-tactical items-
- Eleanor has never held a baby before; nor is she aware of their delicacies and intricacies such as soft heads, crying instead of talking, lack of interest in playing, etc.
- Some friends are having twins soon and their son needs some experience with babies too. Max was brought in and introduced to Henry for the purpose of getting familiar with the same issues.
- Eleanor also loves being a big sister.
- It was important to show Eleanor how much we love her as well, despite the enormity of this change in our family.

Other strategic meetings were held: night time routine plans, daycare and driving plans (Leann has a 2 week driving restriction, Eleanor's daycare is closed the week of the 4th), breastfeeding tactics (an example is shown in the included video--the video is breast-free out of respect), when we're going home planning, the circumcision-or-not decision meeting, medication reviews and planning. And so on.

The central command was disbanded on Sunday, June 24.