Short BG: my grandma is 94 years young and not in the best of health. About 4 years ago my mom moved in with her to help take care of her. My parents have always lived right across the street and I was very close with her growing up. For the past two years my DH, son, and I had been going to my grandmother's house to help my mom with her and to visit on a nightly basis and had dinner as well. My mom worked full time and came home to a lot to do with my grandmother so we were very happy to help. We loved doing this and no one had a complaint at all. It was like we were one big happy family. Everyone enjoyed the time with each other.
Ff to more recently: I got pregnant last October and of course we continued our visits to my grandmother's house. She was so happy to spend time with us and be such a big part of my pregnancy. My DH and her started a nightly tradition of watching Law and Order SVU on demand and eating snacks that my grandmother probably shouldn't have eaten anyways. My DH accepted a new job during this time and knew that he would be working long hours and be going away occasionally. As my due date approached and we got more insight on just how long of hours my DH would be working, we decided that it might be best to stay for a week at my grandmother's after the baby was born in order for me to have some extra support when DH was not there. We were welcomed with open arms and my grandmother was delighted to be able to spend so much time with her new great granddaughter that she otherwise wouldnt be able to have. After about a week, my mom approached us and asked if we could hold off on going home since the following weekend her and my father would be going away on business and DH and I were always the ones to stay with my grandmother for the two days they were gone. DH and I gladly accepted and it lifted a weight off my shoulders of running around trying to pack everything we accumulated the past week and then having to come back that weekend for two days.
My grandmother took a turn for the worse and we decided to have private care come in but they required someone be in the home when they were there. DH and I were happy to do this.
Now we are getting ready to leave and go back home. We have been here about 5 months. Grandma is doing much much better and private care was able to leave. Things are already mostly packed we are just waiting for next weekend since DH had to work the past two weekends and obviously didn't want me to do it all alone with just my father to help. my grandmother is devastated that we are leaving. She knows we have to and she knows that we have our own home to go back to and our own routine to re-establish. But it kills me when she looks at me and cries and tells me how much she is going to miss all of us. It breaks DHs heart too. She is not trying to guilt trip us in any way she is very understanding about everything and knows we had to leave at some point. She is just simply going to miss us.
Is there anything I can do for my grandmother to make this transition easier on all of us? How can I just take this sadness away from her when she has to watch us walk out the door. Obviously we will be over frequently but not every night since it will be a lot harder with the little one than it was with just my 6 year old. I just can't stand watching her be so sad.
Ff to more recently: I got pregnant last October and of course we continued our visits to my grandmother's house. She was so happy to spend time with us and be such a big part of my pregnancy. My DH and her started a nightly tradition of watching Law and Order SVU on demand and eating snacks that my grandmother probably shouldn't have eaten anyways. My DH accepted a new job during this time and knew that he would be working long hours and be going away occasionally. As my due date approached and we got more insight on just how long of hours my DH would be working, we decided that it might be best to stay for a week at my grandmother's after the baby was born in order for me to have some extra support when DH was not there. We were welcomed with open arms and my grandmother was delighted to be able to spend so much time with her new great granddaughter that she otherwise wouldnt be able to have. After about a week, my mom approached us and asked if we could hold off on going home since the following weekend her and my father would be going away on business and DH and I were always the ones to stay with my grandmother for the two days they were gone. DH and I gladly accepted and it lifted a weight off my shoulders of running around trying to pack everything we accumulated the past week and then having to come back that weekend for two days.
My grandmother took a turn for the worse and we decided to have private care come in but they required someone be in the home when they were there. DH and I were happy to do this.
Now we are getting ready to leave and go back home. We have been here about 5 months. Grandma is doing much much better and private care was able to leave. Things are already mostly packed we are just waiting for next weekend since DH had to work the past two weekends and obviously didn't want me to do it all alone with just my father to help. my grandmother is devastated that we are leaving. She knows we have to and she knows that we have our own home to go back to and our own routine to re-establish. But it kills me when she looks at me and cries and tells me how much she is going to miss all of us. It breaks DHs heart too. She is not trying to guilt trip us in any way she is very understanding about everything and knows we had to leave at some point. She is just simply going to miss us.
Is there anything I can do for my grandmother to make this transition easier on all of us? How can I just take this sadness away from her when she has to watch us walk out the door. Obviously we will be over frequently but not every night since it will be a lot harder with the little one than it was with just my 6 year old. I just can't stand watching her be so sad.