Blessed Day

Today was overall a great day. The doctors looked at your X-rays this morning and noticed that the patch of fluid was still on your right lung.  The fluid hasn't budged in two days, so they decided to take it out. We have dreaded the actual task of taking it out, because they say that it is so painful and one of the worst things about the hospital stay.  They snipped the stitches and yanked it out and you never moved! They were quite floored! You smiled when it was out and said "thank you"! They told you to sit up and walk a lot and do some breathing treatments to open up your lungs. If the fluid isn't off by Monday, they will sedate you and take it out by needle. 

We looked forward to Nana Mary bringing by Anna, EZra, and Eli. They are staying at the Holiday Inn close by the hospital tonight and having a blast!!! They will come by tomorrow at 11:30 and stay several hours, so we are asking that no visitors come during that bonding time. Nana Mary  is so sweet to spend the time and energy to make sure you guys have a fun time and get to come see us plenty. 

You walked to the playroom (30 feet) and sat at a little table for a few minutes and then walked back to the room. I stayed in the playroom for probably an hour and played with the kids and we had a blast! The kids brought  you three balloons and you thought that was just the greatest!

Aunt Shelly, Abby, Cole, Lauren, Josie and Owen came by as well. They brought you several nice things, but your favorite was the multi-color press on nails! 

You didn't feel well during that visit. You drifted off to sleep and everyone left. It was so hard on me to let the kids leave. They loved seeing you!!!!  

We had a few peaceful hours in our room without much commotion and watched the ballgame! You loved watching the Vols. You never took your eyes off of it! We also decided that it was time for a sponge bath (but better) sitting on the edge of the bath. We washed you well and even washed your hair. You were shivering and I noticed how emaciated you looked. They gave you a hospital gown and I had brought your some sleep shorts from home. They almost fell to the floor and they were snug at home. The nurse brought in a scale and you had lost 5 lbs since surgery!!! You've got to start eating!!!! You had already lost three lbs since adoption.. So that makes 8 lbs pounds  lost. You now weigh 37 lbs!!!!! We were stunned!   We blow dried your hair and that helped you to feel better, warm you, and make you sleepy. You crawled onto my cot and fell asleep at 9pm. It was awesome that you were sleeping so peacefully. About that time, a knock on the door! Ugh! We have the best nurses ever and they are just doing their jobs, but it gets so hard to keep you going 24 hours a day!! We had such a good time walking around our floor and riding you on the little taxi with the honking horns. It was a nice, relaxing night. 

What a difference it makes by getting out your chest tube!!!! Tomorrow will bring more blessings than today, I just know it!. We give all the glory to our Father for helping us to be strong and conqueror congenital heart disease together! I had misunderstood a few days ago when we heard the mortality rate for your condition was 90% by age four. It's actually 90% by DAY 4. What a chilling realization. Also, yet another blessing was that God didn't let us know that you  had an interrupted aortic arch. It started as a coarctation, but led to the interrupted aortic arch. Who knows what we would have said if we would have seen that diagnosis and researched it. I am confident that when God told us that you were our daughter, we knew it... And that's all we needed to know. He had the rest! 

I love you, 

   Mommy