A rough start to a good day.

Well, first of all, it's my birthday!!! Yay! I love birthdays (mine and other people's, but mostly mine ... teehee) and even though this year is a little different, it's not a big deal. I've gotten a ton of Facebook messages and texts from people, and I even got balloons and gifts and a ice cream cake that I asked for!

Lucy did well last night. She would wake up and eat and then go back to sleep, but she was a restless sleeper. I got about 2 hours of sleep total. She woke up this morning and she was not a happy camper. She was just crying and she didn't want to eat or snuggle. They said they only wanted to give her Tylenol so they did, but then she just kept crying and crying so they ended up giving her more morphine. She hadn't had any pain medicine since yesterday around 4:00pm.

One of the residents talked about sending her home today and I was like, "Excuse me?!" Not even 48 hours after her surgery? But I think he was saying that because they still don't have a regular room to offer us. But the other doctor, his boss, came in and said they want to keep her until her eyes are open at least.

My parents came by and Wesley's parents are still here and she's sleeping in her Gigi's arms now. I have hope that her eyes will open at least tonight or by the morning time. I'll update once that happens or once we get moved to a regular room.

That's our girl!

My parents are here now visiting. Lucy has been sleeping a lot today on and off. Wesley is at the house with his parents getting some much needed sleep after being with her here last night.

She hasn't had any pain medicine since 6:30am this morning but seems to be doing great without it. I really think that any crying is due to her frustration at not being able to see and the skin itching from being swollen. But when she has been awake she has played with her toys and even did a little "singing" and that made me so happy to see her being her normal self in spite of her current condition. What a blessing.

We're still waiting on a regular room (not in the ICU) ... but the hospital is full so there aren't any beds to spare at the moment. We're here until they have a room free. It's fine with me -- the ICU tends to be quieter and the nurses have less patients so I don't feel as bad if I need them to do something for us.

I'll update next whenever I have more information to share. The prayers are working -- we are so grateful to our Father in Heaven and to our friends and family who have been continuously petitioning on Lucy's behalf. What more could you ask for in life?!

First day post-op

Wow, just writing those words "post-op" are amazing. We are post-op now!!! No more waiting around for a surgery to happen and dreading all that comes after it. We are living it, and by God's grace and His faithfulness, we are doing great.

They decided last night to just give her Pedialyte and see how she did, so Wesley decided to stay with her and I reluctantly went home to get some sleep, knowing it would be the only night I would have that chance. So I went home around 10:00pm last night. It was so hard. Lucy had been pretty upset when I left the hospital just due to pain and frustration and probably hunger, too. I got in the car and just sobbed the 6 minutes it takes me to get home. But I also prayed and I felt a peace and I knew she was in good hands with Wesley, of course! :)

I slept until about 12:30am and then pumped. I set my alarm for 5:30am (at least I thought it was a.m. ....) and proceeded to sleep some more. Well, the next thing I know I wake up and it's 8:30am!!! I accidentally set my alarm for p.m. (duh!). I panicked! I got up and Clifton and Teresa were gone and I couldn't reach anyone on the phone so I was so worried. I just threw on some clothes and just as I was leaving Clifton came back and said he had taken Teresa to the hospital so that Wesley could get breakfast and that Wesley wasn't expecting me until 9am anyway. haha. oh well. I still rushed over.

A lot had happened last night. (This is all from Wesley's information since I wasn't here). They took her head bandages off, and she only needed pain medicine twice last night. Wesley said he got a little bit of sleep. When I got back this morning Lucy was in a good mood. I think honestly that the fact her eyes are swollen shut is frustrating her more than anything else. But they finally said I could breastfeed her this morning, so I did. I think that improved her mood like 95%. Afterwards she was saying "Hey" (her favorite "word") and sort of just moving around like her normal self. I had to go pump again since she only wanted one side, and when I got back she was sleeping like a champ. She's still sleeping now and by the snores I hear from behind me, I think Wesley is sleeping, too. :)

They think that she may go to a regular room today, which is great. It allows for more flexible visiting and just generally more flexibility overall. My prayer for today is that Lucy can get into a nice eating/playing/sleeping pattern and that the swelling will continue to decrease and by tomorrow morning we'll see a huge improvement I hope. God has been so faithful and everything we have asked people to pray for He has shown up in a big way. I don't know why I expected any different, though!

I will post some pictures of this morning. Her head looks a lot worse than it is because there is a lot of dried blood which makes it look awful but if you disregard that you can see that her incision is so neat and clean and it looks great. I'll post the pictures below, so just go bye-bye if you think they will bother you. :) Also, I look awful today, so just disregard that, too! haha.

Giving her some Pedialyte this morning before they let me feed her.

Crazy, I know. She looks so swollen -- but it's part of the process so we embrace it!

Getting worse before it gets better

She is definitely more awake now and has started crying and it's such a pitiful sound. Her eyes are also swelling up quite a bit more and are turning black and blue. It's so hard for me to see her like this and know there is nothing I can do except comfort her. Just pray that she will continue to heal quickly and that she won't get too upset or be in pain.

Wesley may stay here tonight instead of me since I'm not sure they are going to let me feed her. We'll see how she's doing around that time, I guess.

The surgery is over!

I'm just getting around to posting this, but Lucy's surgery is over now!!! We met with Dr. Mackay around 11:45am and he said that everything went really well. He said she only lost a little blood and the bones came apart very easily and there were only a few little holes in the dura which is the lining in between the skull and the brain.

We got moved up to the pediatric ICU waiting room around 12:45 and shortly after that we got to come back and see her. We're in the room with her now. I wasn't shocked to see her all swollen already, but they said it's probably going to get worse. A lot of times the surgeon will put in a drain tube so that there isn't as much swelling, but our surgeon opted not to do that because he said the babies recover faster without it, even though the swelling may be a little greater at first.

She's still sleeping, but she will squeeze your finger if you put it in her hand and she's moving around a little bit.

Here are the pictures of her ... she's swollen, so if you don't want to see it, don't read any further ...

So we're praying for minimal swelling, that her stomach would be able to take food sooner rather than later, that she wouldn't be scared or frustrated because she can't open her eyes, and that her pain will be very very little. So far, God has answered our prayers over and above what we could ask for, so we expect His faithfulness to continue even in the small things!

Dr. Wrubel is finished!

We just got a call from our lovely O.R. nurse, Denise, and she said that Dr. Wrubel is already finished with his portion and now Dr. Mackay (the reconstructive surgeon) is doing his part. They only expect the surgery to take another hour and fifteen minutes, so probably about 12:15pm she'll be finished (we hope!).

Mom, me, and Wesley are still here waiting. Well, actually, it's just me and mom now. Wesley just got some coffee and went to walk around. Teresa and Clifton are going to walk home (thank goodness we live so close because there is zero chance they could get their parking spot back if they drove home!) and they are going to let Nina out and give her a chance to eat.

It will probably be another hour on top of the hour and fifteen minutes before we can see Lucy. She has to go to a recovery room and then be transferred to the pediatric ICU and get settled before we can see her.

I can't tell you how many messages and comments I've received from my friends and family today, and even people I've never met. You don't know how it feels until you've experienced it, but I have to say that it feels amazing. Like, cry a lot from happiness amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

The surgery has started!

Doing her vitals before taking her back.

Our last family picture, pre-surgery.

Gigi, Lucy, and Papa.

My cutie pie.

Well, it has started. She ate for the last time around 12:30am this morning. Then she woke up around 5am and we had to give her the caffeine. She was in such a good mood and was just playing and laughing. We headed here around 5:45am and they took us back to the day surgery room around 6:40am. She started getting a little fussy but after they were done she fell asleep in my arms (a great answer to prayer!!!). We met with the anesthesiologist and our two surgeons and then the OR Nurse (Denise) came and got her. She actually held her arms out to Denise and went willingly with no crying! She took her giraffe Sophie and her pacifier with her. I just got a call from Denise and she said that Lucy went under the anesthesia very well and even though they had a hard time getting an IV in her, they finally got it in and the surgery started and is going well so far.

I'll try to post more as we hear anything.