Today, I’m going to play a little catch up. 🙂
I promised on Friday to blog four days a week in September and I apologize already…Labor Day threw me off. So, this week it’ll be three and then hopefully four days the rest of the month.
Last Monday, my big kiddos went back to school.
Here they are ready to conquer second grade (Nixon) and third grade (Ebby Lee).
He’s in a class with a lot of friends so that definitely helped his “go back to school” attitude.
Ebby Lee was excited about her teacher (her teacher was at the top of her wish list) and couldn’t wait to start school. Oh, how they’re so different!
All six of us were in attendance at drop off. #thegangsallthere
We took a quick picture in front of their lockers before stealing a kiss (without anyone seeing-how embarrassing!) and then sending them off to class.
Then the little kids and I me lots of friends at Spoon’s (a local diner) for a quick sendoff breakfast. I wasn’t sure how Britt would do at a table with just kiddos, but Miss Ashby was the best babysitter ever and handed her Puffs and her bottle on request. #ashbyforthewin
A fun breakfast with some of my favorite mamas.
My first day of school outfit consisted of a comfy cotton dress (bought mine back in spring so super limited sizes and colors), my favorite gold sandals, a three day old hair ponytail (thanks to this dry shampoo), and an afternoon cup of coffee in my new favorite mug.
Someone was happy to see the big kids come home from school. Britt LOVES the big kids.
On Tuesday, they were all smiles again. That’s a good sign.
Wednesday morning, Tab, Britt, and I headed to Medical City Dallas super early for her surgery. Britt was born with a cleft lip and palate. While she was in China, she had her first lip repair surgery, but her palate was still open when we got her. We knew we’d need to get that taken care of rather quickly so we met with two different doctors in the area-both were great but one we liked a little more-and scheduled this surgery. (We did this back in June!)
She was so sweet waiting for her surgery. That loopy medicine they give kiddos to help with their separation anxiety was hilarious. We’d ask her where her nose was and she’d only get her finger about halfway up to her face before laughing. It was too funny.
Surgery went great! As you can imagine she has such a tiny little mouth and her palate was pretty wide. The doctor thought it went well considering. The plan was for us to stay one night and then head home on Thursday.
After surgery I snuggled this girl so much. I could get emotional just writing about this, but it broke my heart to think about her first surgery. She was there (hopefully with a nanny) in a hospital without a mama bear ready to love on her the second she could get a hold of her. This time she found comfort in my arms which was almost more than my heart could take. #godisgood
There is an outstanding team of cleft doctors associated with this hospital. So we made this our home for the night.
I even watched Big Brother while we snuggled.
This girl just wanted her mama. I’m telling you the awesomeness (is that even a word) of that isn’t lost on me.
On Thursday, we were hoping she’d be drinking more (a liquid diet is NO joke) and she just really wasn’t there. Anything she was drinking was coming back up which was awful. So we buckled down for night number two…
Kind of blurry…but they had a bigger room open up and we got to move to a room with a bigger bed. The first night the couch turned bed was so tiny (there was no way I could fit with Tab) and Britt just wanted her mama. The bigger room was GREAT news!
Friday wasn’t looking good for a while. She still wasn’t interested in drinking much. We took her off the pain medicine (which we decided was causing her to not keep anything down). After hours of just sitting around holding a sleepy baby I begged the nurses to let us go. I really thought she’d do so much better at home surrounded by her people. I promised to come back in a day or two if she hadn’t started drinking more.
My prayers were answered! The nurses and doctor agreed and they let us out! We arrived home around 6:00 on Friday evening and were so excited about being home. When Ebby Lee and Bowen arrived she had a big smile on her face.
Since then she’s slowly begun drinking more everyday. The night time is definitely the worst part of the day. I don’t think she’s in a lot of pain but she has a hard time getting comfortable. She has to wear little arm restraints to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth and they force her to just sleep on her back. She’s a side sleeper and is not happy about this new arrangement. But we’re doing our best and today marks day six…hopefully the next week will fly by and we’ll be getting the all clear from our doctor really soon.
When Bowen was a baby he had a surgery in this same hospital and in fact we were just one room away from where we stayed with him. Isn’t that crazy?! But both times I’ve been in the hospital with one of my babies, my heart has desperately gone out to all the moms who have babies in the hospital for reasons other than a surgery. Yes, we have had some tough days but they have been nothing like other moms experience. My heart breaks for other mamas dreaming of the day they can take their babies home and not even knowing if it’s a reality. Those moms and babies were and are on my heart.
THANK YOU for checking on us. THANK YOU for calling. THANK YOU for the texts, e-mails, and messages. THANK YOU for praying for our girl. I had friends watch my kids for days, carpool to practice, and take to games. I had friends drop off goodie bags (it felt like Christmas), food, and more. I had a mother-in-law who took over for days and continued to remind me not to worry about the big kids at home. I couldn’t have done it without you. To get an e-mail saying you were praying for us in Minnesota (or other places all over), just made my day. So from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!
We go back to the doctor in eight days and he’ll take a look to decide if she’s ready to begin soft foods or if she needs to continue the liquid diet for another week. Until then, we’ll be doing all we can to get as much fluids down our girl as possible and to love on her as much as we possibly can.
I am by NO means a cleft expert, but I’m a mama who’s experienced a palate surgery. If you’re a mama too with some questions prior to your little ones surgery, please reach out. I’d love to encourage you. You can e-mail me at alittlebitofeverything83@yahoo.com.
Happy Tuesday, Friends! XO
