At the end of January we scheduled to have Story's tonsil's and adenoid's removed.  Story has had trouble sleeping since the day she arrived home, but in the beginning there are always sleep issues with a new child coming home.  We have noticed that she does a lot of mouth breathing and not much in her nose.  We have actually been looking forward to this surgery and are praying that this helps her sleeping at night!!!

 

We checked in at DELL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL and instantly I was reminded of why I love that place so much.  They are truly there for the children.  I had many memories flash back of us sitting in the ER with Story on her first night home, and waiting in the surgery waiting area for Fedna's doctor to come find me.  And just like all my other times at Dell I was overwhelmed with how God provided a nurse to our room that went to the Stone.  Thank you Jesus for nurse Laura!

 

One of the first things they showed Story on Friday morning was the line of cars that she could chose from to cruise the halls while we waited for our turn to head back to the OR.

 

She went with the green jeep ….

 

 

And we did this all morning before it was our turn to have surgery ….

 

Do you see sweet Lucienda in the back there hanging on for dear life.  Twice we nearly ran over a doctors toes as they were exiting another room.  She was a mad woman and I basically started in this moment with letting her have whatever she wanted!

 

One thing that I love about our children's hospital are the Child Life Specialists that come around to basically prepare all the kids for their upcoming procedures.  Our sweet CLS Lauren was amazing and explained everything wonderfully to Story.  She showed her pictures of the room she would be in.  She let her smell the different options for her mask.  She gave her a mask to keep and hold.  She was fabulous and Story actually listened way more than I thought she would.

 

 

At one point she asked if we should discuss the IV that will be put in her arm.  My take was that we shouldn't bring it up.  I mean I know she would wake up with it, but we could cross that bridge when we got there, right?!  Lauren was awesome and pulled out her little doll and showed Story exactly what she would wake up with in her arm and she never even used the word “needle”.  That's why they pay her the big bucks!

 

 

I asked lots of people to pray that she would do okay with going back to surgery.  Y'all she was a champ!  She rode her green jeep all the way back to the OR.  We got to where it was time to tell Mommy bye, and she stopped we did hugs and kisses and she drove off.  Half-way through the doors it was like a movie, because she slowed down and turned back to me and waved and rode off.  My heart was full.  The last thing I wanted to do was to have them pry her off of me as they took her back there.  I've done that once before (with Fedna) and it is miserable.

 

Now I've since heard that once she got back there she put up a good fight, but seriously did we expect anything less from our sweet Story girl?

 

She came out of surgery pretty freaked out and that is always hard as a parent.  You want to scoop them up and tell them it's all gonna be okay.  You would take all the pain on yourself if you could, but you can't, so you stand there and rub your childs head and feed them an un-godly amount of popsicles over the next 12 hours!

 

We got to our room later that night and first things first were playing in the play room upstairs ….

Story was continually pissed about the IV in her arm and how it interfered with her entire life.  Playing was hard.  Eating was hard.  Going to the bathroom was hard.  Sleeping was hard.  Even waving was hard!

Can I please draw your attention to the picture below with the babies.  Why is it that no one says anything when all the babies are little girls, but you put a penis on a baby and all of a sudden you have crossed the line for me.  No little girl needs to see this.  Gross.

I was so thankful for my sweet friends that came to visit Story and the sweet little friends that came to visit.  When one of her friends was there Story started crying from pain, and I'm quite certain her friend is scared for life.  Oh I'm sorry Tiffany!

 

Thanks for the Royer's for sending me my absolute favorite dish at Royer's Round Top Cafe … the SHRIMP BLT…. I know I always say I don't eat pork, but when I eat this I don't think about the nasty pork I'm putting into my body… I think about a sandwich that might be served in heaven.  God will surely redeem that nasty pork and make it heaven worthy!!!  Oh yeah they sent a pie too.  Of course!  How can you resist their pies?!?!  I can't wait to dive into this with the kids!

 

 

We spent the night and I could go the rest of my life and never spend another night in a hospital room.  It was only fitting that I finished my book WEDNESDAY'S WERE PRETTY NORMAL while laying in the hospital parent “bed” while Story was being checked out by nurses every 2 hours.

I was reminded as I read this book that there are kids suffering all throughout that hospital.  I was also so greatly reminded that in all my suffering and in all of your suffering that God is not only with us, but that he is FOR US.  Oh what a great thought to remember as we tread through each trial in our lives.

 

So … we are home.  We were completely naive about what a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy would entail.  Much more pain then we thought and much more serious than we thought.  We were actually planning on going out-of-town on Sunday and had no idea that Story would be in pain or that there's a risk of bleeding.  Oh I'm not sure how we missed all that info.

 

Anyhow … my sweet girl has been miserable looking.  Poor baby will be sleeping with me tonight because I think she'll sleep better that way.  She doesn't want to talk.  She doesn't want to swallow her spit, so she walks around with a towel just wiping it from her mouth (gross, I know!) and tonight she didn't even finish her diner.

 

So … pray for my sweet baby girl in the next few days!  OH and pray for me.  She's a very demanding little patient!!!

 

** I met my friend Lorraine at the hospital and if you do nothing else, please go visit her blog.  They just brought their two newest kids home from Ukraine and they were also at Dell.  I think they have something like 11 kids.  I don't even have 11 cousins!  They are crazy in such a great way!!!  I love it.