Even at 5:45am she is a pleasant girl.
Lilly was excited to get crayons.
To pass time while we waited, Lilly played peek-a-boo with the nurses behind the curtain.
After the surgery, we were called back to a consultation room to meet with Dr. Mlakar. He said that Lilly was a "rock star" and did really well during surgery. We had to wait for Lilly to wake up, but once she started to wake up, we were escorted to the wake up room to see her. We were shocked with the amount of blood. Lilly's face was very swollen and she had blood flowing from her nose and mouth. I held it together, because I didn't want Lilly to see me cry. I wanted to be strong for her. The anesthesia made Lilly cry really hard. It almost sounded like a scream. However, we knew that she was numbed up and wasn't in any pain. We waited until a room was ready for us in the PICU. Once the room was ready, I laid on the bed with Lilly on my chest and Dave and the nurse rolled us up to our room. I ended up holding Lilly in a rocking chair all day. She didn't want to lay in the crib. She slept most of the day and would wake up when she was in pain.
Pictures of Lilly's mouth before, during, and after surgery
They put a cast over Lilly's IVs so she wouldn't mess with them.
Liam had a rough day. He misbehaved at Preschool. He came to visit us at the hospital after lunch. I think it was a bit scary for him. He missed all of us and it was hard seeing Lilly all hooked up to machines. Grandma Kusch spent the day with him to help get his mind off Lilly and to make him feel special. They spent all afternoon at the zoo and ate and played at McDonalds. I think that helped. It's hard for a 3 year old to understand.
Before supper Dave agreed to hold Lilly long enough for me to walk the halls and stretch my legs. She cried the entire time, but it was still good to get out of the room. My butt was falling asleep, so it was great to get out for a bit. I walked down to the chapel. I was the only one in there at the time. I prayed and thanked God for getting us through the day and for blessing us with Lilly. The last time we were at this hospital, we were grieving the loss of Christopher and Connor, so I was a bit emotional. I wasn't expecting to be flooded with those emotions again, but being in the same place brought back those memories. I thanked God for giving me the chance to be a mom, for giving me strength to get through the day, and for all the wonderful nurses and doctors that took care of Lilly. I walked back in time for dinner and snuggled Lilly extra tight.
Finally, that evening Lilly woke up enough to play. She actually sat in the crib for a couple minutes. She wasn't interested in eating or drinking much, but she was hooked up to an IV, which helped her stay hydrated. She did take about 3 bites of yogurt and 4 bites of applesauce.
Lilly slept from 10pm-2am. I wasn't able to sleep very well, but I think I got a couple hours of sleep. At 2am Lilly was up and ready to party. At 4am I decided to try and rock her back to sleep. Finally, at 5am, after having no luck at getting her back to sleep, I decided to let Lilly stay up, since she didn't seem to want to sleep anymore.
bright and early and playing
Lilly's face was so swollen the next day, especially the cheek that they took tissue from.
In order to be discharged, Lilly had to eat and drink on her own. She was so hungry late Friday morning that she ate a whole cup of applesauce. She had to do it herself, of course. Lilly is Little Miss Independent. She also drank some water from a cup.
Dr. Mlakar's assistant, Darlene, came in at 10am and looked at Lilly. She was impressed with how well she was doing and said we could go home that afternoon. Pastor Stecker also visited and prayed with us. By that point Lilly wanted to be unhooked from the IV and all the other various chords and wanted to walk and play. The nurses unhooked her 2 hours before we left, so Lilly got a chance to walk up and down the hall. It reminded me of when we were in China and Lilly wanted to learn how to walk, and we would pace up and down the halls. She ate a little more applesauce for lunch and tried to eat macaroni and cheese, carrots, and peaches, but couldn't figure out how to swallow. She was still swollen and tender. She would chew the food and then spit it out. It was so frustrating for her.
By 3pm Friday we were home. Lilly didn't take a nap. She was too excited to see Liam and play with her own toys. However, after a bath and a little supper, she was ready to sleep. Friday night she was up every 4 hours. By Saturday night she was sleeping through the night.
Lilly slept in this morning and ate a little bit more than yesterday. She prefers to drink from a cup and not her bottle, so she is learning how to use her mouth in a new way. We are impressed with how many things she has been able to say already. She may have been attempting to say these things already and we didn't understand them before. This morning she said "cu" for cup and has been saying "yaya" for dada. She has been babbling and singing. She took a long nap this afternoon. Even though, she is healing well, her little body still needs to recover. She is bleeding less and less, which is encouraging. Lilly is such a strong little girl. Her resilience amazes me!
While at the hospital many people asked us questions about Lilly's adoption and story. At one point we had 4 nurses in our room wanting to meet Lilly. I think Lilly was a little witness to many of the people at the hospital. Without saying a word, she showed them what grace looks like. I'm very proud of my brave little girl.
