This is a tough little girl

Beautiful!

I'm all ready to go!!

It has been a while since our last post. These last few weeks have been really busy. We have had several doctors appointments as well as all the holidays at the end of the year and that has really kept us going. Sarah Grace has now gone thru her first surgery and has had her palate repaired. She had the surgery on 12/19 and spent a couple of days in the hospital.  It was hard watching them roll her back as she stared at them as if wondering what in the world was going on.  We went up the night before and spent the night in the Ronald McDonald house by the hospital in Winston Salem. 

She was just a happy little girl that night and the next morning even as we went to the hospital and were in the surgery waiting area. She had no idea what was going to transpire that day and the hard part was you couldn't prepare her for it. The time came and the surgery went as planned. They repaired her palate and put tubes in at the same time. It lasted about 2 hours total. Amy and I sat anxiously awaiting our opportunity to get to see her. They finally came out and they were moving her to a step down ICU area due to her oxygen levels not being stable. This scared us for a bit, but they explained that this wasn't uncommon since they had put a breathing tube in and she just needed to come to enough to to get her breathing back in line. When we saw her, it broke our heart. Her little face was swollen and she had an IV in her as well as the other monitoring cables. I will say, the staff at the Wake Forest Baptist Hospital are great. They were so helpful and they didn't want her hurting anymore than we did. Over the next couple of days, it was a hard process watching her get over the anesthesia. I remember talking with Amy and we were just dying how much this little girl had been thru in her short life. You read and see these stories, but it really hits when it is in your hands. She was released from the hospital on Sunday and we made it home. 

Ready to go HOME!!!!!

These braces won't slow me down.
I can still pour tea!!

She had to wear the arm braces for the next 10 days to keep her from getting her hands or anything else to her mouth. She amazed us. She never minded putting these on and she didn't let it slow her down. She just figured out how to make due with what she had. I guess she had spent most of her life figuring this same thing out. The only thing that changed was her sleep. She couldn't get comfortable with these on her arms. She stayed up most of the night and never really had a good nights sleep for the next several nights. We went back to the doctor for her follow up appt on Tuesday 12/30. They were happy with how things looked and she was released to take these arm braces off. During these last several days they have become part of her normal. We would take them off only at bath time. She would stretch her little arms and act almost as if she didn't know what to do with them. We would lay her down and get ready to put her arms back in and she would simply lay her arm right in the brace and wait. She also has been on a soft diet with mostly baby food consistency type stuff such as mashed potatoes, yoghurt and smoothies. We were excited about this day so she could eat again. 

Relaxing on the pillow mommy made with nana!!!

They also released her to eat her normal foods. We went to lunch right after her appt and this little girl ate and ate. We later went to PF Changs and celebrated. Once again, to no surprise, she ate her weight in food. You could tell she had missed her bread. That night she slept better than she had in a long time. Once again she was able to lay in her bed and drink her bottle and roll over to go to sleep instead of being had feed with a syringe. We still have a little recovery to go but she is doing great and the most of it is behind us now. This little girl is one tough little bundle.  Not sure I would have ever found an adult that would have
done as good with this as she has. She has taught me some things and I truly think we are the blessed ones in this situation to be able to be a part of this with her.

I can finally eat what I want again!
One Happy Little Girl!!!!!