A Little Heart Made New

I know this update is long overdue and people have emailed and messaged checking in and saying they are praying.  Thank you for lifting us and our sweet girl up.  The last 24 hours have been a bit of a wild ride. 

Our day began bright and early Tuesday morning as we walked into the hospital at 5:45am Tuesday morning.  We were feeling ready to put this behind us but at the same time our hearts were heavy with what was to come.  We knew it would be a long day of waiting.  

Miss Ellie was a trooper being woke up at 5:30 and given her bath with her special soap. Then we were escorted to her Pre-Op room and she got all gowned up. 

At 7:30 it was time to say goodbye to my precious girl.  I kissed her goodbye and as I watched her walk away in her daddy's arms tears began to fall.  I prayed through tears and I laid her in the hands of the one who created her, knowing there are no better arms to be in.  Thanking him for giving me the honor of being this precious little girls mom.   Eric was able to stay with her until she fell asleep.  

At 9:03 we got word that surgery had started and 2 1/2 hours later we were escorted down to meet with the surgeon.  He successfully patched her hole but also found a surprise out pouching that needed to be fixed as well.  She arrived in the ICU around 12:45 and we finally were able to see her about 2:15. As we walked into her room tears fell again, she looked so tiny in that little bed with all her tubes.  

It was a huge relief to see our sweet girl and kiss those cheeks.  

It was of course hard to see her with all her lines but she actually looked better than we expected.  She wasn't too swollen and looked like our sweet little princess! 

 For most of the afternoon they tried to keep her sedated since she was still intubated with a breathing tube.  She showed her little spicy side early as she tried to wake up and was ganging and biting on the tube.  She burned through quite a bit of sedation meds as they tried to keep her asleep.  

Dad was checking out all her new lines and her precious new beauty mark.  

While she was in surgery we met her nurse and once again felt like God continues to write this little girl's story.  Call it a coincidence, we call it a God thing and a huge blessing that Ellie's day nurse was adopted from Korea with her twin when she was 6 months old.  We saw instantly the love she had for our little girl.  We continue to stand in awe of how God is in all the details of this sweet little girl's life.

It was a huge blessing to hold our little princess again! 

At 4:15 they were able to remove the breathing tubes and had her come out of sedation.  Most of the evening was spent trying to manage her pain as she was pretty agitated.  She would go for an hour or so with no issues and then thrash around and cry for an hour or so.  It is such a helpless feeling to watch your child and really feel like you can do anything for them.  We spent a lot of time just trying to talk to her, rub her little head, snuggle in close and try what ever we could to get her to calm down.

At about 11 last night Eric and I had the biggest scare of our life.  Eric was giving Ellie a bottle and she stopped breathing and her eyes rolled back.  He quickly yelled, "somebody help me!" The nurse took one look at her and sounded the alarm. Before we knew 10 -12 people flew into her room with the code cart.  We were pushed out of her little glass room only to stand by with tears streaming down our faces and panic in our hearts.  It was by far the scariest thing we have every experienced.  The medical team went into "Go Mode" and did what they do and quickly got her stabilized. They began running tests and everything came back normal.  They think she potentially choked a little and didn't want to aspirate so held her breath. It could have also been she just struggled with the suck, swallow, breathe as she was coming out of sedation.  At any rate we were very thankful it wasn't heart related and that they were able to stabilize her quickly.  They sedated her and kept her calm for the rest of the night.  We feel so blessed by the care Ellie is getting and the way they are taking care of our sweet girl.   

This morning Ellie was in her true form, very agitated. My friend Diana said she would gladly pass on her daughter, Emme's title as the "Agitated Empress!" Ellie now has a name that proceeds her on the 5th floor among the doctors and nurses.  She is definitely leaving her mark. She is also wrapping herself around quite a few people's fingers on the 5th floor even in her spicy form. Eric and I are pretty sure we may be in for a rude awaking when this little is up and running at full strength. 

Today around noon they came in and took out her arterial line in her groin and her catheter. She has been a different girl and has pretty much crashed the whole afternoon.  Her poor little mind and body needed a break.  They have kept her in the ICU and will continue to take it a day at a time.  

Thank you for all your words of encouragement, messages, comments, phone calls, texts and emails. They have been a huge blessing to us. Most of all thank you for covering us in prayer.  We have felt them.  

We are praising God that Ellie's broken little heart has been made new.  A mighty physical and emotional healing is taking place in this precious little girl. To Him be the glory! 

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3