Our Brave Girl

We survived yesterday. Sage had her scheduled tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday and did really well. She is a champ! Her Grandpa Tony and Taylor gave her a blessing that morning. We were not scheduled to be there until 10:00 am and her surgery wasn't until noon, so it was a difficult morning not being able to give her anything to eat. She was quite hysterical for her milk. Once we were there she did pretty well and was distracted with all the toys. We had taken a surgery prep class last week so she was familiar with where we were and with what to expect. She however, was really upset about the hospital bracelet and did not like the jammies she had to change into at first. She kept saying, "I go". Luckily after that huge meltdown the pre-surgery waiting room had the cars she was so excited about from our prep class the week before and we got the first and maybe only smile of the day. They gave her a sedative 20 minutes before taking her back, which she fought like it was the end of the world. We didn't think she had got any significant amount in because she was not as sedated as she should have been. However, when we walked down what seemed like a forever hall and the anesthesiologist took her from us, she just looked at him and you could tell she was loopy. Thankfully there were no tears. Well, at least no tears from her... I on the other hand was a mess. About 30 minutes later Dr. Hill came out and informed us that everything went really well and that if her oxygen levels remained good for the day and she was taking her pain meds and drinking that she could go ahead and go home that evening instead of staying the night. He later changed his mind as he started thinking about how small her airway was and wanted her to have a couple more doses of some steroid in her IV for the swelling. Better safe than sorry forsure. I was able to go back to the recovery room where I found her sound asleep on one of the nurses. When she awoke from the anesthesia the nurse said she cried for a second and then reached her little arms out and wanted to be held. They all said she was an angel. When the nurse gave her to me she laid her head back down and then looked around and called for her dada and then went right back to sleep. She was groggy for several hours and most of the day. Her oxygen levels were really good and she didn't need to be hooked up to any oxygen for very long. She had swallowed a little blood so threw up a couple times. The most difficult thing for her was the IV in her hand and the thing to measure her oxygen that was strapped to her toe. We had to keep her covered so she couldn't see it otherwise she would freak out. She drank some fruit punch slushy, ice, a little milk and even had some mac and cheese. She couldn't have done better. She is on loritab/ibprofin and amoxicillan for the next 10 days. She is doing really well today. They say the pain doesn't peak for a few days though until it starts to scab. We are just trying to stay on top of the pain and keep her hydrated. Taking her medicine is going to be the greatest challenge. I do have to note how awful our night nurse was... he was the nicest guy, but he had no common sense and was obnoxious. He was loud and would make a big production of taking her vitals. He would swing open the curtain with the bright light shining in and talked really loud and try to tell her stories about his puppy when she was sleeping; this was at 2:30 in the morning. He also was really rough holding her down to give her her medicine and would put all the medicine in at once so she would choke on it. Sage would just scream every time he came in and would yell, "go, go, go...." over and over until he left and then it would take us a little bit to get her calmed down again. It was a really long night. We both ended up staying the night and would switch off laying with her in the bed and laying on the fold out couch. We all survived and were all ready to go home this morning. The three of us curled up and took a nap when we got home. Sage woke up a couple hours later saying, "up" and signing that she wanted to eat. She had some sherbet and chocolate pudding for breakfast and requested more mac and cheese for lunch. She has also been walking around with a bottle of apple juice and a bottle of "bunny milk" (milk with the chocolate nesquick syrup- it has a bunny on the bottle). She is napping now. I will be induced a week from tomorrow. Thank you Harper for hanging in there this long and hopefully she will at least give us a few more days to give our Sage girl the extra attention, love and cuddles she is needing. We love our Sage!

Amen

Tonight after dinner Sage and I both had a vanilla pudding cup with chocolate whipped cream on top and sprinkles of course. And we of course sat at the little kid play table that Tony and Jeanne brought down from Paradise for her to use; she wouldn't have it any other way... and she always reminds us who brought it for her by saying "Papa" over and over as we sit there. As I sat down with her she signaled she wanted to say another prayer... I reminded her we said a prayer at dinner and didn't need to  say one for our pudding. Next thing I knew she was up and walking over to the couch, folded her little arms, mumbled something and then I heard a big "AMEN" and she came back over and devoured her pudding.

What are days look like... pictures from the phone...

Recent Happenings

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. My never ending to do list and last days of only having one child that I am trying to soak up are numbered and keeping me from sitting in front of the computer to blog. However, I do want to have some record of this time. I am growing more uncomfortable, which of course is to be expected. I have started going to the doctor every week. At my last appointment I was dilated to about a 2 and 60% effaced. Dr. Froerer scheduled me to be induced on February 8th if I don't go into labor before then. 16 days. If it wasn't for Taylor being sick with a bad cold and Sage's unexpected surgery, which is scheduled for next week, I would be walking the mall and trying every trick in the book like I did with Sage in hopes of going into labor today! Sage is scheduled to get her tonsils out on the 30th. I'm hoping for at least a few days with her before Harper makes her big debut. At Sage's 18 month check up her physician mentioned her tonsils were really large and asked if she snored, which she didn't. We didn't think too much of it until the last couple months her breathing at night and even during the day is really heavy. We chalked it up to her large tonsils and again didn't think twice about it. A couple week ago I noticed she had a lump on her neck so we took her in to the dr to get it checked out. It luckily was just a swollen lymph node, but the on call doctor we saw also mentioned her large tonsils. He asked if she has had frequent ear infections/colds which she really hasn't. We mentioned her heavy breathing and asked if there was anything to be concerned about with large tonsils and he said not unless she has frequent infections or sleep apnea. The last month or so we were thinking she was having night terrors because she wakes up so often throughout the night and is an extremely restless sleeper. We went home and researched sleep apnea and it sounded like we had found the answer we didn't know we were looking for. We contacted her primary physician who sent us to the ENT, who we visited this past week, who was not surprised that she would have sleep apnea with the size of her tonsils/adenoids which when her body is relaxed when sleeping block her airway. We have heard her heavy breathing, but never heard an apnea episode until a few nights ago when we paid closer attention knowing what we were listening for. Several times she went 15-20 seconds without breathing and then would take a big gasp of air. It really is scary. Although, it is not the best timing and there probably would never be a good time for this, we are grateful to know what is going on with her and are grateful we are able to get her the help she needs. We went to a pre-surgery prep class at the hospital tonight and Sage loved it. They gave her a little stuffed doll wearing a hospital gown and she got to play with some of the doctors equipment and walk around Primary Children's. I also got the chance to ask any questions and learn more about what to expect. It was really helpful. We find out the evening before what time she is scheduled for, but most likely will be first thing in the morning and she will be released the following morning. Our Harper will come when she is ready and it will work out whenever that'll be and we are thrilled to meet her. Hopefully we can all be healthy for her arrival though.

No words needed

What can I say? She was not a fan of sledding. We thought she would love it, but between probably feeling like a giant marshmallow and having snow fly into her face, this is the reaction we received. It took us 3 times the amount of time to get ready then our actual sledding experience lasted...