Yesterday, we had a visit from my sister Stephanie and my Mom who drove 4 hours from Kansas to come and visit us at the OU Children’s hospital. The girls were glad to see “Aunt Stephie” and Grandma. Stephanie took Ty, Layla and I out to go pick up dinner, pick up Layla and I’s prescriptions and put our checks into our account. Grandma stayed and sat with Ava and fed her dinner. Ava was finally off the liquid diet and can eat whatever she wants.
Ava and The Flowers From My Good Friend Bonnie
While we were out and about, Stephanie bought each of the girls a giant Valentines Day frog and chocolates, because Ava kept saying she wanted chocolate. She also got Ava a beautiful bouquet of daisies and a nice card. Today Ava also received flowers, a teddy bear and balloon from my good friend Bonnie. So Layla wouldn’t feel left out, I went to the gift shop and bought her a teddy bear too. I also bought each of the girls a baby doll to play with.
I Finally Got To Hold Ava For The First Time Since The Accident
The highlight of yesterday, was the fact that I finally got to hold my baby girl. I know she’s a toddler, but all four of my kids, no matter how big they get will always be my babies.While I was holding her, we snuggled up together and she went to sleep and I ended up taking a nap with her. Just like when she was a baby. Ava also was finally able to sit up in bed as well. It was painful at first as her daddy and the nurse adjusted her in bed so she could sit up, but when it was all said and done she was glad to be able to look around, watch TV and see her family.
Ava Sitting Up For The First Time After Surgery
The lowest point was sometime while I was holding her, her IV had backed up a bit and she got a blood clot in her IV, so they had to change it. I was beside her trying to comfort her. They had trouble finding a vein and kept digging around in her arm and it made me cry. On top of it all, they blew up the vein after they found it. That made me sick and I had to leave the room before I completely lost it. When I cam back in, they were done and gone and she had an IV in her foot.
Then today, the physical therapy people came in and changed her bandages and assessed her wounds. It upset me as well, because the bandages had gotten stuck to her and it was painful when they were trying to remove them and she didn’t like being squirted with the saline to loosen them up. The lady that changed her bandages went slowly to show Ty and I how to care for her when we take her home, and she even gave us written directions because I don’t want to space anything because I am on pain meds and a little spacey.
The thing that makes me the proudest as a parent has happened during this whole ordeal as well. Ava, even though she was hurting and miserable, was a graceful lady about it all. Every time the nurse helped her sit up, when they changed her bandages, even when they put the new IV in and tortured her, she said “Thank you’. I am so incredibly proud of my big girl! She was very happy to see Layla, who was very concerned about her sister during the whole ordeal. The hospital gave us a red wagon to pull the girls around in, and Ty put it next to Ava’s bed. So Layla sat in the wagon talking and playing with her sister. She even tried to climb into bed with Ava.
We won’t be going home tonight though, the doctor wants to observe her for one more night and have the physical therapy people check her wounds one more time before we go home. So if all goes well, we will be in our own beds tomorrow night!