Day 3 - Recovery PM update

Hello again friends. Today has been a large amount of...you guessed it...waiting. Since this morning not much has changed. She is slowly being taken off of medications and they are closely studying her to see how she reacts. Overall, she has been doing amazing! I wanted to include a couple of pictures of her, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to show them just yet. To say the least, it breaks my heart.

This has been our daytime nurse the last two days. Her name is Kim and she's been a total lifesaver for us. She was there when Hadley came out of surgery and even came to introduce herself to us while we were in the waiting room. She has kept such a good eye on Hadley and reacts instantly to any kind of change she sees/hears. It has truly been a blessing to have her help with Hadley. THANK YOU!!!!

Her Nana Lyn and Papa Mark were so kind to drive all the way from Eastern Idaho to visit us and stopped at Grandma Glen and Grandma Shawna's house to pick up Ella. Thanks Grandma/Grandpa for watching Ella, we really do appreciate all that you have done! We felt so strongly that Ella needed to see us AND that we really needed to see Ella. She has become a kind of therapy for us. She needs to know that we will always love her no matter where we are and that we will come back and spend meaningful time with her. Ella also really wanted to see Hadley today. Janelle and I were super concerned and had talked about maybe having her see her little sister tomorrow sometime. Ella insisted that she see Hadley. I have a feeling that she knows something is going on and that Hadley is sick. If only I could have eyes like a child. After we took the necessary covering up processes with Hadley, we had Ella come in with Janelle. At first, they stood at the door, farther away to measure Ella's comfort level. She instantly pointed to Hadley and wanted to "go see Hadley". Janelle took a few more steps, "go see Hadley" Ella insisted. They made it to the edge of Hadley's table and she just took it all in. Her eyes skipped right past all the tubes coming out of her mouth/nose and she saw her authentic, beautiful, and amazing little sister. Here's some of the pictures. Keep in mind this is the second time she's seen Hadley since she was born.

Ella seeing Hadley for the first time, pointing, and blowing kisses to her.

Janelle and I were talking about it last night and we agreed that this situation is going to help make us better parents. In the last year we've heard ourselves say, "Not right now Ella, mommy/daddy is working. Why don't you go play in your room?" This needs to change in our lives. If this situation has taught us anything, it's that time is precious. Not being able to hold, hug, kiss your daughter really puts things into perspective. Not being able to touch her for fear of making her stats go haywire or being concerned of infection. The list could go on and on. We want to change our minds and hearts so that there is no lapse in a meaningful connection with our daughters.

So here we are again....waiting.