Baby steps

It's been a long day!

First we went to church. This was the second time I've been since Emma was born. We simply couldn't miss Matt Stumm performing Away in a Manger with the toddlers! (Matt is a personal hero of ours and his own fight with brain cancer has inspired me to keep looking toward Jesus.)

I was pretty nervous actually - like I said yesterday, it's tough for me to talk about how I'm doing and wasn't sure how many people would ask! I teared up just walking in, kind of like going home after a long absence! There is so much love, even just the few people I did speak to made me feel so loved!

It was wonderful to sing God's praises with our church family, especially after we had been told that Emma had a bowel movement this morning! It may be tough to ever convey the significance of that poop, but let's just say it was a MAJOR sign of progress and processing in her bowels! (The nurse said it was "explosive" - did I hear someone say "she is a Morton!!")

When we got to the hospital we were pleased to see her vital signs are as good as yesterday and they weaned her air support down to 3 litres from 3.5 litres. You wouldn't know it - she was breathing comfortably.

Also the broncoscopy scheduled for Monday was cancelled. The ENT team were a little over-zealous in wanting to assess Emma's airway, and her surgeon nixed the plan. They are going to see how she does with lower air support. (the broncoscopy was a pre-cursor to them performing a tongue-lip adhesion, something we want to avoid. The cancellation is therefore welcome news!)

Emma is getting a reputation as a drama queen. She did not flinch when they pushed her bowels down, but if you try to take her temperature or change her diaper, she turns bright red and sends her heart rate into the 200+ range! Her nurse today normally works in the cardiac care unit, so she was very nervous on the first change!! We assured her it is quite normal for Emma.

Praise the Lord, Emma is doing great. She even survived having her feeding tube pulled out by her mum! (That is something that does not give you the greatest confidence in your mothering ability!)

Daddy time

She makes it all worth it!!