Jeff stayed in the hospital last night for the overnight shift, and he said both of he and Emerson were up pretty much all night. Emmie slept for about an hour at 10pm, and for about two hours at 5am. So both of them were obviously exhausted.
I went to sleep at 10pm last night, and instantly fell asleep. And then I slept until 8am today, getting 10 hours of sleep! And it was absolutely glorious! Then while I was getting ready at RMH this morning to switch out with Jeff for the day, he sent me a shocking text… He said they were working on papers to discharge Emerson. TODAY!! We were told it was a possibility, but it was looking more like Saturday. But then they said that most kids her age don’t bounce back like she did until day 3 or 4 of post-op, so she clearly was ahead of the curve.
They said discharge would be around noon, so Jeff and I switched places around 9:30, so I could see Emmie, and Jeff could try to get a little bit of rest. And I brought Emmie two more presents when I came to see her. One from Aunt Jane (blanket, animals, teddy bear, two jammies, new socks) and from friends at church, The Ford’s (coloring book, stickers, travel coloring pack). And then her nurse from today Rachel also brought her three special Frozen toys – Anna doll, walkie talkies, and a board game!
She had kind of a traumatic experience between the parental shift change (we literally are not allowed to be inside the hospital at the same time, so we have to wait until the other is completely out of the building, so the 10 minutes it takes for us to rotate in & out, are sometimes rough for Emmie) but after getting her calmed down and opening some gifts, she was good to go! She was calmly coloring in her new book, sweetly singing “Twinkle twinkle” to herself.
She got a little antsy and wanted to get out of bed, so we started to go for a walk around the ICU. She was just going and going and wanted to walk forever! She was literally swimming, “keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, while we did about 10 laps all around the ICU. The nurses and doctors were all laughing at her, and some even joined in with her little song. It was precious!
The nurses came in and removed the last few IV’s and wires and all the extra bits and bobs, and Emmie had a tiny bit of lunch. Then they told us we were free to leave!!! I was like, “wait what? Right now? Just like that?” The nurse was like, “I’m not rushing you or anything, but yeah y’all can go!”
So I got Emmie changed into a fresh pair of jammies (these were from Aunt Jane), and she sat on this little stool while I cleaned up the room a little and packed up all of her goodies. She had the choice to ride in the alligator wagon or walk herself, and she said she wanted to walk! So we loaded up all the stuff in the wagon, and girlfriend marched herself all the way to the Jeep! And it’s NOT a short walk. I would bet it’s at least ¼ mile from her hospital bed to the front door, and this little superhero walked the whole way, with a smile on her face and not one single complaint!
Y’all. We (and I do mean the collective “we” with all of y’all included) had been praying for a miracle in order to avoid surgery. But we realized something today. That not only was surgery God’s plan all along (because it also led to the finding & fixing of additional unknown problems), but the miracle God had in store was her RAPID HEALING. We had been told her in-hospital recovery would be anywhere from 4-10 days, so we were assuming it would be somewhere in the middle around 7 days.
But this girl was discharged just a little over 48 hours after open-heart surgery. And just typing that overwhelms me all over again (my chest constricts and my eyes are crying again). At the way all of this worked out, and the amazing miracle of healing that God worked in my tiny little girls’ body. Isn’t it just incredible?! I’m still having a hard time putting all these emotions and feelings into words, as I’m sure you can understand, but just, WOW.
We have decided to stay here in Jax at the TMH for another day or two, just so we weren’t crazy rushed trying to get back to town. We obviously have a LOT to pack up, and we also have to clean our own rooms here before checking out, and honestly we just wanted a day or two of cushion “just in case” we need to go back to the hospital or anything. So we went back there this afternoon for plenty of rest. Emerson played for just a little bit with Grammy, and that she ended up napping for about two and a half hours.
Jeff and I had to run out together to get all of her prescriptions from the local CVS, which was honestly a big giant mes s and we ended up going to two different CVS locations twice each, but we got everything she needs, so that’s what matters.
She was a little disoriented when she woke up from her nap time, and was honestly just fussy for new particular reason. She’s been through a lot the last few days, so we can understand the extra stress. So to make her a little bit happy, we let her open a few more presents 😆
These two gifts were from a few of her favorite teachers at growing room, Ms Q and Ms Jessica, and they both gave her loads of great things! Everything from dresses, books, a water bottle, to coloring books, paint kits, and flash cards.
Oh and we also FaceTimed Aunt Meggie, Uncle Bill, and the triplets for a little while! And we had a quick call with Uncle Keith, Aunt Suzanne, and grandmother.
She’s yelling “rawwwwwrrrr” like her two new dinos from Miss Jessica.
Subway delivered sandwiches for dinner again tonight, and we ate at our favorite little spot. Emerson didn’t feel like eating herself, but she did take quite a few bites once daddy fed her.
We had some fun playtime after dinner, doing some puzzles and coloring together. We had one more bandage to take off her neck tonight, that she fought us on for at least 30 minutes, and then once she finally let me do it the whole thing took only 30 seconds. She was traumatized again afterwards, but thankfully we were able to calm her down pretty quickly.
Grammy read her a couple of books for a bedtime, while Daddy got her a little spot set up for bedtime. Because of her surgery, we have a very strict “sternum precautions,” and just one of those things is that we can’t pick her up under her arms for about six to eight weeks. We can only pick her up only by her legs, supporting underneath her butt.
This is one of the reasons we went ahead and bought her the big girl bed from IKEA, so that she would be able to scoot in and out of the low bed on her own, without having to be lifted over the side of a crib in and out. But while we’re still here for another day or two, we couldn’t use the crib they provided. So instead, we put the mattress on the floor, surrounded by the extra pillows and blankets, and all of her little stuffed friends, to make it impossible for her to accidentally roll off or fall out or anything like that.
Even after the crazy big exciting day we had today, she still claims she wasn’t tired, didn’t like sleep, and didn’t want to go to bed. It took two lullabies and lots of quiet time with me, followed by two lullabies some chats and daddy laying in bed next to her for the night, before she would finally settle down and go to sleep. Now we’re just hoping she stays safe and sleeps well through the night!
for about the millionth time, I want to say thank you again for all of your prayers through this experience, my words feel like they’re falling short lately but you guys truly have no idea how much it has helped knowing that all of y’all have been praying for us and reading along on this journey. Obviously prayer works, and Emerson’s discharge after only two days is living proof of that!
I am so extremely proud of her brave and strong she has been the last week. She is a tiny Wonder Woman!!! It brings me to tears again just thinking about everything she’s been through and just one short week, but by the grace of God we’re all done and The hardest experience of my life is now coming to a close. I’m looking forward to another good night of sleep myself, as long as I don’t stay up worrying about her too much.