Day #1 - Photo Recap

I thought I would add some photos from our day yesterday. This morning Ruth was at the hospital at 6:00am, and Rob arrived at 7:30am. Marilyn, Gabe and I will be heading up shortly (I was up there until 1:00am). I've spoken to Rob briefly. It sounds like Abbi did good throughout the night. She was able to get more water into her and even some Jello. I'll update once I've been up there to see her. But from what we can tell, she is doing quite well and basically everything that is going on with her is to be expected at this point. It sounds like depending on how today goes, she could be sent up to the I.C.E. room tomorrow.

This Abbi and Grandma (Marilyn). She was quite delighted to come downstairs and discover that Grandma stayed the night. Love this picture! (And I just need to point out to my Mom, could that not totally be me at that age? The resemblance is uncanny! Ruth thinks so too).

Once we got to the hospital at 9:30am, all we had to do was hurry up and WAIT! It was a long wait. She went into surgery at 1:30pm, so we did what we could to pass the time...
This is Abbi in her yellow "convict pajamas" as we like to call them.

Some family shots. And Abbi hamming it up.

Taking a ride on "The Good Ship Abigail" with Gammy (Ruth). Ruth has done this with Abbi since she was just a wee one. She loves it!

Taking a snooze with Mommy. Or at least a lie down. Which was much appreciated after my lack of sleep the night before!

Pat-a-Cake with Gammy. Seriously...anything to pass the time! She was such a trooper!

Ok, Ok, she's starting to get a bit bored. "Are we done yet?"

"Ok, how about now?"

Finally its our turn, and Abbi has to get the numbing cream on the backs of her hands for her IV. She always looks a bit like a boxer afterward, so Rob was showing her how its done. So cute!

Here she is waiting to get on the gurney. Looking fairly serious. Although I still think she had no idea what was coming. Poor girl.

Going for a gurney ride with Mommy. That's our PAC nurse Diane. She was wonderful with Abbi. In her hand she has a drug that acts like a memory suppressant. It made Abbi a bit more out of it, and she shouldn't remember any of the experience from that point until she was put under.
We rode up to the surgery waiting bay. It must have been surgery time because all the little gurney slots were filling up like crazy. It was from this point on that Rob took her into the OR, and held her while she was put to sleep. I wish I had a picture of Rob in his "scrubs." He actually looked fairly cute. Except the part where he put the scrub cap over his baseball hat. Now that was funny.

These final photos are us waiting outside of the PICU for the surgeon to come and tell us how things went. When he finally came out (the surgery was 3 hours, 45 minutes), he walked by and said "I need to see the parents over here." I think we all nearly fainted. So we walked down the hallway a bit, he told us to sit down on the bench beside him. I mean seriously? Who isn't thinking worse case scenario at this point? But thankfully he just wanted to give us some privacy, but still. A bit of a heart stopping moment.

Rob dreaming of his giant 200 gallon marine aquarium...

The Grandma's. Ruth working on Gabe's quilt - looking rather surprised that I was taking her picture.

Gabe, hanging out, being quite a happy little fellow.

That was our day in pictures. I didn't take any PICU shots. It was just too hard last night. I think I kind of thought I knew what it would be like. I mean, we've done this before, but nope, it was just as hard to see. And I think even moreso for me because she seemed so alert and uncomfortable. I might take some today. Might not post them, but I figure it might be something she may want to see as she gets older.

I don't think spending any amount of time in an ICU becomes normal. There's always this errie calm about the place, yet something about it also feels so wrong. The little guy beside Abbi is so teeny. Likely around one month old. Covered in a plastic tent to keep him warm and keep the oxygen flowing. I think in a place like that you can always find a bit of perspective. There is usually always one or more children who are fighting harder, struggling a bit more, than your little one. It sure doesn't make it any easier on you, but it just helps you to realize you aren't the only one going through such hardship.