12:15 PM
We packed the car. Said our goodbyes to Koen and the amazing team of babysitters. Then zoomed our way through LA traffic. A five hour drive landed us at the Marriott in Burbank. We got settled in and Dave ran off to grab some dinner. Bedtime for HMae ended up being a little later than usual. Bedtime for us a little earlier.
2:48 am
One last nursing session for my sweet baby girl. Then it was off to dream land... for her anyway. There was no sleep for me for obvious reasons. So I got dressed and fiddled with my hair, then spent a few minutes just me and the Man upstairs counting my blessings and begging for mercy.
4:30am
McDonalds for breakfast... yuck but better than nothing. A short drive with NO traffic:)
5:30am
We checked in. Almost instantly I realized, here we are in this hospital for what seems to be a major ordeal, but one thing I get to find comfort in is the fact that I WILL get to take my baby home at the end of all this. Only by the grace of God. Too many are not so lucky.
7:30
You know you are in Hollywood when all of your nurses and doctors are hotter than those on a day time soap opera:) That and there is a high speed pursuit on the news. We waited and waited. Nurses, doctors and anesthesiologists came in and out until finally one pipped up to let us know Dr. Hammoudeh was stuck in emergency surgery at Cedars Sinai. Haddie had her "happy juice" and was feeling pretty "happy, happy, happy".
The Hubs's nerves were on overload and I was about to beg for some "happy juice" for him too when the Doc himself arrived! Hallelujah!!! The nurses did a great job distracting me by complimenting on my awesome 3am hairdo and cute bracelet. It was a ploy to keep me from bursting in to tears as they whisked away my baby to surgery. It worked.
What I thought was going to be the longest 2 hours of my life honestly wasn't. Since the beginning of this whole journey I pretty much threw my hands up and figured we are better off in His hands now. The Man with a plan. Somehow this has given me peace. I know I have the strength to get through almost anything at this point in life. We wandered off to the HBO cafe for a morning snack. Incredibly this hospital has the most amazing food. The Hubs's keeps comparing this place to the show House and it cracks me up. Everything is just so clean and sparkly and happy. The way I like it!
Then it was time for me and my new BFF to get down to pumping business. Might be my least favorite part of this day. I didn't think about how time consuming it would be to have to pump and clean and store. But it will be worth it in the end.
9:40am
And then that was it, we wandered back to the surgery waiting room. Lost a few brain cells watching Maury Pauvich talk about Ho's and baby daddy's. And then in the funniest Colombian accent a sweet little lady says HUGE! "Haiti Huge"! We sat there for a second and then I was like "Crap, that's us!" Fumbling over ourselves we managed to make it to the front desk and the sweet Little lady took us upstairs to chat with the doctor. Thankfully he came in and said everything went well and the surgery itself was very straight forward. They were able to remove a large portion of her tongue without interrupting any vital pieces. He used the modified keyhole cut to allow for the reduction.
Apparently at this point HMae was very awake and giving the doctors and nurses a piece of her mind about what they did to her. It took them awhile to get her comfortably sedated. We were back in the waiting room watching the Ho's and baby Daddy's hash it out over paternity tests.
11:20 am
The little Colombian lady came and got us with a concerned look on her face and whispered "Did doctooor tell you bebe was gunna be in PICU?" I assured her that we were aware of this and I could tell she was relieved. She walked us to the other side of the hospital and up we went to see our baby. I walked in and honestly that lump came up my throat and I just shoved it right back down! It was the same feeling when I walked into that Hospital where Papa was. It just gets you in the gut when you see someone you love all puffy faced and sedated with a breathing tube. I quickly reminded myself that we weren't in "that" situation but a much happier one.
The next few hours went pretty well. Our nurse was amazing. She was adamant that HMae will feel as little pain as possible while she was in her hands. Of course I liked her:) at this point she was requiring a cocktail of happy drugs and morphine "rescues" every two hours.
2:15pm
She slept and slept and woke up and wanted more drugs and slept! I took the chance and me and BFF Medela got back at it again. We checked in with the Fam and big brother. Ate lunch. Checked in with more Fam.
5:15pm
Our new Nemesis... the breathing tube! HMae does not like her new BFF!
There isn't a lot of downtime between med changes, positioning, oral cleaning, suction, and diaper changes so time flies sometimes around here. Thank goodness.
7pm
Back to HBO Cafe for dinner which was amazing! It was then that we realized this was our first dinner date since having babies. How romantic it was! Haha. We reminisced about the last two years and the Hubs threw in a few more House innuendos.
10pm
Finally HMae's cocktail was at just the right dosage that she was settled in for a good nap. We prepared our tiny bed and joined in on the slumber party.
3am
It has been a long day. Easier than I had imagined but long. Our tiny bed as it turns out is much more comfortable with only one person on it... imagine that. So me and the Hubs have a little rotation going on. And now it's my turn!
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