One day while we were in the hospital they brought in a little hospital gown for Hannah to wear. I held it up and exclaimed, "Oh, this is so cute!" I quickly realized that no matter how miniature, a child's hospital gown is in no way cute. It's disturbing. Anyway, we put it on her anyway, and then she soon pooped on it or threw up on it, so we ditched the gown, but it was fun for a little while.
So this is Hannah's new lovely hair cut. When we were in the ER in Brigham City, one of the nurses came and asked me if they could shave Hannah's head so they could get an IV in. I was surprised they even asked permission, I told them they could do whatever they needed to do! I thought they were going to shave the whole thing, so I guess a mohawk thing isn't so bad.
They did put an adorable pink bow in her hair one day though, so that made up for the crazy hairdo.
When Hannah had the surgery to get her PICC line in, she was in the Jazz operating room! As we wandered around the room in awe, I had a sneaking suspicion that the room was decorated more for the parents than the kids! :)
Who wouldn't want John Stockton staring at them during surgery!
This is out of order, but here is Benji with our Valentine's day dinner in the hospital.
This is what tape does to a baby arm :(
As soon as Hannah was given antibiotics her body immediately started responding. She did better and better each day. I felt comfort from the spirit and was buoyed up by the many prayers given by family and friends. On Sunday (her 5th day in the hospital) things changed. Her CRP number went up a little from the previous day (it's supposed to decrease by half every day) and she had a low grade fever through the night. When the doctors came by for their morning rounds they didn't sound very happy about the turn of events. They were worried about an abscess forming in the brain and ordered a CT scan, and an MRI along with her normal blood tests.
It was an awful feeling to have a set back in her recovery and probably the worst I felt the entire stay at the hospital. There was a lot of talk about how an abscess could affect her later on in life, including neurological problems or behavioral issues.
They had a sacrament meeting in one of the rooms in the hospital and I was so happy to be able to go to church. The meeting was held in the room behind those doors and I'm so sad I didn't dare get a picture before the meeting started because they had that table all set up with beautiful pictures of the Savior and scriptures and Spiderman was just doing his thing right behind it. It made me laugh.
Anyway, I sat in the meeting alone (because Benji had gone back home to
be with the boys for a night), and to be honest, I was feeling a little
sorry for myself. Then just before the meeting started they wheeled in a
few small children that had cancer. One was even in her hospital bed hooked up to monitors. It was a humbling experience and it was hard to keep the tears from flowing. The meeting was short and sweet, but I felt the spirit so strongly. I was reminded that I was not alone and no matter the outcome everything would be okay. I know my Heavenly Father loves me.
Later that evening Benji and I were able to go to temple square. It was the perfect place to be on such an awful day.
Later that evening Hannah had a small surgery to get tubes put in her ears. They thought she might have some infected fluid and the tubes would help get rid of it. Here she is getting wheeled away to the operating room.
We were able to be with her in recovery.
There was a bunny drawing right above her bed in recovery. I thought Sam would be so excited.
Getting tubes put in her ears must have been the right choice because immediately after getting them she calmed down, slept a lot and was in a lot less pain. It was nice to see her get some relief and because she was feeling better I could breath a little easier as well.
After her surgery it she slept on a little pillow and that seemed to help her headache. It was also one of the few times she actually took a pacifier.
Then she started acting more like herself, she started looking at her hand again.
Then she found her feet for the first time!
She loved the mobile that the nurses put on her hospital bed.
These pictures are a little out of order, but this is the CT scan she got right before she had the tubes put in her ears.
Looking at her mobile.
This is me forcing her to take a pacifier. It was right before her CT scan and I couldn't feed her for four hours. I had to sit there and hold it in her mouth.
This is her second hearing test. The first time they couldn't get a good reading because she was moving too much. This time worked, and they said from what they could see she probably hasn't lost any hearing in either ear. She will have another hearing test in August.
You know you have been in the hospital for a long time when you do laundry...twice.
Here we are waiting for her MRI.
She took a pacifier willingly this time because she was so hungry and if she sucked on it they would give her sugar water. She liked that.
The next few days flew by and before we knew it they gave us the thumbs up to go home. We were so excited.
She didn't really care.
Stop taking pictures, mom!!
When we left the hospital right after having Jordan I remember feeling so scared. I wanted to ask the nurse if she was sure I would okay at home with a new tiny baby! That feeling was 100 times stronger as we walked away with Hannah.
But it was nice to leave.
And we couldn't wait to start treatment at home so we could finally get her 100% healthy.
I felt unsure of what the next few weeks would hold, but one thing I knew for sure we were so blessed to be leaving the hospital with our baby!
