The Nightly Update, Monday Night

Good news first. This photo is from when Elvie laid on my lap for a little while today. She's not able to be snuggly yet, but it was so good to have her out of the bed and at least on my lap. She had her foley catheter and stint removed, which is what made this possible.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't go as well, though I'll go ahead and spoil the ending and say that she is sleeping peacefully now. She really didn't seem like herself today, but I thought maybe it was because of our tough evening Sunday and the subsequent crappy night of not sleeping. But she just kept sleeping all day when she wasn't being poked and prodded (which is a lot, I'll admit), and didn't smile or do anything that she'd started doing again on Saturday and Sunday. It didn't take long before she started throwing up all her formula, and I knew something wasn't right. I hadn't made any headway on getting a doctor into her room to examine her when Jarod showed up, so I handed the reins over to him and let him get it taken care of. In the end, it turned out that she just wasn't ready to be off her catheter, so it had to be reinserted. I returned to the hospital after my shower to find a peacefully sleeping baby.

Now it's time for me to very quietly make up the chair bed and hope that the rest of the night is as peaceful. I'd love for my sweet girl to get some good rest, and I'll be honest that I want that for myself as well.

Thank you, all of you, for following along with Elvie's story and for being so kind to our family. I always thought that this part, this waiting for her to get better after surgery, knowing she's in pain and there's not a lot I can do about it, would be the hardest part, and that's proving to be true. Your support is so valuable to us as we walk through these hospital days with Elvie, and we are grateful. Thanks, guys.