After some time we were told her surgery would be at 1:00 because they had quite a few babies come in that needed emergency surgery. I became Mama Bear & let them know that my girl had not eaten because we were told surgery would be Wednesday night, then Thursday morning, and now Thursday afternoon. I also had not slept yet & was still keeping Amazing Grace from knowing exactly how serious this was & that she was fighting for her life without knowing it, so I was just a wee bit on edge. I was sick with worry that it kept getting put off while time was not on our side.
The surgeon allowed my girl to eat clear liquids for a short window of time, so she filled up on smoothies, Jell-O, chicken broth, and juice. Well, filled up as much as she could, given that it wasn't "real food" as she kept saying.
I prepped her for surgery with the wash. It took 6 minutes & the entire time her Dad sat next to us telling me I was doing it wrong. After almost 24 hours of being flipped off if I even just glanced in his direction & countless verbal attacks that I didn't respond to, I snapped. "Are you a CNA? Do you take care of hospice & critical patients? Are you almost an RN? Yeah, shove it!" He's lucky that's the only time I snapped at him during our stay because there were times I wanted to call security to have his ass removed from the room.
In fact, the nurses called in a social worker after witnessing how he treated me. They wanted to make sure Amazing Grace wasn't being abused the way I was. The nurses couldn't believe that a father would talk that way, in front of his daughter who was laying in a hospital bed, to the worried mother of his child.
At 11:30 we were told that the surgery was being put on hold yet again & they were doing more scans. I lost it. I hadn't slept since Monday & was already running on very little sleep due to my massive school workload & staying up to study. I told them, "I want my baby fixed NOW! No more putting it off. I can't sit here & watch her in pain any longer." Nurses were sent in, doctors were sent in, and our surgeon was sent in. All to try to calm me down. I was beyond calming at that point & starting hysterically sobbing.
Thankfully my hubby was there with me because otherwise I would have had no one to turn to. As they took my baby to another scan, I sobbed uncontrollably, fearing that we were running out of time. I actually cried myself to sleep & slept for half an hour. When I woke up, I was taken to look at her new scans. What I saw was so shocking, I had no words. The surgeons had no words.
Her malrotation, volvulus, & knots were gone. Just gone. As if they were never there. We compared the scans...she had had 2 previous scans & an ultrasound that showed everything very clearly. This new scan showed nothing abnormal. The surgeons said, "We have no medical reason why she no longer has any of these things. They don't correct themselves."
From the moment Amazing Grace was on her way to the ER to get into the ambulance to go to Children's Hospital, people started praying. Everyone that I called prayed, they called others who prayed, they called others...we were put on so many prayer chains that tens of thousands of people across the world were praying for my baby girl.
There is no medical explanation for her intestines straightening out, but there is a Heavenly explanation. My daughter was the recipient of nothing short of a miracle. Others can say "it righted itself" or "she's a medical miracle" but we know the real answer. God cured my daughter. The power of prayer is beyond amazing.
God chose my daughter to heal. That is Amazing Grace's Miracle.
While in the hospital I was receiving hundreds of texts & emails from friends, relatives, & people I didn't know, all with prayers & words of encouragement. The strength those emails & texts gave me is indescribable. Everyone's love was felt. I felt hugs from far away. Even when hubby wasn't there & I was holding my daughter's hand for hours on end & dealing with a horrible man, I knew I wasn't alone whenever I read what was sent to me. I was leaning on the shoulders of family & friends far away & reading their words with tears in my eyes.
After Amazing Grace's scans showed she didn't need surgery after all, they needed to find out why she was still in pain. Her diagnosis: an undetected yeast infection led to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. God took something so scary & turned it into something that we could easily treat. I am grateful every day for what He did. We are not promised tomorrow but that Thursday, in the hospital, I was given more todays with my baby girl.
Hubby went home that night, I put all my stuff in the recliner so the ex couldn't lay in it, and I crawled into bed with Amazing Grace. I fell asleep holding my girl, knowing that our nightmare was over. About 2 in the morning, after an hour of sleep, I was woken up to, "Mommy!" I opened my eyes to see her holding her arm up. It took me about 30 seconds to realize she was showing me she didn't have her IV in her arm anymore. She had held down food & fluid & was no longer dehydrated & her pain had dropped so significantly that she no longer needed the IV fluid or the morphine drip. The excitement on her face melted my heart.
She went from needing massive doses of morphine to to ibuprofen to manage her pain in the matter of only 6 hours. Because her pain remained manageable with ibuprofen & she ate like a horse & kept fluids down, we were given our walking papers Friday morning.
The balloon she received from the man who loves her as his own & she loves as a father, my hubby. Amazing Grace loves frogs!
Trying not to show her excitement while waiting for her discharge papers.
No words are necessary here; she's showing exactly how we felt to be going home.
The life was back in my girl who had struggled for 3 days with pain that would bring a grown man down & the smile was back on her face. Looking back, I can't believe that nightmare was only 3 days long.
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