Not so normal...

I'm beginning to realize that when I pretend to be normal for a day, I'm truly pretending.  On Saturday night, I was able to go to a friend's bachelorette party while Shawn graciously kept both girls on his own.  It was great to go out for dinner and hang out with some friends for a few hours.  I arrived home at 11pm and instantly, before getting through the door completely, could hear that Hope's breathing was loud and laboured.  She seemed to settle herself back to sleep and was quiet again so I went to bed.  I woke up at 3 to feed Hope and could still hear her breathing was a bit off.  I called the cardiologist and was told to bring Hope in.  My normal day was no longer normal.  It was back to the reality of Hope's fragile condition.

We walked into triage and were assessed briefly before being brought into a trauma room.  The room was quickly filled with medical personnel and Hope began receiving injections, vaporizations and other treatments for her breathing.  They were saying that she had developed Croup.  This is obviously frustrating, as we work so hard to keep her away from germs and she caught a virus anyway!  They kept her in the ER until 6am to observe her.  In the morning, the cardiologist called down and told them we were not able to leave and would need to be admitted.

Hope is now back on the unit.  We were greeted by nurses we'd had before and too many familiar faces. The wall in her room said, 'Welcome Back Hope' when I walked in.  We don't like being back in the hospital and it's obviously inconvenient.  At the same time though, we want Hope to be closely monitored and we are glad she's in a safe place and will receive proper care.

Since she's been admitted, the doctors don't agree on what she has.  It's definitely something respiratory, but whether it is Croup or not is under question.  This afternoon she received a scope that showed her left vocal chord is still damaged from her intubation, nothing else was visible though.  They are now looking to do a more invasive test that will involve Hope being sedated.  No word on when that will happen yet.  I came home for a nap this afternoon while Shawn stayed with Hope, I'll have to move back into the unit with Hope and needed to pick up some things from the house as I hadn't planned to be there overnight.

Please pray that the doctors would find the reason for Hope's laboured breathing quickly.  At this point her heart seems to be tolerating the extra work.  Pray that continues to be the case as well.  Please pray for our family as we walk through this 'bump' in the road as well.  The $60 we've spent on parking in the last 24 hours is not very exciting!  I walked into the cafeteria for breakfast and saw their Greek salad that I love, that was exciting!  There's always something we can be thankful for.  We also get free diapers in the hospital and nurses to change them!  Most importantly, Hope has maintained her weight and still appears to be growing, so we're praying this is a minor hiccup and will be resolved quickly.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Hope and think about our family as we walk through the ups and downs in her care.  It's amazing how quickly our friends spring into action.  I already received a text that dinner would be dropped off for tomorrow night and have had multiple offers from people to watch Sadie.  We wouldn't be able to get through these times without our incredible and loving network of friends and family, so truly thank you.