High Maintenance Hope

Let's be honest, Hope has never been low maintenance.  The last few days have been pretty rough with Hope.  She is often miserable and impossible to settle.  Even the big guns (mainly narcotics) are unsuccessful at settling her.  They believe she has a terrible headache as she adjusts to the new pressures in her body after surgery.  After finally getting Hope to sleep, with the help of Benadryl and a swing, the nurse had to give her an injection.  That was an hour ago, Hope is not looking remotely ready to fall back asleep.  This is going to be a long night!

That's right, I have to spend the night here at the hospital.  Hope was transferred out of ICE this evening as another child on the ward was not doing well and needed her spot.  I love my girls like crazy, I also really like to sleep at night.  Tonight is going to be a test of my patience and mental sanity. I may have some Christmas cards completed by morning, I'm trying to focus on the positive side of the situation.

We began discussions with the staff about a transfer back to Calgary today.  It was a severely busy day on the unit and no one was able to get back to us.  At one point we heard Hope was being flown back tomorrow, but that was never confirmed.  They did confirm that Hope is "heart" stable and no longer needs to be here.  The Calgary team is just as capable of following Hope through her feeding difficulties and will likely take over.

There are always pros and cons with either hospital.  I look forward to not sharing a room with another child and their parent each night.  I look forward to seeing so many familiar faces and spending time (at the hospital) with friends in Calgary.  I am excited that Shawn and Sadie will be able to sleep in their own beds each night.  I am encouraged to take a step in the right direction.  I struggle with the location of the children's hospital in Calgary.  We don't live too far away, but I still see less of Shawn and Sadie when I'm living there.  We have to coordinate a lot more to have Sadie cared for while Shawn is at work.  I have to train a new team of doctors to be sure we don't lose any of the ground we've covered here.  My Martha Stewart side does not like getting home with piles of stuff, and not having the time to put everything back in its place.  I want to nest and make our home, our home once again.

Please pray for us as we plan to make this huge transition sometime this week likely.  We have a lot of packing, cleaning and planning to cover.  It will be an adjustment, we've been here since the middle of August.  We are blessed that Hope is alive.  Although she is grumpy, our time with her is cherished.