Hail to Our Little Conquering Hero

Well...we made it through Ana Luisa's first surgery! And she did so well throughout the whole ordeal. We are so thankful, and so proud of her too.

Ana Luisa's surgery was scheduled for 7:30 on Tuesday morning, so we arrived at the hospital at 6:30. We were worried that she would be upset and cranky, since she hadn't eaten since midnight, and was asleep until we put her in her carseat to drive to the hospital. Fortunately, she was neither upset nor cranky, but rather very happy and sweet and cute the whole time. With her big brother always around, it's rare that she has the full and undivided attention of both her parents at the same time, so she was taking full advantage of the situation. When the nurse took her measurements, we were pleasantly surprised to see that she's now gained six pounds and grown two and half inches since we brought her home just two months ago! That's our girl!
After getting weighed and measured and all her vitals checked, the anesthesiologist and two of the surgeons came by to talk to us and make sure we knew what was going on. And before we knew it, it was time to go. The nurse gave Ana Luisa a relaxant so that she wouldn't freak out when we handed her over to the surgeon. It made her very, very relaxed.

About a month ago, I attended Mass at Old St. Patrick's parish, where our dear friend, Fr. Gerald Gawronski is the pastor. That day, his homily focused on redemptive suffering. One thing that he said that stood out to me in particular, as he highlighted Mary's unique role as Co-Redemptrix of humanity, was that when a child suffers, the mother in a way suffers more, because she not only takes on the suffering of that moment, but the total suffering that the child has experienced throughout his or her life to that point. This came to mind as I handed Ana Luisa to the surgeon when he came for her. At that moment, it was so hard to think about the pain and discomfort that this surgery would cause her, particularly in light of all that she has suffered already. Thankfully, Ana Luisa has been blessed with an incredible amount of resilience and a joyful spirit, and now after two months with her there is very little evidence that she may remember the loneliness, pain, hunger and emptiness that filled her first fourteen months of life. But I know I will always remember.

Later, in the waiting room, Jeff and I prayed the rosary together. It was a Tuesday, so we prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries. In praying the rosary, we meditate on the life of Jesus as seen through the eyes of his first disciple, the person who knew him and knew who he was better than anyone else, and the one who remained by his side until his final moment on the cross: his mother. As we prayed through the mysteries, the agony in the garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and finally, the crucifixion, I was overwhelmed thinking of the suffering of Mary as she watched Jesus suffer through all this. I know the Lord was giving me just a very tiny taste of what our Blessed Mother experienced, and I hope and pray that I can grow to have her mother's heart, to love Jesus as she does, and love my children as she loves us.

On that wood of the Cross her Son hangs in agony as one condemned. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows...he was despised, and we esteemed him not": as one destroyed (cf. Is. 53:3- 5). How great, how heroic then is the obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God's "unsearchable judgments"! How completely she "abandons herself to God" without reserve, offering the full assent of the intellect and the will" to him whose "ways are inscrutable" (cf. Rom. 11:33)! And how powerful too is the action of grace in her soul, how all-pervading is the influence of the Holy Spirit and of his light and power!
-Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater

Aside from praying the rosary, Jeff and I spent the next five hours while Ana Luisa was in surgery talking, walking around the courtyard of the hospital, drinking coffee, and trying to distract ourselves with magazines. This is the longest stretch of time by far that we have been without children since Juan Pablo joined our family two years ago. Though we weren't as relaxed as we typically are when we are out on a date, I think we did a pretty good job at turning those few hours of waiting into quality time together.

Finally, at 12:30, a nurse came to take us back to the recovery area. Ana Luisa was sleeping in the arms of a medical assistant, who handed her to me right away. She looked so vulnerable and beautiful, and we were relieved that everything had gone well. The plastic surgeon was pleased with the way everything had gone, and gave us some instructions for caring for her lip over the next few weeks. I held her, and we both stared at her and kissed her over and over until she woke up. After drinking a little apple juice, the nurse thought she was ready to go up to her room. I got to ride in a wheelchair while holding her, which was sort of fun. I don't think I'd ever been in a wheelchair before. We spent the next several hours taking turns holding her, getting something to eat, trying to soothe and comfort her whenever she woke up, and giving her apple juice and formula if she wanted it.


My mom had come over to our house at 6am, when we left for the hospital, and Juan Pablo was having a super fun day with her. So much fun, in fact, that he did not take a nap even though he had woken up at 6:30 that morning. My parents and sisters came to the hospital around 5pm. Juan Pablo made it through the car ride without falling asleep...but then in the parking structure, while Jeff transferred his car seat back from my mom's car to our car, he fell asleep in my mom's arms. Ana Luisa had perked up in the meantime, and was playing with some toys and reading books when everyone arrived. We woke Juan Pablo up, and Ana Luisa could not have been happier to see him. She was so excited. I LOVE how much our kids love each other. It is so ridiculously cute.
It was so nice to have my family come visit. They were so wonderful, getting drinks for us from the cafeteria, helping with Juan Pablo, providing distractions for Ana Luisa, and just being there for Jeff and me. After they left, Juan Pablo and I went to go get dinner in the cafeteria. He really enjoyed being at the hospital (or, as he kept insisting that it was, the hotel). There are lots of big hallways to run down, with interesting things on the walls, lots of block M's, which hold great significance to even toddlers who live in Ann Arbor, fun places to play, and great food...like hot dogs.

Our original plan had been for me to stay at the hospital overnight with Ana Luisa, and for Jeff to go back home with Juan Pablo. After dinner though, when Juan Pablo and I got back up to Ana Luisa's room, she was sleeping very comfortably in Jeff's arms. He suggested that maybe he stay, since he generally has less trouble sleeping than I do, and he had gotten a nap in that afternoon while I was holding Ana Luisa. Plus, Juan Pablo was very much wanting to be with me. It was very hard to leave Ana Luisa behind for the night, but I knew Jeff was right that it would work out better for all of us if I went home. From what he tells me, Ana Luisa did very well overnight. She managed to sleep quite well, and by morning, her nurse had spread the word on the floor that there was a very cute little patient in Room 5688, so she had a lot of other nurses stopping by to say hi. In the meantime, Juan Pablo and I came home, had a special movie/dessert night, and got some much needed rest before heading back to the hospital in the morning.

Ana Luisa was doing very well- she was drinking her bottles well and her pain was under control, so we were able to bring her home that morning. She fell asleep right before the nurse came by with the discharge paperwork, so rather than having her wake up in the car on the way home, we decided to hang out outside for a while, and let Juan Pablo run around and play until she woke up. Which was a good decision, because we got to take this picture:
There she is...our little conquering hero. She has been through so much, and she is so strong and so joyful. Here she is trying out her new smile:
And before we left, we also had to get a picture with the giant Big Bird at the entrance of the children's hospital. Juan Pablo talked about Big Bird the entire car ride home from the hospital the night before. And on the way to the hospital in the morning. He was almost as excited to see Big Bird as he was to see his little sister. Almost.
It was nice to be home, but the recovery has been challenging. Ana Luisa is as active as ever, pulling herself up on everything, wanting to explore and get into everything, and wanting to feed herself. We have to be watching her all the time to make sure she's not putting things in her mouth, getting her lip caught on anything while she pulls herself up, or bumping her face on anything. Not easy, especially with a three-year old brother who likes to wrestle and roughhouse around. We're figuring it out though. She has been so good about not touching her lip, that we've barely had to use the elbow restraints they gave us at the hospital at all (which is good, because she can totally take them off). We were able to get her off her prescription pain medication and onto regular Tylenol after a day. She got some nasal congestion the day after we came home, which has made it hard for her to sleep, but Jeff, being the amazing dad that he is, has been sleeping propped up on the couch with her so that she can breathe. Jeff and I have taken turns going out and doing fun things with Juan Pablo, which has been very fun. And our family and friends have been very supportive, bringing over meals and giving Juan Pablo lots of attention so we can focus on Ana Luisa as much as we need to.

We're also getting used to Ana Luisa's new look. She kind of looks like a little kitten right now, with her nasal conformer, stitches and bandages over her lip. She's the cutest little kitten I've ever seen though.

Monday, August 23, UPDATE: Ana Luisa's stitches came out today! I took her in this morning, and a nurse took out all the stitches on her lip and the base of her nose, which was slightly traumatic, but Ana Luisa still did better than I had anticipated. Everything looks great! The plastic surgeon did an amazing job. She still has to have the nasal conformer in for another ten days, so that won't come out until next Thursday. We haven't taken pictures yet sans stitches, but we'll try to get some posted soon.