Emma the Brave

Last Monday, Miss Emma checked in at Batson for another palate repair surgery. When Emma got home from China, her cleft lip had already been repaired but her cleft palate was really significant and it has taken three surgeries in 19 months to get it hopefully to where it should be. This time, they did a Pharyngeal flap procedure to correct the airflow during speech. Her speech has been hypernasal because of the opening. This surgery helps to alleviate that and improve the clarity of her speech. Our initial observation is that the surgery was a success bc she is less nasal and actually able to make letter sounds that she could not say before....YAY!!!  She will obviously be spending some time with our amazing speech therapists to learn how to properly use her flap and it should greatly improve her speech (like within 1% of the normal range.....I'll take it!)

This little girl is so brave and tough. She only cried before going to the OR when I took her bow😂

They had to use some pretty strong anesthesia and morphine during the procedure so it took a pretty good while for her to wake up afterwards. As we talked to the surgeon after the surgery, we were amazed to hear him describe how he actually does the procedure. They strap her to the table and completely rotate the table where her head is down and feet are in the air. He told us about what exactly he did and compared it to putting together a ship in a bottle. He's amazing at what he does and truly loves his job. He told us that when he was doing a rotation during his surgical residency, he watched his teacher repair a cleft palate. He noticed that the cleft lip repair did not look as nice as some of the others he had seen his teacher do and he asked him about it. His teacher explained that he in fact did not do that lip repair and it indeed did not look good.  But to that family, it was perfect because their son was born with a big hole in his face where his lip should have been and after that surgery, their baby had a lip and it was perfect and they loved it. Dr. Clay said he decided then and there that cranial facial pediatric plastic surgery was what he wanted to do because if he could not only change the life of a patient but also the whole family, then that is what he wanted to be a part of doing. Love him and his big heart!

We were told that this surgery was incredibly painful and Emma would be pretty pitiful for a while. When will these doctors realize that she is not your typical patient????  After waking up from a very long nap/sleeping off the anesthesia, we started to see glimpses of our girl by around 7 that first night. No worries...by 4am when the nurse came in to check her vitals, she asked if we needed anything and Emma screamed "POPSICLES!!!!!!!"  So, that is what she got....at 4am😳

By the next morning, she was amazing all the doctors and nurses by doing so well. She even got to go to pet therapy downstairs! 

She watched the iPad a lot as we tried to make her drink lots and lots of fluids (drinking fluids is the key to getting out of the hospital!)

Because we frequent the surgical floor at the hospital so often, we have gotten to know the staff really well!  One of the sweet child life specialist brought Emma a tutu and a new bag of mega blocks. Emma thought it was the best thing ever and proudly paraded around the halls of Batson. 

We were discharged from the hospital after 2 days. Y'all, I'm serious. Emma is a superhero!  She has far exceeded every hope I had for her recovery and I can promise you, if you saw her today, you would not know that she had major surgery just a couple of days ago!  We are so thankful for the prayers lifted up on her behalf, for the unbelievable strength of our little girl and for the amazing care she has been given at Batson. As much as we love it there, we hope to not have to visit them again until she is 5 for her lip revision surgery!

Life Lately

So, here is a look at our life lately.

After dinner one night, we spotted a rainbow. The big kids loved it!

My people all piled up. 

When we were at the coast, Walker found a hermit crab and was crushed when I wouldn't let him keep the little guy. We convinced him that a fish would be a better option for him. He is loving Radar! Let's see how long we can keep this one alive!

Someone wants to be just like big sister!

The night before Emma's surgery, we did some carb loading at the Chinese buffet. We haven't actually eaten Chinese food since we were in China 19 months ago 😳, and it think it is safe to say that Emma was thrilled to be reunited with her noodles!

The big kids played with my parents and with Haley while we were in the hospital. They had so much fun!

They came to visit little sister and brought lots of treats to cheer her up. Emma was sad each time they would leave and kept saying "I miss Walker and Ella!"  They are thick as thieves!

Once Emma and I got home and settled in, the big 2 went to Columbus and J hit the road with the youth group to the beach. 

EK picked lots of flowers and also made cookies for the firemen. Walker was the taste tester. Those sweet firemen deserve an award for dealing with my obsessed little fireman. 

Fire truck chasing!

It's always a fun bonus for Walker when the truck gets called out for an emergency. 

It gets hot chasing fire trucks, so it's necessary to cool off in the pool!

The kids played with the Sykes and Skaggs one day and worked on their diving skills. They obviously need a bit more work!

I headed to Columbus on Saturday for a funeral and brought EK home with me. We are enjoying some girl time but missing our boys! EK is excited for cheer camp this week, and I'm excited for our whole crew to be back under one roof as we wrap up this summer!

More Fun in the Sun

The splash pad was the obvious choice to cool off and clean off after playing at the beach!

Popsicles on Papaw's swing were the perfect ending to a perfect day!

Thank you so much Aunt Carolyn for letting us come and play!  We had an amazing time and appreciate you entertaining us!!!  We can't wait until our next visit!!!

Fun in the Sun

The kids were thrilled to spend some time playing at the beach.

Ella Kate spent her time searching for shells.

Walker found a hermit crab. He wanted desperately to bring it home but after a good bit of bribery, convincing, and tears he allowed the little guy to return to his ocean home. 

Emma played for about an hour and then announced she was ready to go home. She spent the remainder of our time eating snacks in a chair.

Sometimes, their sweetness is too much for my heart to handle. I have to make sure to remember moments like these in the midst of the not so precious moments that occur regularly. 

Almost melting into a puddle on the sand in the scorching July sun was worth it to see these 3 so happy!