We are home (already)!!!!!!

We are home!!!! Anya did great and has been such a trooper. Our morning started at 4:30 a.m. as we had to drive 2 1/2 hours to Little Rock. We left dad at home for this trip because he came down with staph infection; we did not want to expose the children at the hospital. After her c-spine they took us back to get her gown on. She loved everyone she saw!

Here she is putting on her hospital gown. She was so happy to do everything she was asked and she had no idea what was about to happen to her.

Pulling her pants up!!

We had to wait awhile in the room, so she decided that pulling tissues out of the box would be a great idea.

I had signed all of the consent papers, talked to the doctors, and it was time to hand her over. This is always the hardest part of surgeries. Handing your babies over to the doctors. She went with them with no trouble, smiling the whole time!

The surgery lasted about 30 minutes...now that is fast. When we were in the recovery room, she cried and fussed a little. They let me hold her and that helped calm her down. But after the initial recovery period, she was trying to get back to her normal self. She waved to everyone she saw and gave all kinds of high fives to the nurses.

Here she is getting ready to go for a ride in the red wagon. I was ready to get out of the room, so we strolled down to the cafeteria and then to the gift shop.

You can tell she is worn out here, but she still maintained her smile!

She was a hit with all of the nurses and sat several times with them at the nurses station.

We got to go to "Camp Wannaplay". This is one of the play areas for the children who are staying in the hospital. Volunteers are available to help the children with crafts, playing games, coloring, or whatever the children want to do. Here Anya is coloring, but she also played with play-doh and painted a picture (which she loved).

The rule to be able to go home was for her to eat or drink 4 oz of pureed food or liquids in a 3 hour time period. Sounds easy enough right??? Well, I knew I better say a prayer for this one. I knew for sure that I did not want to spend another sleepless night in the hospital. I said my prayer and fed her a few bites of applesauce. She refused it at first, but finally I was successful.

WHEW!!!!

She ate it and they said we could go home! So we hugged, waved to, and gave all the nurses high fives and we went along our way.

The doctor said that she will still probably have restless sleep for a couple of days due to swelling, but we should see a difference after the swelling goes down. I am so thankful to have her here in America where she is able to receive the medical care she needs and deserves.

Looking forward to many good nights of sleep for years to come for this little princess!!