Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster. I started the day out at Riverside hospital after getting some needed sleep. It was funny that both Mandi and I woke up with a stiff neck and she chuckled a little mentioning that she just had a baby yesterday and the worst pain that she is experiencing is a tight neck.
I woke up and headed down to Childrens well before the morning traffic. I got all of my things for the day and sat at Claire's bedside for a good couple of hours. I was just enjoying being next to her. I still had not had the chance to hold her but sitting beside her was the next best thing. I spent the good part of this time reflecting on the situation and updating the blog.
After a while, the nurse mentioned that the doctors will not be making their rounds for another couple of hours and she kind of suggested that this was a good time to take a break. Take a Break! I was a little put off from this suggestion. But then I got to thinking, this nurse has seen a lot and has greater wisdom in these situations. I eventually did heed her advice and headed to the food court at Childrens (which provides a little scamper of hope for nutrition while at Childrens compared to the cafeteria). I grabbed a cup of coffee and spread out some work files to get started reviewing some transcripts and identifying the awards for the graduates of 2010. Meanwhile, I did get caught up on some daily audio bible podcasts (pervious post).
After this short break, I headed back up to see baby Claire before driving back to Riverside to grab some lunch with Mandi. Baby Claire was doing just fine and resting well. I told her goodbye and mentioned that maybe her mom would be with me next time. Mandi requested a cherry lime aid from Sonic so we got some food.
The looming question for this next section of time was if Mandi was going to be released today. The doctor had put in some orders for her to be released at 4:00pm if her blood pressure was low enough. We enjoyed being together and talking about the events from the previous couple of days. I started to get her things packed up when the nurse did check her blood pressure. It was a little too high and it did lessen the chance that Mandi would be released. Needless to say this was pretty difficult as we both deeply wanted to get the family back together in one location. I am sure that this anxiety did not help lower her blood pressure but we did our best to talk through the situation. After a little emotional time, she did lie down and get a nap. This must have been the trick because her blood pressure did go down enough for her to be released from Riverside at about 4:30pm.
As you would expect, we headed directly down to Childrens to enjoy sometime with baby Claire. I was super excited to have the majority of our family back together. We had one more to bring into the picture… Colton. Luckily, Dave and Sami brought down the buddy boy for dinner and he brought things to spend the night with us down at the Ronald McDonald House. We were happy to have our family back together. After Dave and Sami left, Mandi and I had to trade off shifts with Colton and Claire. I took Colton down to the food court and we enjoyed a delicious Subway Chocolate Chip Cookie. When we got back upstairs, the nurse came out and said that Mandi was holding baby Claire and I would be next. I was so pumped. I had not had a chance to hold her yet. So Mandi finished and I got the chance to see her up close and personal. It made my day.
Claire is still doing well and the Doctors are still monitoring her blood levels to identify whether or not she will need the first of three surgeries.
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