2nd tour of duty

Today was the start of the second tour of duty at children's hospital for our little Claire bear. We got up at 4:45 in preparation for our short trip to the capital city. Really the morning events followed the normal daily routine with shots of reality coming and going as a variety of ideas came and went. How's is this day going to be different than the last trip, are we forgetting anything, etc... In the meantime trying to soak up every minute with our little one. Got the car packed and grabbed my coffee (not that I need something to heighten my senses) and heEded south. The drive was quiet. We had 104.9 the river radio station on and made our way down the high way on the rainy, cold morning. I listened for the messages in the sounds from the speakers and heard words like healer, savior, refuge. I had to stop and think, what if i intentionally listened for God's comfort and guidance. Is his presence always consistent and I choose to be so busy that I don't hear his comfort?
We arrived to the hospital on time. We were surprised to be greeted by a newfound friend from church when we walked into the front door This was a reassuring way to start the long journey down the hallway to the surgical unit and really was a foreshadowing of the wealth of support we would receive over the next 8 hours.

Mandi, Claire and I went through the pre operation procedures and preparation for the long day. Claire feel asleep on mandi and I enjoyed seeing them have some bonding time.
At 7:30, right on schedule, they came to get our Claire for her surgery. We walked down near the or and gave our sweet little one to the nurses after kisses. We knew from experience that the waiting had begun.

We made camp in one of the sections and grabbed a few extra chairs in preparation for all of the visitors. We had a lot of techniques to help us pass the 6 hours. At one point our crew had 4 laptops, an iPad, an iPod touch, an ipod, and a DVD player. You gotta love technology. At one point I had to laugh as I checked my facebook to find that many of those present had updated their facebook status and it was almost a race to see who could post updates the quickest. In addition, mandi and I were so comforted to know that so many, our closest friends and possible acquitances at best, were praying for our Claire. Verying comforting. I had to think about what a waiting room would have looked like about 10, 20, or 30 years ago. No mTter the case, Amanda and I were glad to be surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses that were supporting us by practicing the ministry of presence and lifting our precious gal up before our heavenly father.
We received word about 1pm that the Dr G was finished with the procedure and the team was going to start the process of taking Claire off of the heart and lung by pass. Crazy technology again. I am thankful that was live in a great country with the research and response to help all children.
We remained in the waiting room for another couple of hours. Eventually Dr. G came out and shared that claire did pretty well. The surgery did take a little longer than expected because of the difficulty with the peripheral IVs. He did find that Claire has relatively small blood vessels which was way they had issues with the ivs. He also said that he needed to support her pulmonary artery a little. Overall, he was pleased with the procedure and he cautioned us of the upcoming wrestle with monitoring her pain as her body relearns how her lifeblood should flow through vessels to carry oxygen to her cells.
We were happy to get baby claire up to the cardiac icu. Mandi and I got to see our girl at 4pm. I was prepared to see her in a worst case than the last surgery. Luckily, this was not the case. She had some color and the team seemed to be regulating her pain pretty well. Two by two our family got to see her for the first time. I have admit, it was weird not being able to play with her and make her smile and laugh like we routinely had done over the pass 5 months when I would get home from work or after we put Colton to bed. I look forward to those time again.
We are now in the pain management stage of the recovery. We hope for a good night as we know the painful days to come.
We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.