Extremes

 As many of you know, today marks an important milestone in Elizabeth's life as she had a successful bowel resection that will enable her to eat normally once she heals. It was one of the happiest days of my life, ranking up there with my wedding day and the day she was born.

Pictured here, several hours before her surgery, I'm reading to her one of my personal favorite children's books, one I've read to her repeatedly since she was around 20 weeks gestation in mom's belly.

The Hiccupotamus

What we failed to air to the internet right away was that today also happened to be one of the most stressful, and scariest days of my life.

Shortly after reading to her The Little Engine That Could (Not pictured), her face turned purple. Her O2 Saturation dropped into the mid 70s range, and she became very sluggish. All with a clear airway, while breathing with what seemed to be a normal amount of effort.

Rubbing her back, a trick that had worked in the past, was ineffective. I pleaded with my daughter,

"Hey! Come on, Liz. Stick with me!!"

and waited for the nurse to quickly wrap up the task shee was tied up with on another baby. With her help, I learned to firmly massage feet and back, jostling Elizabeth enough to effect deep breaths and bring her O2 up again.

This episode repeated itself  a number of times until for no particular reason, her O2 stabilized enough for us to tuck her in and get lunch.

The doctor ordered a CBC and Blood/Gas, both of which had unremarkable results.

Following her afternoon surgical procedure, Elizabeth pooped in her diaper before she even got back to the NICU.

So you can see, today was a day of both extreme happiness, and extreme anxiety.

I count my blessings that it ended well.