God's Way of Teaching Me I am NOT in Control

Some of you have known me for awhile and know that I can be pretty controlling. I like my life in a nice orderly way and like to plan for the future. This is the life I have had and the life that I liked- Then God gave me Landree Marie. From the time I got pregnant with her, I have had to realize that God is in control and I'm just here to make what few choices he allows me too.

Sunday a week ago, I noticed a spot on her behind that looked like a pimple. Monday it started to look more pronounced and reminded me of the spot of MRSA she had back in the Spring. So on Tuesday I took her in to the doctor and she agreed and put her on an Antibiotic with a follow-up on Thursday. Tuesday night Brian soaked her and got it to drain. Wednesday, it became hard and would not drain. Thursday morning it was really hurting her and I was glad to have a return appointment. Haley called and said Abby wasn't feeling well so she was working from home. I dropped Peyton off at VBS and went to the doctor. She took one look and decided it needed to be drained somewhere else. Next thing I know, I am picking up Peyton and taking her to Haley's house and driving to Methodist Children's Hospital of Southwest Texas.

They admitted Landree and ordered an IV for her. Here she is pre-IV listening to Toddler Tunes on my ipod.

All the pics for this post are from my camera phone so please excuse any fuzziness.

They had a Child Life Specialist come and try to entertain her while she was getting her IV. That woman blew bubbles, had flashlights, books, you name it in the attempt to distract Landree. I was really impressed with her and very appreciative seeing as they tried multiple times in one hand before they finally got it in her thumb sucking hand. It was not an easy time to say the least.

We got her settled down and the Pediatrician came through and decided since she had eaten then we needed to wait until the next morning for surgery. She okayed Landree to eat so Daddy got her McDonalds from the food court which Brian says is just like a mall- I didn't see it because I never left her side with the exception of surgery. We entertained her with Dora Movies and a Color Wonder book the Child Specialist had given her. Supper came and we were happy that her food allergies had been taken into account. My two year old was thrilled with Chopped Beef, plain new potatoes, and zucchini.

We tried to get her to go to sleep and it just wasn't working too well. We finally got her down around 9:30 and Brian left at 10. I had thoughts of hurting the nurse after she woke Landree up at 11:30 at night to weigh her- Are you serious? She and I slept together after that- well she slept and I prayed a lot. Friday morning came and Brian went by and dropped clothes off for Peyton at the Willards and he came to help entertain Landree. He brought animals that Haley and Marcus had let the girls get for Landree and from then on every time we messed with Landree's bed, she would fuss at us and tell us she wanted her Animals.

Her surgery was scheduled for 10:30 and they told me that they were trying to work it in earlier since she was so young and would have to do without food for so long. Well that didn't quite work out and they didn't come get us until after 10. Here she was in pre-op waiting or more like bouncing off the walls.

At 10:31 she looked up and asked for a drink. Brian and I got tickled because we had both prayed for God's help in keeping her occupied for that time without food or drink and if the hospital would have been on time, we would have made it. They brought the consent papers and I made Brian sign for a change and then he starts talking about possibility of brain damage and a list of other horrible things and I finally had to ask him to stop and remind him there was a reason he was signing them today and not me. They came and gave her Versed sp? and she started giggling and got very happy. They let her take her blankie and Baby Stella- Oh Baby Stella is a doll that she told me on Wednesday had a bobo on her hiney too and she started carrying it around with her everywhere. By the time surgery came time, Baby Stella had a hiney bandage, and IV, and a hospital bracelet. Everything that was done to Landree, she was going to make sure was done to Baby Stella.

Brian and I did not have long of a wait for most surgeries but of course seemed like an eternity for us. We finally got to go to recovery and she was there covered in her blankie and crying. They gave her a shot of morphine and nothing. A second one finally calmed her down some. She woke back up on the way back to her room and it was on from then on. She got balloons and a bear from Aunt Melanie's crew and she played for awhile and then would lay down.

She then got pure silly and wild as a monkey. I didn't know if Brian and I were going to be able to keep her in her bed. You can kind of see the doped up look in her eyes here.

She drank juice and ate jello and then muffins Brian brought from home for her. She loved jello and kept wanting more but I finally decided she needed no more sugar. Sam and Leigh came by with Britney and Tanner and Landree got even more hyped up. Pastor Barz came by and Landree really got cranked up then. He said a prayer for us and everyone left and we tried to get her settled down. Again it was 9:30 before we got her down but this time she was out for the count. They weighed her at 10 and her IV went off several times during the night but never woke her up.

Brian came back the next morning and our nurse was like gang busters and got us ready to change her dressing. Without the gory details, basically they cut a hole in her butt to clean out all the dead tissue and left it open so that it will heal from the inside out. Which means it is packed with gauze that we have to change twice a day- On a wiggling two year old. The plan was that we watch the nurse change it and then we changed it that evening and then we got to go home. Well I was a super star mom and pretty much changed it that morning and they decided we could go ahead and go home. Within a minute of three people holding her down and lots of screaming, she was excited to eat her veggies. I'm willing to bet that we were the only ones on the floor who had a child go through a dressing and packing change and then sat and ate raw broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.

Here is Loubelle on the way out. Right before we left the room, she flipped over on her tummy and the nurses all came out of their station to say by to her and one even told her she was on a parade and had Landree waving to everyone. Children's hospitals are nice.

We have now been home for 48 hours and everyone is getting settled back in. Peyton is having to deal with not having PB&J and Chocolate Poptarts at our house. I can not thank the Willards enough for keeping her for us. I did feel guilty because I didn't think about her much but I know it was because she was in such good hands and LOVES being with Kacy and Abby. Landree is still running around like normal but does sit a little lopsided. Needless to say Brian and I are very thankful she is doing so well.

They gave us Tylenol with Codeine to give to Landree 30 minutes before a dressing change and it never seems to even phase her. Lets just say they should have given me a prescription for Valium or something. Dealing with a 1 inch hole in your babies bottom should warrant some prescription drugs.