Dear Family & Friends,
Today was a hard day. Insurance! Am I right?! That's what we had to deal with first thing, after hours on the phone we were finally able to rent a "Hospital Grade" breast pump. (Sorry dudes on this email for the lingo, but that's what you have to look forward to... Fighting for some piece of equipment that steals the action out of your life ;)). This will help Drea pump nourishment for Lucie that they will give her every 12 hours. The nurses tell us again and again, "rest and pump, because that's they only thing you can do that we can't". And me? I can't do anything. Well, except for send y'all these updates.
Our little bundle of joy is doing so well. They let us know that they would have to put a PICC in place today, to be able to take out her I.V. from her bellybutton. It's a small procedure, however she is so tiny, that after trying both arms they were unsuccessful. They will be trying this again on Friday, but that's ok. She is still taking her medicine for her murmur, but they can hear it going down so that is a HUGE answer to prayer. We are praying and hopeful that tomorrow morning the murmur might be gone. She was weighed earlier tonight and her weight is starting to go back up, again HUGE annnnnnnd I wouldn't mind if she was on the "huge" side. C'mon who doesn't love the Michelin Man?! OH! I almost forgot, guess who opened one of her eyes? Yup! That's right! We got to see Little Lu open one of her eyes today (see pic below). Looks like she wants to be a pirate for her first Halloween costume. We also got to touch her again this morning and she held on to each of us at the same time. A family that prays together, stays together, can I get an "Amen"? (favorite pic ever below...)
The hardest part of our day was when Drea and I were discharged from the hospital. All morning I had a lingering sad feeling (you know, the feeling you get after you've had a vacation or trip and you're a little sad to leave?), but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. I kept asking myself: "Self, why so sad? You guys are going to get to go home today! You're busting out of this coop!" Was it because the nurses and staff were so awesome and helpful? Was it because I could go into their pantry whenever I felt like having food or drink? Once our bags were all packed, we finished our lunch and I gathered everything up to leave. Peter, their patient services manager (at least that's the title I gave him), came to help me bring our stuff outside and get a cab. That's when it hit me. As I pushed Drea in her wheel chair out of the hospital it sunk in that our little family has not only had a traumatic experience but on top of it all, we would not be getting to leave with our precious little girl and we were leaving a piece of our heart behind. We miss our little girl so much and wish everything to have her home with us, please pray for the Lord's comforting peace these next couple of months as we will be visiting her at the hospital and having to leave her there every day. We know that being under the constant care of nurses and doctors is exactly where sweet Lucille needs to be right now, but it's just not easy.
Once we got home and became dehydrated from tears, we walked into our apartment to realize that some of our friends had come by to clean and decorate for us. One couple built a TV dresser for us that initially we had delivered to them because we thought we would be out of town when it arrived. Not only did they bring it to our place from their apartment, but they built it for us too! Then our other friends moved the TV dresser to our living room and completely set up our entertainment system where we were going to put it, cleaned our apartment, put food in our freezer, and of course decorated a tiny Christmas tree for us. In all pink for Lucie (pic below)!! We nearly passed out. We have been so blessed by everyone in our lives it has floored us constantly. God has truly blessed us with amazing relationships from NYC to Miami, and then some! I know you all have been asking how you can help and we can be pretty stubborn in letting you bless us, I guess the lesson learned here is to just get a key to our apartment and force yourselves in. Well, I know this was a long update, thank you for letting me go on and on. Have a great night! I look forward to updating you all tomorrow on Lucille's heart, please pray for patience for us as we make "grown up" calls to insurance and who knows what else is ahead, and that Drea would continue to have a speedy recovery.
Much love and appreciation,
Rob, Drea, Lucie and Bessy
