Thankful

I woke up this morning feeling thankful.  I am thankful that my little girl is doing so much better now.  I am thankful that she had the opportunity to fight for her health.  I am thankful that she is the feisty little fighter that she is.  I'm sure you hear all the time about tragedies that happen where little babies or kids don't get the chance to fight.  Their lives are taken much too young for reasons that we on earth will never understand.  I know story after story of things like this happening, including my sweet 9 year old cousin who's life was taken a few years back because of a tragic accident.  My heart breaks more for my aunt and uncle now than it did when the accident happened.  Now that I have my own children, it puts things in a different perspective.  I just cannot imagine what they still go through on a daily basis.  The most recent story told to me that I just can't stop thinking about was a high school age kid got a ride home from a friend from school or practice.  The friend hit and ran over the kid's 2 year old little sister in the driveway and killed her.  I can not even imagine.  Even though we have been through what seems like hell in the past two weeks, I am extremely thankful that my daughter is one of the praise stories and not one of the tragedy ones.  I am just so thankful that she had the chance to fight.

Even when Hannah was at her worst, I thanked God every day for my two healthy kids at home and for the progress Hannah had already made.  I tell myself about many instances, it could always be worse.  Spending the past two weeks at Children's Hospital makes you realize this.  I walked out of the elevator on the intensive care floor the other morning and saw a young mom weeping outside of the NICU.  Her parents and husband were gathered weeping as well, trying to consoled her.  My heart broke for this mom.  I have been that mom, crying uncontrollably, not caring who was around to witness.  Another instance Paul and I saw was an entire family sitting in the ICU waiting room with their pastor, crying.all.night.long.  I'm talking maybe 9:00pm until 4:00am.  This poor family.  We knew something was about to happen or already had.  It was just so sad.  I still pray for both of these families daily even though I don't know their stories or their kid's outcomes.  I'm sure there are people out there that pray for us because of things they have seen us go through too.  I am thankful for these prayer angels. 

Last night I spent at home while Paul stayed at the hospital.  I sat down and made a list of all of the people I need to write thank-yous to for the nice things that have been done for us during the past few weeks.  The meals, gift cards, little gifts for the girls, etc have all been so appreciated.  I got a card the other day that read "When going through a hard time, it's the little things that count".  What a true statement.  More than anything, we are thankful for the prayers from so many people.  I am a believer in the power of prayer.  Hannah's outcome is a true testament to that!  Thank you also for the overwhelming amount of care cards, phone calls, FB messages, and texts.  Not one message went unnoticed.  We are so incredibly blessed with such caring and loving family and friends. 

I am hoping this my last "sad" post for a long time.  Hopefully next time I post it will be photos of Hannah's homecoming.  Hannah is not on oxygen anymore and hasn't been for about 24 hours now.  I don't want to speculate when I think she will come home because I don't want to be disappointed if she gets delayed.  I will share the happy news as soon as she is here!  The first thing I am going to do when she gets home is dunk her right in the tub!  She is so yucky from the hospital...stuff stuck to her and everything.  I just cannot wait for my three girls to be together again!  Not to mention, I can't wait to be back on a normal schedule again!

Below are some photos of Hannah's progress.  I don't have any of her off of oxygen completely.  So, she even looks different than the last one right now.

Hannah, looking worse than awful.  This was one day early last week or maybe even the week before. 
I believe she was still on the paralytic here.

Still on the ventilator, but not on the paralytic anymore. 

This was the day Hannah got extubated.  Finally got some toys to play with!

Hannah, yesterday.  All she had here was the nasal cannula and her PICC line. 
The cannula is now gone.  The PICC line is coming out today.