For those who don't know, after Ira's surgery on Thursday, June 9th, 2016, she went into what the nurses and doctors call '72 hour recovery' which is a very critical period of monitoring, making sure she isn't in any pain, and watching her very closely! In fact, Linden was happy to report that not only has he slept in a recliner next to her the entire time, there has been a nurse by her side every second, morning and night. The nurses that are working with Ira are assigned only to her, so they literally haven't left her side at all! Linden says the only time the nurse leaves, is when they have to use the restroom, then they call another nurse over to stand and watch Ira while they are on their restroom break! Needless to say, she is being very well taken care of and looked after, that makes this momma VERY HAPPY!!!! 
Friday, June 10th, 2016,  I got to FaceTime Linden during the early morning staff meeting. That's when there are about 10 or so nurses with computers and notebooks all standing around Ira and her pod. (A pod is what they call the incubator crib/bassinet things.) Anyways, we got the amazing report that she is doing even better than any of them anticipated her to be doing at this point! Yay!! Although we received such wonderful news that morning about Ira, the rest of the day was quit full of emotions for me. In fact, it was actually very hard. I got discharged from the hospital and sent home (to my parents) later that afternoon. Regardless of the fact that I was beside myself excited to see Ada; for the first time, it really hit me that my new baby wasn't going to be with me. While laying in the hospital and constantly getting updates about Ira, plus having nurses and doctors come in and check on me none stop, it really took my mind off of how different and difficult things really were, and are now going to be. Leaving the hospital I had the sweetest nurse wheel me down to the car; she nicely and unknowingly asked where my baby was. I tried my best to fight the tears as I told her that my little girl wouldn't be coming home with me because she was Cincinnati Children's in the NICU with a bowel problem recovering from one surgery and waiting on the next. She apologized immediately, and told me that she hoped my baby gets out soon. She then looked me straight in the eyes and says, "You can do this, it will be hard, specially since you can't hold or see her right now, other than over the phone, but you can do this and it will get easier before you know it, I promise." She says, "my 3rd child spent 5 months in the same NICU, it was the hardest 5 months of my life, but we got through it, so I know you will too."......Oh yes, I was in tears! Last time I was leaving the hospital after giving birth, my lap was covered by a carseat with my little girl in it, and this time my lap and arms were empty. If it seriously wasn't for the fact that my husband is an amazing man and sends me updates, pictures, and FaceTimes me every second, plus the NICU provides a website that I can go onto and see Ira laying in her pod whenever I want, I would be beside myself! All the way home all I could think was that not only have I never seen the nurse that wheeled me down to the car, but that God has specially hand picked that exact nurse to wheel me out, knowing we would have that conversation, and knowing that she would give me that encouragement that I so badly needed. Our God truly is absolutely amazing!
Once, I got home and got settled, I got to FaceTime Linden, and this time Ira could actually hear me. The nurse started laughing and said that I needed to talk to her more often because her heart rate started to come up because she was so excited to hear my voice! I got to see her actually move her arms and legs a little when I would talk to her and she tried to open her eyes a couple of times as well! It totally made my entire day, and night!! I am SO ready to see her and hopefully hold her Sunday!!
This morning, Saturday, June 11th, 2016, Linden FaceTimed me again during the staff meeting and afterwards Ira's doctor deciphered all the medical lingo that we didn't understand....so pretty much the entire meeting! lol But, he told us that Ira is doing even better today that what she was yesterday so they are going to try and push her a little by taking away some of the medication they were giving her to help with pain. The medication has made her swell pretty bad because her body is having a hard time getting the fluid out, as fast as its being pumped in. Other than decreasing the medication, they also took out her catheter, as well the IV in her head and the IV in her arm. They kept her PICC line in, which is a longer tube that is placed in her arm and guides a catheter up into the main vein near her heart, but they moved one of the two tubes, the suction tube from her mouth to her nose. They will watch her the rest of day to see how she reacts to all the changes, but so far they have noticed that she is breathing over the breathing machine again, which means if she keeps that up for so long, they will just take it out and we will get to finally see Ira Jo without a breathing tube in!! :):):) The surgeon said that hopefully in the next couple of days Ira will poop and once she does that, they will see how her bowels react to her stool. If everything goes well, they will introduce breast milk to her, then the plan would be to wait 6-8 weeks, and then go back in for her second surgery. They would do what's called a stoma reversal which means that they will sew the ends of her bowels back together and her stool will no longer come out into a bag.  When they are able to watch how her bowels react to breast milk they will know exactly what the next step will be.
Tomorrow my parents are taking me down to see Ira.  I have mixed emotions.  I want to see her but I cannot wait to hold my baby!!
Linden sent these pictures to me: