Babies Make Four: Whew, what a week.

This week has just about done me in, for the good and the bad. I don't know how we've crammed this much into the past 5 days, but we have!
Dillon and I only worked on Monday and Tuesday as my great-uncle Bob and his daughter Jayne were coming in for a visit and then Thursday was Charlie's surgery. I went with my dad Tuesday night to pick up Bob and Jayne and I was so excited to see them. I had never met Jayne before, but it had probably been 9 years since I've seen Bob. He is legitimately one of my favorite people in the whole universe. He's my grandpa's brother and my first memory with him is going to Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia for lunch probably when I was younger than Luke. He's a calm man with a good sense of humor and lots of great stories. He's worked in the coal mines, fought in Korea, moved to California and lived the American dream by starting his own business. Since I've known him, we've spent Thanksgivings together, I've traveled to California twice to visit him, and we've had lots of dinners together when we all find time to be in the same city at the same time. The last time we were together, I was working at the Grove Park and we enjoyed a lovely dinner on the Terrace that included mussels, lots of wine, and me not being able to meet them the next morning for breakfast because I had enjoyed my evening too much. *ahem*. I love my Uncle Bob and listening to his stories so I'm especially thankful for him to be here this week. Wednesday, we sent the kids to school (Luke to his last day of preschool... another up and down for this week). We all had breakfast together and then Dillon gave them a tour of Asheville and all the areas of town. We had lunch at the Surf N Brew in Fletcher and then made our way to Sierra Nevada where we all enjoyed a beer only to be washed out by an afternoon thunderstorm. We were going to cook out that evening, but we were all so tired that we just ordered Chinese food for dinner where Bob and Jayne introduced us to MooSho Pork which is now one of my favorite dishes. Why have I never tried that?!

Luke spent the night with my mom and dad that evening since we had to be at the surgery center the next morning at 6:00 AM. He promptly became best friends with Jayne and is now her shadow anytime she's in the room! I even told him that he'd get to go with Maw and Peepaw this week to take them back to the airport and he immediately became sad (my sentiments too, actually). But they all enjoyed their evening together while Dillon and I came home and worried about what the next day would bring.

We arrived at the surgery center early, early Thursday morning and it all went fairly quickly. Our lovely minister and family minister came to be by our side while we waited to come back (I am SOOOO thankful for our church family. They are truly some of the nicest people I've ever known). We were taken back pretty quickly and Charlie was given a cute, tiny little gown. They showed her the little face mask that would go over her nose and mouth to put her to sleep and they had all kinds of toys that she loved to play with on the bed. About 30 minutes prior to the surgery, they gave her a dose of Versed which she hated because of the taste, but in about 15 minutes she was super loopy. She kept pressing her nose going "nooooseeee". The ophthalmologist and anesthesiologist both came and talked to us and all the nurses who were going to be with her in the surgery came and introduced themselves which I thought was really nice. When they took her back, the medicine had made her loopy enough so that she wasn't scared to be taken from us, which was a relief. Her "surgery" lasted for only 5 minutes. The doctor said she could feel the duct pop open and felt that a stent wasn't even necessary which made the procedure so easy. Dr. Swamy came and talked to us and said we could go back when Charlie started to wake up. I ran to the restroom and before I could come out, Dillon had already gone back, and Charlie was MAD. She did not like how she felt and she was still loopy. When she finally calmed down they told us we were good to go (which was about 9:00 AM).

As Dillon pulled the car around, Charlie became more irritated, I don't know why. I had warned the nurse that she's a fainter (when she gets mad, she'll hold her breath and pass out, coming around quickly after). She assured me that was ok, and they had dealt with that before. Only the nurse left us to put her in the car seat and I could tell that Charlie was holding her breath. I pulled her out of the car seat as she passed out. She usually does that and then takes a deep breath, but this time she held out and started turning purple. Dillon couldn't get her to come around so I ran into the front as the doors had locked behind us when we left. The receptionist frantically called a nurse and had them run out to us. By the time I got out there, Charlie was crying again but I can tell you that is probably the scariest 30 seconds of mine and Dillon's life. They made us come back in because her O2 levels dropped and so had her heart rate. After about 30 more minutes we had calmed her enough to get her in the car seat and I rode in the back with her home (I didn't even ride in the back with her when we brought her home from the hospital). She fell asleep in the car and slept at home until about 12:30 where she woke up and matter of factly hollered out, "MAMA!" I went in her room to find the happiest little baby with an eye that is no longer crusty. The doctor said it may take 2 weeks for her eye to clear, but I don't think I've seen it this clear since she's been born.

Needless to say, we were exhausted. The events of the day had worn us out. My mom and dad and Bob and Jayne all brought Luke back to us and we enjoyed some time visiting. Our church friends have also fed us for the past two nights and we have just felt so much love from everyone.

Luke is now on the month out countdown from kindergarten. We went to Target today and I bought him some Legos and school supplies. We ordered his backpack and matching lunchbox a few weeks ago and it's all Avengers! His bunk beds come in the next few weeks and we have some Avengers bedding for that too! Dillon painted his room today and it's a fun bright green. His room no longer has any resemblance to a baby nursery and it's all little boy now. I love it. But I'm also sad. How have five years gone in the snap of a finger? I'm excited for him though. I just know he's going to love school.

We have until Wednesday with Bob and Jayne and I'm trying to find as much time to spend with them. Hopefully we'll have some good relaxing time together. It's been a long update here today, but it's also been a long week for us. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. On to the next thing!