End of Day 1

No food, check-in early, grumpiness for a few hours in her strange new surroundings, and then Bridgette's natural "tough" charm kicked in. All the nurses (and me and Jeff and Gramma Hoose too) were really impressed by how good and sweet and even smiley Bridgette was, considering what we put her through.

The I.V. team had a hard time finding a vein, and I think that was the worst part of Bridgette's day. She twisted and turned and cried and howled as they tried her feet then her wrists then her feet again. I discovered I am not a tough mom. I didn't actually cry in front of her, but as soon as I left the room, mommy turned into the baby. Daddy was very calm and helped Bridgette be brave.

From 3 to 9 p.m. baby had a nasal drip with 40 oz. of Go-Lightly forced through her small intestine. One of the surgeon's assistants called it "Go-Violently" which was apropos. We changed 14 maxi pads, 14 disposable diapers, and 26 cloth diapers that were totally soaked in Go-Lightly expulsions.

At 11 p.m. she had a rectal enema to try to clean out her colon. When we realized it was just 200 cc's of saline solution, we knew it would be no problem. We've done rectal irrigations every day of her life! We're just sad she had to stay up so late to get it.

Another difficult part of the day was that Bridgette usually takes two 2-hour naps plus sleeps 12 hours at night, but she pretty much had to stay awake until just now (11:30) with only a few snatches of sleep on our laps. As such, her mostly-happy self really was impressive.

Gramma Hoose flew in today to be with us during Bridgette's hospital stay, and we are once again grateful for her help. She sewed a couple of button-books for Bridgette, and as suspected, Bridgette loves the buttons!

And here she is sprawled out in "I'm-exhausted" position for one of her little naps. What a beautiful baby. We're so happy she's a part of our lives!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, thoughts, and best wishes. We appreciate your notes, Facebook messages, phone calls, texts, and comments. It's meaningful to us to have your support as we go through another stressful transition in Bridgette's health.