Restless Night

The day had gone so well that we weren't very prepared for being up so much last night. Chris made himself comfortable in the semi-reclining chair in the room with a blanket and pillow and I slept next to Charlotte in her bed. Charlotte finally drifted off to sleep somewhere around 10:00 and we went to bed also. Then, suddenly at 12:00 am, she was really unhappy and in a lot of pain. It was clear that she was hurting and we had to give several rounds of pain medicine and increase her pain pump before she started feeling much better. I will spare the details but we were up until sometime around 3:30 am last night, trying to comfort her and keep her from rolling on to her tummy (her sleeping position of choice). After much of a struggle to keep her on her back or side, we eventually gave in, as long as she didn't curl her legs up underneath her in the fetal position. By this time, Charlotte was exhausted and so were we. We knew that letting her sleep the way she wanted to was probably the only chance she might stay asleep.

It was horrible seeing her in so much pain since I felt ill prepared. She hadn't seemed too uncomfortable all afternoon yesterday. The Dr.'s think that her anesthesia finally had worn off and she was also feeling the pain from surgery. Her head also probably hurt pretty bad because she did lose some spinal fluid during surgery and that causes the brain to sort of "settle" and causes a headache. Since I have had a history of migraines, I empathized with her that much more and felt very helpless. She also had a slight fever, 101.6, likely a reaction from the anesthesia yesterday. Her temperature is back down today.

Luckily, this morning she seems to be feeling much better. She woke me up with Mickey tapping me on my nose saying "Hi Mommy". She really has been such a good girl, but last night was definitely rough! We have received orders to leave the ICU and go to a regular floor. We are anxious for this as the sleeping arrangements in there will be better and we can be a little more comfortable.

They haven't rounded on her this morning but we are told she will be able to eat today. I hope she has some of her appetite back since all she has had so far is water. We have also had to hold all of her blood pressure medications because her blood pressure has been normal, if not low at times. They don't want to bottom her out. I am anxious to see if this changes in the next few days.

Sunset over Forrest Park from our window

The Hawn Family