Recovery | Night #2.....

As yesterday started to come to a close, Carlie and I were feeling pretty good about things.  Sure the morning started off pretty rough for Liv but that's to be expected given all that she had been through.  By the afternoon and early evening Liv was communicating what she wanted or didn't want, feeding herself ice chips, and trying not to throw the laptop off of the bed when her movie was finished.  All in all a pretty smooth day and we were looking forward to, what had been up to that point, our normal schedule of "vitals" checks every 4-hours and a little time for some Netflix before falling asleep.

We were rudely awakened from that little day dream when the new night nurse came in to give us the schedule for the night (pictured above).  Turns out it's a good thing mama bear got a nap earlier in the day because we were in for a lonnnnnng night.  

The night nurse felt confident that even though there was a lot to get done, most of the items were simple meds through the IV and even then Liv's been sleeping through most of her vitals checks so we felt pretty good about sleeping through most of it ourselves.  This proved to be a challenge for Carlie as she was up at nearly every visit from the nurse.  The pinnacle of this insane night was when some time between the 3:00am and 4:00am scheduled stops something about Liv seemed different but the nurse couldn't quite put her finger on it.  

"Oh wait.... where's the tube in her nose?"

Apparently the discomfort and annoyance of the tube that had been inserted during surgery to keep her stomach clear became too much for subconscious Liv and she decided that the time had come to remove it.

F.

Carlie and I have our strengths and weaknesses and even before this experience we've been pretty good at compensating for each other.  She picks up where I can't go on and vice versa.  Watching her baby girl get a tube shoved down her nose and throat was, understandably, just a little too much to take so I worked with the chief nurse to calm Liv enough to reinsert a new tube.  I have to say, it was ridiculously quick and easy (for the nurse not Liv) to get the tube in place.  The lady is an absolute pro and thank god too because I knew we only had one shot at it or else Liv would channel the devil himself and literally tear the room apart if we didn't get it right the first time.

Luckily Liv was able to calm herself down fairly quickly and has been resting since.  The same wasn't as true for Carlie.  It has/had already been a really long night for her and the stress of knowing that Liv would have to endure the tube being inserted was just too much and she needed to take a moment for herself.  She's better now and asleep on the couch but keep pumping her full of love.... she's been an absolute rockstar throughout all of this :)