We have had our sweet Lily Belle in our lives now for four full months! It is amazing how much she fits in here and seems to have always been part of us. Since we met her, she has had an amazing personality, but each week some new bit of sparkle comes out that we had never seen before! Before we get into a medical update, let me tell you some of her new things.
She is picking up English words like nobody’s business! Her two most used words are “No!” and “Dackoo (thank you).” For example, she loves to give false alarms and pull her diaper out while backing toward me and saying, “Poopoo!” This in itself is adorable, because she hikes her dress up and looks at you all innocently while doing it, and her lips pooch out in the most smoochable way when she says it. However, when she has truly done some funky business, and I ask if she has poopoo, she takes off running as fast as her cast will allow, laughing and saying “No, no, no, no, no!” Seriously, she is adorable. Then yesterday, I asked if she wanted a bath, and she said no. Then I asked did she want to get in the tub and Mommy would washa washa and scrubba scrubba (while mimicking those things), and she said “Sha! (yes).” So I put on her cast cover, she said “Dackoo!” I put her in the bath, she said “Dackoo!” She thanked me every single step up her bath time routine… She is the sweetest thing. I am just so very blessed to be her Mommy.
Playing at the park with her big brother
Waiting on the biggest brother to get out of class
Now for a medical update. Lily has been in casts since the last time I wrote about this, getting a new cast every couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, she had her first surgery. Y’all. Hardest thing we have done has parents to date. We could not have asked for a better team of doctors and medical professionals. That’s not what made it hard. Funny, I was dreading the whole not letting her eat thing, which was difficult for sure. I had not prepared myself for the moment that the nurse walked away from us while carrying my baby, who was reaching over her shoulder, crying my name, terrified of what was happening. Seriously, with trauma babies it is so different. She had no idea in that moment if she would ever see my face again. Last time strangers walked her away from her mama, she came to us and never went back. This is a real, valid fear for her.
In recovery, not quite ready to wake up and deal with it all
Anyway, the surgery went wonderfully. The PA told us that they prayed for Lily as a team before beginning surgery. I can’t express what this medical team means to me. They looked over Lily’s file when we first received it, they explained her condition to us, they wrote letters to expedite getting her here, and now they are praying for her before operating on her… We are truly blessed. Anyway, Lily had her Achilles tendon lengthened and a pin inserted to hold her foot in place. She has been in a cast for two weeks, which we will have changed this afternoon, when they flex her foot a bit more. Please pray for us, as she will probably be scared and unhappy while all this is going on.