Dealing with the unexpected...

As I write this I am in the Pediatric ICU with Ava. She had to have emergency surgery on her small intestine. There was a blockage that was causing her extreme pain and 15 cm of her intestine had to be removed. Now she will have a five inch scar that extends from her previous heart surgery scar down 2 inches past her little belly button.  This kid has some serious battle scars to brag about! The blockage part of her intestine will be tested to see why it swelled up and caused such trouble. She continues to awe us in so many ways, like when I told her it was time to go to the hospital at 4am she got right up, got dressed and was waiting by the door with a look that seemed to ask- are you coming or am I driving myself?; that through this all she gave up her little arms willingly- even for the fourth try at an IV after three failed attempts; that she got poked and prodded for 15 hours and still managed to smile at the doctors when they walked in (which incidentally may not have helped in them taking her pain seriously enough....which then may have resulted in an angry, pissed off mama, but I digress); that she demanded her daddy when he wasn't there; and demanded her mommy when I wasn't there; that she could still give love freely even when dealing with the pain; and that through it all she maintained her grace, good nature and humor. She scared the heck out of us today and taught us so much... again. Feeling very lucky here. Now if we get out of here without a nurse kidnapping her we'll be doing great :-)