Another day in the life of...

...transplant. For us and our dear friends. Our little friend is 6 months younger than Ash, but she can literally run circles around her. She is tiny and beautiful and just as precious as my Ashley Kate. This month we have been blessed to be the ones who got to stay at home. They on the other hand, who are also blessed, have been the ones in the hospital. If you would pray for them tonight I would greatly appreciate it. Rumors of returning to Nebraska so they will be "close to home" not theirs but the "transplant home" are being heard and discussed and I just hoped they would have been given some time in their own home. Oh, how I know the struggle of deciding when to go and when its safe to stay. My heart literally aches for my friend. She has older children just like me and the thought of being separated again for an indefinite amount of time is heartbreaking. Please, please pray for our friends.

In our home tonight the little transplant patient has rearranged her ostomy for the first time since being placed on coumidin. Can I just share with you that had you walked in and saw the amount of blood in our home this evening you probably would have called 911 thinking someone was dying. Nope, just a two year old who decided playing with that transplanted loop of bowel on her exterior would be a good idea. Blake and Allie were terrified! As for myself I took a deep breath and jumped right into the middle of it all. Before Ashley Kate's birth I was so scared of the sight of blood. A drop or two would make me drop to my knees. Now? No big deal. Some days are bloody and some days are not. Today was definitely bloody and a little scary as I wondered if her blood would ever clot. Thankfully it did and she has labs in the morning so we will see what her hemoglobin and hematicrit(sp?) levels are.

Ash is TIRED! She is fussy and exhausted. She remains awake out of sheer determination and her stubborn streak. She is trying to convince us that Blue is the way we should go tonight, but this mommy is tired too and I say, "No go". We finally got a feeding pump this afternoon but it doesn't want to work. Can you believe it? Dave is trying to make it work, but if he doesn't then the hourly bolus feedings will continue for the third night in a row. Like I said its just another day in the life of transplant, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Ash is here. Ornery and adorable. I would rather wake up with the alarm every 30 minutes to feed this little pickle then to have no little pickle to feed. I'll take this over that any day. Life is good.