Yesterday was a big day. Hannah endured the first of several surgeries she will have in the course of her lifetime to address her cleft lip and palate. There were many fears and anxieties going into this first surgery and many very specific prayer requests made. He answered. Each and every single one of them.
Hannah was so peaceful and brave throughout the process yesterday. So, so very brave and resilient. She is a fighter. We had precious time with her in pre-op, seeing some last huge smiles, scrunched nose giggles, and puckered up lips. We each got our final clefty kisses and felt at ease with the change about to occur. The anesthesia team was amazing and ever so attentive to her needs as a newly adopted child. Our prayer now is that we will get to work with both the same anesthesiologist and the same anesthesiologist nurse for her next surgery this summer. Their passion and compassion was evident each step of the way. We are so thankful for their sensitivity (down to treating her differently to avoid night terrors as she woke up!) and attention to detail in keeping our daughter secure and comfortable yesterday.
Our surgeon, Dr. L.... We cannot sing his praises enough. He was so compassionate as he knew our emotional attachment to how Hannah looked with her cleft. He was skilled in his work with her and so gentle and relaxed in his interactions with Hannah. He was cautious and wise to ask us to stay the night (even though none of us wanted to) and readily accessible to us for all of our questions. His work on Hannah's face is astonishing and brought a flood of tears to my eyes as I saw her for the first time yesterday. She looks so very different, but she is still our sweet Hannah.
Our nurses. Y'all. Our NURSES! They are so much an important factor influencing the quality of your time in the hospital. God did not disappoint us with either of our nurses. The sweetest thing? I had specifically asked my Bible Study group to pray for us to have opportunities in our time in the hospital to share the gospel through adoption and just share our passion for the orphan. God blessed us with two amazing nurses and a precious nursing student who just took to Hannah immediately and obeyed the nudging in their hearts to ask us more questions about adoption, about Hannah, and about our journey to her. We were able to truly share our hearts and it was so glorious to see the spark in the heart of another yet-to-be mama who is feeling the flame of passion for the orphans of this world. What a gift it was to share so freely all of God's doing in our journey and also see such sweet, passionate nurses doing all they possibly could to make our time in the hospital as bearable as possible. Seriously, our second prayer request, in addition to the anesthesiologist for next time is for the same nurses. Nurse Katie and Nurse Emily are rare treasures and we hope we get to see them again and continue to form friendships and bonds over our love for orphans!
Hannah--I have no words to express the transformation in our baby girl. The bonding that has occurred through the course of this surgery with Hannah, myself, and Chris has been so precious. Hannah has allowed Chris to care for her in ways we could have only dreamed of.
This week has been so much of God's weaving and planning. Blessings heaped upon blessings.
Hannah is home now and working on recovering. I hope to post another about her post operative prayer needs. Thank you for loving us, for loving our girl, and for faithfully beseeching our Lord in prayer. Our cup runneth over....
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