One Crazy Month!

February has been a crazy month for us.....to say the least! I started feeling a little sick on Friday, February 13th and it got progressively worse throughout the weekend. We all thought it was a bad case of the flu, since apparently there are many strains going around this winter. However as the next week continued to progress I was still not feeling too great and then I had a few "black out" spells. I road in an ambulance to the Emergency Room at Martha Jefferson Hospital on Tuesday, February 17th, after passing out in our driveway. A little scary, but we were still managing.

Then on Friday I had my best day in a week, until that evening when I passed out two more times within a 2 hour time frame, once at TGI Fridays, and once in our bathroom. I was concerned enough at that point that I knew something needed to be done. We were going to drive to the emergency room, but after passing out the second time we decided to go by way of ambulance again. So off we went to the University of Virginia Hospital this time. Micah and I spent the entire night in the Emergency Room. I was admitted the next morning. The doctors ran a lot of tests (including a CAT Scan and MRI, and they were measuring the pressure inside of my head as well) to conclude that my shunt had malfunctioned in some way. The next step....surgery.

They slid me into an open spot Monday afternoon (February 23rd). They completed the operation and found out that my shunt had in fact somehow become disconnected, so they reconnected it, and the surgery was complete within 45 minutes. And that seemed to fix the problem, because I have been on the mend and getting better every minute since then.

The hardest part of this whole ordeal was that I was unable to see Emily from Friday evening when we left in the rescue squad until Tuesday when I was discharged from the hospital. Those were some of the longest days of my life! I missed that little girl so much I could barely stand it sometimes! It broke my heart whenever Micah would go to my parents' house to freshen up and he would call and put her on the phone and I would talk to her and hear some of her cute little grunting sounds!! I cried every time!! I am just grateful that we have family nearby who are always willing and able to help us out, especially in crazy moments like these.

Another thing that this whole ordeal has reinforced in me is the power of prayer and the power of priesthood blessings. I know Heavenly Father is real and is ready to help each of us. All we have to do is ask and exercise faith on our part, and once we do that He will answer our prayers. They may not always come in the answers that we would want (like for me I kept asking for Him to make this problem be anything but a problem with my shunt and the whole time He was preparing me for the inevitable....I knew it was a problem with my shunt the whole time, I just didn't want to face it or admit it, so I kept looking for other alternatives).

Now here we are two weeks later and Micah, Emily and I were able to spend the whole day today at home and together, and right now, nothing beats that! Without further ado....here are some pictures that we have taken of our sweet little Emily recently. We have been wanting to do a fashion show since before Valentines Day and we finally did it this week! Here are some of the adorable outfits she modeled for us ~ she was a trooper. She really despises the act of getting dressed or undressed, but once she is finished she is just as happy as she can be!! She is such a blessing and we are learning so much from her every day!

All Comfy Cozy and Ready for the Show

Becoming friends with a new bunny!

Not too amused with all the pictures

Love that Smile~She is wearing her Valentines Day dress that Mommers and Dooders got her and a head band that Mema made for her! What a loved little girl!

Her hair is looking blonde in this picture ~ Polka Dots have never looked so good!!

LOVE the tongue, wide eyes and bare feet

Our Sweet "P" in a Daze

"Okay, I am ready for some more"

"Gees mom, I look like a boy in this...this pillow case thing."

"Now you're talking."

???

"Okay, that was fun. Can I have my hat back now?""

Phew, what a day.