3 Girls and a Daddy: Post-op day #2...the road to recovery

Wednesday, December 14th, was when Emmy seemed to turn things around and start making progress. Her kidneys started working again and she began making urine which would eventually drain off the excess fluid that had collected in her tissues. Her labs and vital signs all improved and they were able to start weaning some of her cardiac medications. Her surgeon removed her chest tube and took the surgical dressing off of her incision...ugh, the incision. From this day on, her scar will be visible every day of her life.

I have mixed feelings looking at her chest. The scar is ugly and no mother wants her daughter to live with scars...I think prom dresses, bathing suits, tank tops, etc. It will probably not be very easily hidden so she will constantly be asked what happened, and that makes me sad for her. On the other hand, this scar is from a surgery that allowed our baby to live, so while I hate looking at it, I am also tremendously thankful for it. I know that it will fade and we will become used to it, and I hope those days come sooner than later. In time, I hope to look at her scar and see it as something beautiful...that is what I hope to teach her to feel when she looks at it. My wish for her is that she will not be embarrassed, but instead be confident and proud of the scar on her chest and the opportunity it gave her to live a full and happy life.