Easter Reflection

Today’s post will be a short one, as there’s not much that needs to be said on the pinnacle of the liturgical year. We have been immensely blessed this year with health and happiness.

I haven’t posted in a while what our daily life is like, and those who aren’t familiar might be shocked at how dramatically it’s changed over the past month. Upon returning home from Regan’s surgery, she still had the NG tube as she was recovering from major surgery (seems so obvious, but so easy to forget when you saw how happy and relaxed she was). We had an appointment with our local cardiologist four days after returning home, and about two minutes into the visit she said, “and WHY did they send her home with that tube??” We discussed Regan’s feeds, ability to eat, and my best guess at how I thought she would do without it, and by the end of the conversation she told me, “let’s just take that tube out.” A part of me was in shock – what will we do without it?! That little “accessory” (as I’d come to think of it), was quite literally a life preserver for us and I was scared to swim without it. Our Cardiologist reassured me that Regan was at an excellent weight (remember, a little too good, meaning she was gaining a little too quickly for her height). So we ventured home and I reassured MYSELF that we could always put the tube back in if absolutely necessary – Mitch and I had become experts at that point, as Regan had become an expert in pulling it out.

Out the tube came and so began the adventure of monitoring Regan’s eating. We went from a structured schedule of alarms and rigged feeding tube setups throughout the house to just waiting on Regan to decide whether she was hungry. It was a struggle for both of us – I was learning how exactly she would tell me if she is hungry and she was learning the very definition of hunger.

Fast forward to today, and Regan is aaaaalmost up to eating what she should. She’s exceeded the minimum set by our doctors, but I think she’s still finding that happy medium for herself. She’s still an excellent sleeper and has no issue sleeping through the night. In fact, I generally wake up in the morning and walk into her room to find an awake, smiling little girl just waiting for me to come get her. She’s down to ONE MEDICATION. Did you hear me shout that from the mountaintops?! ONE MEDICATION. All this within a matter of weeks from open heart surgery. She never ceases to amaze me.

We have returned to a “normal” life. We take her to church (she got to carry the gifts on Palm Sunday!), I take her to run errands with me on occasion, and we have been taking regular walks in this gorgeous Spring weather. I think I can speak for Mitch when I say our stress levels have plummeted and I’m no longer living as a paranoid recluse. We look forward to each of you meeting Regan and sharing in the immense joy she brings to this world.

Happy Happy Easter, y’all!