Cuddles

After 5 and 1/2 months (and 4.5 hours waiting in the waiting room at Children's with kids running around wild and screaming) my baby is finally halo free.  I even have picture proof:

We got to the hospital today around 9am and finally got called back at about 1:30.  From the time they put her to sleep until we saw her after the procedure was only about 30 minutes.  The majority of that time was spent stitching her pin sites.  Apparently they were pretty bloody.

Things kind of went downhill for a little while after that.  Isabelle had not eaten since 7:30 the night before and it was way past nap time so needless to say she was pretty POed.  I haven't seen her flip out like that since she was a wee little baby and her ortho had to change her casts every week.  We took her back to her room in one day surgery and she was going crazy.  She started bucking and throwing her head back.  It was so bad we had to lay her down on the bed because neither me nor her dad could hold her.  The nurse didn't seem to find this to be a problem but her throwing her head back worried me a little bit.  Luckily when we went to leave we saw one of the other neurosurgeons who knows Isabelle and we asked him about it.  He said it was ok, the main thing was for us to not let her bend her neck the other way (like chin down).  The collar she is in will keep her from doing this for the most part but we still need to watch her.

She also has way more mobility in her neck than I expected.  From what I was told she was not supposed to have any movement in her neck at all.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that she does of some range of motion.  She can tilt her head to both sides (like she is trying to touch her ears to her shoulders) and earlier I noticed her turning her head side to side (like a "no-no" motion)  It is very slight but she does it.  Honestly, I am not sure if she is supposed to be able to do this or not.  I have to call the nurse tomorrow with a couple of questions I have and that is one of them.  I am thrilled that she can but I just want to make sure. 

She took a nap for about an hour after we got home.  She woke up in a horrible mood again so I sat with her in the glider and rocked her back to sleep.  It was the best cuddling I have ever had.  She seems so small and cuddly now.  Once she woke up again she was in a pretty good mood.  She is still pretty wobbly and having trouble with her balance (totally normal) so we spent pretty much the rest of the night in my dad's chair watching movies.  It was great!  See:

She is now asleep, hopefully for the rest of the night.  I will post some more pictures as soon as I take more!