Our PICU Christmas

   Emma's first Christmas was such a good one considering it was spent in the PICU. It was our third week in Michigan at Mott Children's Hospital, and was the first white Christmas Michael and I had ever experienced which made it extra special. We have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House and two times we were able to visit Santa's Workshop there and pick out and wrap one toy for Emma each time. There was another Workshop inside the hospital (who knew Santa had so many locations?!) and there we got to pick out one pillowcase, one blanket, and three toys!!

   On Christmas Eve I felt like Emma's room was too boring and did not have enough festive spirit, while some of the other kids' rooms were decorated. There is a baby who is in one of the small beds that Emma was in when she was born before she was in a crib (Michael found that it is called a Giraffe OmniBed) with a heat lamp over it. The lamp had big string lights around it that looked pretty in the dark room and jelly window clings that said "Merry and Bright". Another boy had several big paper 3D stars hung along his window. Emma's nurse, Gracie, brought us a handful of construction paper, paint, scissors, and two wooden blocks in the shape of a Christmas tree and a reindeer. Michael put a Christmas music variety on his phone which I later switched to all Glee versions. He cut out the tree and painted bobbles on it. I cut a smaller tree and painted white snow on the branches. Two weeks prior, one of the night nurses (Bridget, our favorite who recently signed on to be one of Emma's primary nurses) cut out five snowflakes and strung them up on the window with ribbon. We pained the wooden pieces and I set out the cards that we had received in the mail by my friends and family. We were ready for Christmas! That night we set out milk and almond cookies for Santa. Maybe next year Emma can help us, but this year she fell asleep pretty early.

   On Christmas morning we were surprised to find a big bag of goodies at our bedroom door in the Ronald McDonald House. We got things like a blanket, winter hats, an airplane neck pillow, and gift card to Target. Michael was thrilled to find a relaxing coloring book and colored pencils in the bag since he had talked about wanting to get that to keep himself busy during Emma's big surgery. When we got to the hospital, we took pictures of Emma's presents under the "tree". The milk and cookies were gone and Emma was still asleep when we came in her room at 9am. We were surprised that we also got more presents from the hospital. They were big girl presents including a board game, her first Barbie, and a gift card to Meijer (it's like Walmart). Nurse Gracie was working again and helped Michael get Emma's red Christmas dress on for pictures. Aside from that day she has not worn any clothes while we have been in Michigan. She has more tubes and wires here, so it's easier not to bother with it. One of her favorite toys was a plush deer that Michael made tickle and kiss her that morning. She really loved that and we got a bunch of super cute pictures and videos before eating breakfast. She would not stop looking at the deer most of the time even when it wasn't laying next to her in bed. We had to wait for the respiratory therapist to be available before we could move Emma into Michael's lap for pictures while opening presents. Emma seemed tired by then and wasn't smiling anymore, but she stayed awake for 30 minutes until we were done and then fell asleep in his arms.

   The gifts from Santa included the deer, plus several learning toys that she might not be able to use until she is a little older, but we still take her hand so she can feel the shapes of the blocks and see the different colors or press the different parts of the turtle shell so it plays various songs. She got a couple more stuffed animals and clothes from a couple of my friends, as well as a few gifts for ourselves from Michael's relatives. Michael and I did not exchange gifts, since we are just using our money for food and groceries, and sometimes splurging on warmer clothes. Now we just have to figure out the cheapest way to get all of her toys back home to Orlando in February since we all flew up here.

   In the afternoon we went outside in the snow for a few minutes. Michael wanted to go for a walk, but it was way too cold for that. When we got back to Emma's room (where we stay for most of 12 hours every day except to get food or coffee from the cafe, unless it's warm enough to run errands) the nurse made us hot chocolate! I held Emma later in the evening while we watched a movie and she took another nap. I kept wondering what we would have done differently to celebrate Christmas if we had still been in the NICU in Orlando, but I'm so glad that we got the opportunity to celebrate in Ann Arbor this year!

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Edit -later in the year (adding more pictures!)