Lauren ROCKS this world

I'm her mama, so I can say that. AND it's true! She did brilliantly, wonderfully, stupendously on Thursday, the day of the laser treatment at ACH.

I mean, I think 3 tears were shed over the whole thing:
1. She wanted to play with the toy car in the playroom and I told her she needed to share with the other kids.
2. Goofy juice induced - not realizing she had been handed off to the nurse to go back to the O.R. and she sees Mama leaving.
3. Finally waking up in recovery and seriously wanting the IV out of her hand.

It was one of the easiest experiences we've had. I was so relieved, because I was there with her by myself the whole time and not once did I have a meltdown. Oh, I really wanted to in the waiting room when I was waiting on the procedure to be over and then waiting to get called back to the recovery area. But I managed to hold it together.

Here's a rundown of the day:
8:30 am - Lauren wakes up and I immediately start pushing her to drink all 8 oz of clear juice. She isn't allowed to eat past 9:30 am (3 hours before SCHEDULED procedure)
9:15 am - Lauren has only had 4 oz. I'm begging with her... pleading! "No, Mama. I don't want it."
9:30 am - We leave for ACH. I beg one more time for a drink of juice. My efforts go unrewarded. I'm guessing she is still full from a large serving of spaghetti, 8 oz of milk, strawberries, a whole banana, and half a cookie that she ate before going to bed at 9:00 pm the night before.
10:15 am - We arrive at ACH and get signed in. The waiting... it has begun. Very quickly they call us back to sign the necessary paperwork in the business office. Then back out to the waiting room.
10:30 am - We get called back to the "back." What? I was a little confused, because normally it's not that fast, but we went with it.
In the "back", they weigh her (24 lbs) and measure her height. Then we get sent to the playroom until a hospital room opens up.
Playing begins... as much as you can in a hospital playroom that is very crowded. Lauren loved the baby rocking chair.
11:30 am - We are finally called out for our hospital room. It's the same room we had last time and I'm so glad because it has a window that looks down into the lobby and you can see the water fountain outside. Lauren loved looking out the window last time and naming all the things she could see.
11:30 to 1:30 - Various doctors, nurses, and staff come by with their myriad of questions. I'm asking everyone I see if we'll get to see Dr. B in person before the procedure this time. No one knows... I try to remain calm.
1:30ish pm - Dr. B knocks on the door and comes in! YEA! Answer to prayer! I have been wanting to see her in person and visit about Lauren's progress (or lack), ask her about this new laser, and what we do after this. She took her time, was not rushed, and answered all my questions.
1:45 pm - Goofy juice is administered. Lauren immediately gets loopy and starts staring at her hand and says something unintelligible. Then she falls asleep and goes limp like a little ragdoll.
These are the moments where holding it together seems futile. She would never have known if I'd lost it.
2:00 pm - They arrive to take Lauren to the O.R. I carried my sweet sleeping baby as far as they would let me. I then handed her over to the nurse. Then I walked out back into the waiting room. That is the hardest part of all. I think I shake the entire time she's back there. My legs bounce... I wring my hands. I know she's in the best hands, but that doesn't stop a mother's worry.
2:25 pm - Dr. B comes out and lets me know that everything went well! She says she had the machine turned up to almost as high as it would go - (a little background here - Lauren has been using the Pulse Dye Laser for the past 5 treatments with little improvement and the PDL has been turned up to the highest power. This is why we were using the Alexandrite laser on this day so we could see if it worked better for Lauren's stain.) the machine maxes out at 100 and Dr. B had is set on 90.
3:00 ish pm - They let me go back to recovery and I'm shocked to find that Lauren is still sleeping and not crying and hollering like normal. It was the IV. She normally doesn't get one, but this time she did. After she finally wakes up (we had to wake her up by peeling the stickies off her chest, OUCH) she is dazed and still quite calm. Until she tried to drink the juice and realized one hand had the IV and a board from her wrist to her elbow was preventing her left hand from cooperating.
She didn't like that too much.
I think we finally got out of there just before 4:00 pm. Just as I was backing out of the parking spot Lauren's juice decided it wasn't going to sit well with her and it evacuated. Poor thing. The rest of the juice decided to evacuate just as I was getting onto the interstate. Then she passed out and sleep the rest of the way home.

When we got home she started asking for crackers. I gave her a few and some Gatorade and all was well. She even ate some macaroni and cheese for supper and then slept for about 12 hours.

I'm so proud of our brave girl! She is an amazing creature and I'm SO GLAD she's ours!