Well, the doctor said to leave her steri strips on for another five days (unless they fall off by themselves, which a few already have). It made this momma and daddy cringe a little, knowing we'll have to take themselves off by ourselves.  Fortunately he gave us some tips for removal.  The exciting news?! Mia Kai looks great and we got the okay for going back out into public and for travel! We love our sweet Mia Kai and we praise God for His healing, strength and guidance through all of this!

Wahoo!! The doctors came by and confirmed that today is Discharge Day!!!

We are rejoicing this morning!!! Mia Kai's swelling has decreased dramatically and she even tried to smile at JD! She started wiggling when she tried to smile because she got so excited but then started crying because she realized she is still in pain. Sweet girl! She's trying so hard! She had a pretty great night. The nurses had to draw her bloodwork which she got pretty upset about but who wouldn't?? We cannot contain our excitement as we see our little one progress with healing so quickly! It's been a long three days but it also feels like it's flown by because of how quickly she's healing when we look at the long scheme of things. We praise God for healing our Little Pineapple so swiftly! She still has a ways to go with the swelling (particularly in the back of her head and the rest of her body) but she's doing so great! 

MK had a fairly decent night. They had to draw blood from her arm because, once again, none of her IV lines would draw enough. It was awful. Besides that, she slept well. Her pain level still seems intolerable but the nurses are giving her a steady stream of meds and that's helping tremendously. Her temp is normal, heart beat is steady and her blood work came back okay. Her hematocrit level dropped again - not low enough to get another transfusion yet but it's at 24... If it drops any lower, they'll most likely need to give her more blood. Her sodium is a little low but nothing to be concerned about yet. Today we're celebrating the drain removal and her little left eye peeking out every so often, just to let us know she see us!!

Last night was pretty awful. She's been in so much pain. Nurses have been taking exceptional care of her and she's been on a steady rotation of pain medicine. Her fever and heart rate got up pretty high. She is so over the nurses checking her all of the time. Haha! She ate well throughout the night but she's not eating great today. They started fluids again to help with hydration. They took her head dressing off this morning and have been able to take off two of her no-no's (little cast-like things to keep her from pulling on the lines). Her head is so round and bulbous now. We're astounded that we can already tell a difference in shape.

Surgery Day. We went in around 5:00 that morning, signed her in and waited. We were taken to the holding room around 7:00 am and the nurses and doctors came by to say good morning. They took her basic med info (blood pressure, temp, etc) then left us alone to love on Mia Kai before the nurses took her back to surgery. I cried a little but I think I got it all out the night before. It seems to be that this is the part that most parents have the toughest time with though. It's funny because we never thought her head was that misshapen until we saw how tall her head looks in the photos below.