Surgery

 March 30th Isabel had surgery on her belly button. She has had an umbilical hernia (which looks like an outie belly button) since she was born, but the Dr.s said that they didn't want to operate when she was a baby, because it usually goes away by the time she is 5 years old. Well, we kept waiting and it never went away. I wasn't concerned since she wasn't in any pain. That is until this past year for the last 3 months she had been complaining about her belly hurting almost every day. I had forgotten about the hernia issue at this time. I mean it has been 6 years since we last discussed it. When she would come to me saying she hurt I just shrugged it off, because she never had a fever, she never threw up, she would run around and play like nothing was wrong. I just assumed she was probably hungry. After this went on for several months I finally decided to take her to the Dr. When he examined her he saw the umbilical hernia. At that time I felt so dumb. I was like "Oh yeah, I forgot about that". He said that there was probably a piece of food or something that was lodged in it and had gotten stuck. Needless to say we got a referral and set her up an appointment to get surgery done.

Isabel was supper excited. Smiling the whole time we were at the hospital. All the nurses and Dr.s kept complimenting her on how happy and good she was. They said they had never seen a little girl so excited to have surgery before.

That is until the nurse came in and put her IV in. She then realized she didn't know what she had gotten herself into. You could see the terror in her eyes, and face. She did not say another word the entire day. I hadn't prepared myself for this. I know that I have gone threw surgeries before, but I always had faith that everything would be fine, so I never worried about it. Isabel on the other hand was lacking that and you could tell she was very scared. Luckily Pop came down the night before to spend the night with us to help us with this whole process since Dad was on a trip. We asked him to give her a blessing that morning before we headed out. I'm so glad we did, because this was a perfect opportunity for me to remind her of that blessing. That her Heavenly Father was there for her and was not going to let anything happen to her. If she still felt scared we could pray again for his comfort. She said she didn't need to pray again. She already knew that H.F. was there. The reminder was good for her and got her thinking. She still didn't speak that day, but I could tell that she was gaining a testimony in the priesthood blessings and the power of prayer. It was an emotionally strengthening experience. This was the first time for me to see my kids go through "real" pain and worrisome. I felt so helpless. But once again I can testify that when you call upon your H.F. he will always be there to calm the storm and help comfort you. I am so happy that I was able to teach my child such an important lesson in life and to be able to see her grow and blossom.

 It wasn't long before Isabel was up and running around. I forgot to take a picture of her belly button right after, but here is a pic from a few days later. She was such a trooper. When we got home she never wanted to take her pain medicine. She is such a tough little cookie.

I do have one cute story to tell. The first day we got home Isabel was sleeping on the couch and when she woke up I told her I wanted to see her belly button. When I lifted her shirt up she had a band aid on there. Which was not there before, because the Dr. just put the glue on and that was it. I asked her why she put a band aid on.
She replied, "I didn't"
Me, "Well, who did?"
Gabriella, "Me...she bleed"
Me, "awh"
Is that not the cutest thing. Her 2 year old little sister was concerned for her so she went up stairs and got a band aid for her while she was sleeping. It melted my heart.