Emotional Wrecks

So as I sit here tonight looking at my little diva, I feel that I am so blessed to make the decisions that I made. I could have easily listened to the maternal-fetal specialist but we didn't. Over the past three weeks, I have met so many awesome families at CHOP. You feel that they are family to you. The miraculous things I have encountered will stick with me for life. You realize how fast children can bounce back from huge ordeals that adults barely make a full recovery from. Have you ever looked at your children and wondered how long they will be with you? Most of these wonderful parents do but they try to block the memory that their kids have HLHS and spend everyday with them like it was their last. I give these families so much gratitude for the stories I have heard. These kids have had more trips to the hospital and more surgeries than anyone can have in a lifetime in their first few years of life. Tonight I think of my new family....Jake, Zoe, Curtis, Lucy, Abby, Jayden, Aryana, Jilly, and Sebastian and pray for their recovery that it is a short and uneventful one. I also want to say a prayer for a dear heart friend Laura Carpenter who was always worried about all of the babies. Her and her husband are such nice people, even though I did not have the pleasure of meeting them in person. They lost their sweet baby Gwen at just 8 weeks after open heart surgery. Tonight I saw that she had posted that it was not her heart that she had contracted an infection and became very sick very quickly. Please pray for her family, that they find peace in this situation. As I pack my belongings and realize that I will be back home in New Orleans I have so many feelings going through my head. Scared for so many reasons. I am leaving my comfort zone. I almost feel like I have known my new family forever. This entire process has put a special place in my heart. I want to be an advocate for these kids. They need help and guidance and a voice for the ones that cannot speak. I have found a new family in so many people at CHOP as well. Dr. Spray aka the man with the magic hands ...a million thank yous..words cannot express how much you mean to us. Joey McCool in PR...thank you for advocating for MIa and our family. Thank you for all you have done for us with the media coverage. Dr. Rychick...thanks for seeing something in our precious angel that you wanted to share with everyone. All of the nurses in the CICU that were so compassionate and treated our little lady bug as if she were your own...thank you. I know I am forgetting something and someone and I am sorry if I do I have been experiencing memory loss from the twins. I want to thank all of the family members that supported us through this, cried with us and took out their personal time to be here with us. For all this, we thank you. We will be home on Monday night in our new HOUSE! I cannot wait for family time. We are not going to be able to have visitors for awhile due to the risk of contamination. We will let everyone know when we are able to start having visitors. I feel badly for that because so many of you have done so very much for her and we cannot wait for you to meet her. In just the 3 weeks she has been here she has taught us so very much about life and how fortunate we are in life and as a family. She is a fighter. So for a change this is the start of our new life. Please continu to pray for her recovery at home. Before we know it her glenn will be here. Thanks for all of your support...Love The Marrone family.