Justin Bieber Called Me!

My sister had asked my mom & I to come up to Abilene to help out after my 4yr niece Aniyah's dental surgery. We were more than happy to lend a hand or two :) I got Devin and the kids set so that I could make the trip up, only thing that was a bummer, her surgery was set the day of Lulu's 17th birthday. I talked to Lulu and made sure that is was going to be 100% okay, and of coarse she was. I don't leave my crew very often, but I was looking forward to spending time with my mom, sister, Jayson & the kids.

The drive up with my mom was so awesome. We talked about anything & everything and before I knew it, we were in Abilene. We had lunch, then headed on over to the Holcombe's House. We were able to go with E.G. (my sister) to pick the kids up from daycare, and they were so excited when they saw us. For dinner, we went over to Chuck E Cheese so that Aniyah could have a fun last supper before her surgery. Her procedure was set for 11:45am the next day, which was gonna be difficult because I just knew trying to keep her from eating & drinking was going to be impossible! After dinner, we went to Wal-Mart. I bought her some Barbie's and nick knacks for her to have to while recovering.

She LOVES that place!

Checking herself out on CEC TV

Aydan didn't know what to think of this Gigantor rat.

How sweet is that smile?

She was relaxed playing Barbie's with me the night before :)

(Notice the Justin Bieber Doll)

Early Tuesday morning, we were hoping that Aniyah would sleep late, that way she wouldn't complain too much about not being able to eat or drink. Prayer #1 of the day was answered when the hospital called my sister to let her know that there had been a cancellation, and we could take her up there @8:45, whew! We scrambled around, got ourselves together and headed that way. - Now at this time, Aniyah still does NOT know what is going on. We had been telling her that she would be having a pic of her heart taken to explain the hospital setting. Not once did we mention the dentist, or having teeth removed. I truly believe if we would have, we wouldn't have been able to get out of the car. Aniyah was very calm, the entire morning, only complaining that she wanted cereal. All three of us had major butterflies. When a 4yr old is going to be put under- it's scary. They finally called her back, and my sister and I sat with her until they wheeled her back. The dentist came back and talked to her, made her smile, laugh, and just really set our minds at ease about the care that she was under.

She's so young, why was she having dental surgery? Sippy cup. Too much of a sippy cup. Her teeth got so bad, and they needed to come out to preserve the permanent ones. We always felt really bad about the way she smiled because she never showed her teeth. This surgery was going to be a fresh new start for her.

Surgery went good, after about an hour the Dr. came out and talked to us. He removed 13 out of 20 teeth. The remaining teeth were capped. That poor baby. We hadn't done enough mental preparation for "after" the surgery. When my sister & I went back to see her, we were thrown back. Her poor face was swollen and she crying, kicking, & freaking out. My sister sat down and tried to hold her, and Aniyah wasn't having none of that. The nurses kept telling us this was normal, but I'm telling you, there is nothing normal about her superhuman strength, the mass amount of blood, and how swollen she was. It took five grown women to hold her down so they could take the IV out, and to check her BP, which by the way was not successful. It was awful. She couldn't figure out why her mouth felt so weird. All three of us were crying, and I tried hard to keep it together for my sister's sake.

I can't imagine being anywhere but with my sister, mom & Aniyah that day.

She broke my heart.

As a mother of four, I've seen heard, smelled, felt many things, but nothing like this. It was hard. When we got her home, we tried to make her comfortable as possible. She slept on and off, but each time she woke up, she just cried. At one point she was telling us that she just wanted her "ugly" teeth back so that she could feel better and eat again. We tried explaining to her that those teeth were making her sick & her new ones were going to be beautiful, but she didn't want to hear that. She was convinced that people were going to make fun of her because she didn't have teeth & she wasn't going to be able to ever eat again. That made us cry too. Towards the end of the day, I was making her crack a smile and coloring with me.

She was cuddling me :)

She colors really good!

Wedensday, she woke up without crying. The swelling had gone down a bit. My sister had to go back to work, so mom & I stayed on her pain meds schedule, but getting her to eat or drink was nearly impossible- and that worried me. Devin came up with a plan to pretend like he was Justin Beiber and call Aniyah to give her some encouragement and some advice on how to feel better, and especially to eat & drink! I changed the picture that appears when he calls to one of JB, and when she saw it, she lit up like a Christmas Tree!! As Devin/Justin was talking to her, she was giggling, laughing, acting like a giddy fan that she is. After the phone call, her mood completely shifted. She told everyone that walked through the door, or called on the phone that "Justin Bieber called me, and said I was pretty and sang to me!!!!!" It was the sweetest most awesome thing EVER!!!! Afterwards, she was nibbling on mac-n-cheese, drank a couple of PediaSure's, talking more, singing, laughing, getting back to her old self. That call was a blessing. She even dressed up for him and posed for a photo to send back to him.

What a difference a day makes. I mean look at this pic above!

So thankful she made this big turn and has begun to eat & drink. I was worried. Thank you Lord so much for being with us, and comforting her and making her recovery smooth.... and thank you so much Uncle Devin/Justin Beiber!!!