Our miracle

What seemed to be a calm, relaxing Sunday evening quickly turned into the worst night of my life.  Andruses were over, the kids were all upstairs playing while the adults were hanging out in the living room watching basketball.  Josh Andrus came calmly walking out of the playroom and looked down into the living room and said, "I think Scout fell out the window."  My first thought, Scout didn't fall out the window.  "What window?", we asked.  "The one in the toy room."  He wasn't freaking out, which led me to believe she didn't actually fall out the window.  Trent knew the toy room window had been opened earlier because that room gets super hot, so he knew exactly what happened and was the only one panicking.  Problem is, because of recent knee surgery he was unable to run.  I saw complete panic in his eyes as he turned to me and said, "GO!".  I ran as fast as I could outside, still half way believing she didn't actually fall out a 2nd story window.  As soon as I saw her little body laying there on the concrete, face covered in blood, not screaming but quietly moaning, with fear in her eyes I went into mommy mode.  Thank heavens she was conscious because I believe that was 1 reason I was able to stay calm.  I also knew if there was anyone who could survive a fall from 18 feet onto concrete, it was my tough Scout.  Dave ran out and got to her just after I did.  As he went to pick her up, I told him I didn't think we should move her and we needed to calm an ambulance.  In a complete panic, he scooped her up and started toward his truck.  I ran inside and grabbed my shoes, my wallet and my phone.  I stopped briefly to talk to Trent and try to reassure him she was awake and going to be OK, because he wasn't able to make it out to where she was because of his knee, and by the look on his face he did not believe she was OK.  As we drove to the hospital I tried my best to stay calm.  I knew Scout had to be completely terrified and I knew if I looked scared or worried it would only make it worse for her.  I talked to her and just told her to keep looking at my face and that we were going to go see a dr to make sure she was ok.  Luckily the AF hospital is close and only took about 5 minutes to get there.  By the time we got to the hospital Scout was a little more coherent, and after I told her we were going to see a Dr. she asked, "am I going to have to get a shot?!"  Poor thing just didn't want to get a shot.  We got into the ER right away and they started checking her out.  We took her back for a CT scan.  Luckily I got to stand right next to her the whole time because her poor little face looked completely terrified.  Next we went in for x-rays.  In the meantime, after Dave dropped us off, he went back home to get Trent.  Thank goodness Dave and Elyssa were there to help.  Elyssa took the other kids home with her, but Maxon really wanted to come see his sister, so he came over to the hospital with dad.  At this point Trent really had no idea what to expect because he hadn't really seen Scout.  He was pleasantly surprised to find us in the x-ray room when he got there, Scout standing up and completely conscious and coherent.  CT scan and x-ray determined she had a level 3 laceration in her spleen, fracture left wrist, fractured left hip, skull fracture and fractured orbital bone.  Because of the spleen injury they determined she needed to be life flighted to Primary Children's Hospital.  While waiting for the helicopter to get there, they finally gave her some morphine for the pain, and had to stick a tube down her nose into her stomach to drain the blood.  Trent was also able to give her a Priesthood blessing.  The ironic thing is that Trent had taught the Priest quorum class at church just a few hours before on the power of Priesthood blessings.  I am forever grateful for an amazing husband who holds the priesthood and was able to give her that blessing.

The helicopter arrived shortly after that and luckily they allowed me to ride with her.  Probably the most expensive 9 minutes of my life :).  Once we got to Primary's, they did more X-rays.  Trent met us there eventually.  The Dr.'s and nurses were all great and made us feel pretty reassured that she was going to be OK.  I thought since they were sending us to Primary's she was surely going to have some kind of operation.  They said the spleen was a level 3 tear, and that they would monitor her red blood cell count for a few days but it should just heal itself.  And they said all the fractures were aligned perfectly to just heal without any kind of surgery.  A complete miracle.  They said her neck and spine all looked fine, but that should would have to wear the neck brace as a precaution for a couple days.  After a couple hours in the ER, we were finally moved to a regular room, which would be our home for the next few days.  Only 1 parent was allowed to sleep in the room, so Trent headed home.  I think I slept a total of maybe an hour that entire night.  Partly because of nurses coming and going, partly because of monitors beeping and going off all night, but mostly because of anxiety and worry.  I just wanted to sit and watch my sweet girl and make sure she was OK.  For the first couple days there, Scout was on Morphine pretty much every 4 hours.  Most of her pain was in her stomach from the spleen.  In fact, the only other pain she ever complained about to this day was a headache.  A few broken bones can't keep this girl down.  I'm telling you, toughest girl I know!  

The day after the accident was not an easy one.  She was pretty miserable, and that neck brace was not helping.  She slept a lot of the day, so that was good.  My mom and Stacy drove up from Blanding to help with the kids that afternoon and I honestly don't know how I would have made it through the week without them.  Love you both!  Monday night rolled around and sleep didn't come much easier for me that night.  I felt like I wasn't in panic mode anymore and would be able to sleep, but I was wrong.  The main problem was beeping machines.  Her IV was high on her arm, in the elbow pit (that's a thing right?), and every time she bent her arm it would block the IV, and the machine would beep.  This happened at least every 10 minutes, which meant I got to get up and straighten her arm to stop the beeping.  Everytime I thought I was too tired, I had to remind myself that my Scout was much more miserable than me and I needed to suck it up.  If she could survive that fall, I could survive a couple days on no sleep.  Tuesday morning we got some good news.  A Dr. came in and took off the neck brace and had her do a few things to see if there was any pain, and since she was able to, she graduated from the neck brace.  Hurray!  It made such a difference.  She was so much more comfortable.

Her brothers came to visit every day and she got a little cuddle time with Denver.  Daddy also came up every day.  She had lots of visitors.  On Tuesday afternoon she was feeling pretty good and got to make a trip up to the play room in her wheelchair.

I remember sitting watching her paint this picture.  My heart was completely full of gratitude.  And to catch this little smile, completely melted my heart.  I felt so much love for this girl I thought my heart would explode.  After wearing herself out in the playroom we headed back to the room.  That night I decided to sleep next to her in the bed.  Hoping that would solve the IV/bent arm problem, which it did.  Before going to sleep, here are some thoughts I posted on Facebook that night, "The shock is wearing off and reality is finally setting in. I think the past 24 hours have been the hardest and yet the most rewarding of my life. I've spent most of my time trying to be strong for my Scout, but in the quiet moments when she is comfortably sleeping I've had the chance to reflect on life and realize more than ever what truly is most important in life. And that is my family and my relationship with my Savior. I have had the chance to talk to Scout about how much her Heavenly Father loves her and still needs her on this earth because she is such a special girl who is going to do amazing things in her life. And about how much she is loved. We have been overwhelmed at the love we have felt from family, friends and neighbors and I can't thank you enough for your love and prayers on our behalf. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Hold your littles a little tighter tonight and tell them how much you love them." 

Every day she felt a little better than the last.  She was slowly able to keep liquids down, and eventually solids.

We woke up Thursday morning hoping that would be the day we got to go home.  She was feeling pretty good and seemed to be able to do all the things they said she would have to to go home.  She took a bath and was feeling great.  I remember laying in her bed with her watching Frozen (for the bazilionth time) and just watching her sing along to Let it Go.  It made my heart so happy.  For that moment I totally forgot how sick of that song I was.  The Dr. finally came in and said she was good to go!  The Dr.'s and nurses really were all so great there, but we were dang happy to be going home.

We arrived home that night to a huge welcoming party of friends and neighbors, complete with balloons and all.  All the neighbors had even gathered a few nights before to make and sign a huge banner that was hung on the banister inside.  She was definitely feeling the love.

So happy to have my silly girl back.

She got a hard cast on a week after we got home, and Maxon was the first to sign it.  She had the cast on for 4 weeks and just got it off 1 week ago.

Sometimes when your little girl falls out of a 2 story window and survives, you can't tell her no.

When leaving the hospital I completely prepared myself for a long recovery.  I was wrong.  The day after we got home, we had been invited to a pool party, which I wasn't planning on going to anymore, but Scout really wanted to.  Just 3 days after getting home she insisted on going to church because it was Father's Day and she really wanted to sing to her daddy in sacrament meeting with the Primary.  By Monday or Tuesday of the next week, just 1 week after the fall, she was completely off pain meds.  The dr didn't want her putting any weight on her broken hip for a week, so she was confined to a wheelchair, but as soon as she got the OK, she walked around like her hip wasn't broken at all.  It's been amazing to see how fast her little body healed.  I still have small panic attacks when I think back to that night and the moment I first found her out there, but other than that, I've mostly recovered too :)  We really are blessed with the most amazing friends and family and I've never in my life felt so much love.  I've also never felt the power of prayer like I did that week.  It was unreal.  I'm beyond grateful for my beautiful little tough girl and love her more than ever.