Back to School

Kinley has been back to school for 2 weeks now.  It amazes me how well she is doing.  She gets tired earlier at night, and is bear to wake up in the morning.  But, she is doing so good sticking out all day at school.  On the first day back to school, her sweet teacher had planned a surprise welcome back party with balloons all over the classroom and cupcakes.  It was so sweet to hear Kinley talk about how special that was.  Kinley is not able to participate in PE or recess.  So during those times she has to stay in and play on the ipads or color.  I think this down time is helping her survive the long days.  She is also able to have a friend stay in with her, so that has helped her not feel too left out.  Her school has been so amazing working with us in accommodating her needs. 
I am so thankful to be past the surgery and the hospital stay.  Handing over your baby for a huge surgery is so incredibly hard and stressful.  It is hard to push out the "what if" thoughts.  When Kinley was throwing up after surgery I had a moment of complete freaking out in my mind.  Her face was so swollen from the surgery and her eyes would not focus on anything.  I got panicky thinking what if the surgery had gone bad and they had snipped the wrong things.  What if my baby never walked again or what if she forgets who her family is?  The panic was real!  Thankfully after some medications had worn off, I could see sweet, feisty Kinley in there.  That first and second night, she would be crying out in pain saying "I told you I didn't want to have this stupid surgery".  That's when I knew she was going to be able to get through it all.  Nothing can stop that stubborn kid!
We have been blessed by so many people sending gifts to Kinley (including people we have never met!), praying for us, and sending good vibes our way.  Kinley is slowly working on thank you cards, and will hopefully have those out in the not too far future.
Not too long after Kinley was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, I ended up coming down with impressive headaches and neck weakness.  I have since come down with quite a few symptoms of Chiari and continue to have neck pain and headaches daily.  Because Chiari can run in families, I am going to go ahead and get an MRI to rule it out.  My doctor is pretty sure it is just a tension headache that wont go away since we have been under so much stress.  Hopefully he is right and these headaches just go away on their own.  This mama just wants to focus of getting her baby healthy!