Sheena...

I am not crying

right now.

I feel calm

for now.

Sheena is lying here beside me

breathing evenly

sleeping peacefully.

I feel calm

as I rest my hand in her soft fur

repeatedly

to feel the rise and fall of each breath.

It gives me peace

and

hope.

A few "before Rachel" photos...

Sheena & Mommy on the ferry in WA.

2006

 Sheena & Daddy at a 4th of July picnic.

2006

 Sheena & Mommy.

2006

 At the Pumpkin Patch.

October 2007

 Christmas  2007

 "Bearded" Snow Dog!

February 2008

 Our girl LOVES the snow!

February 2008

The weekend has been okay. Stressful, but okay. We are cherishing every moment, petrified of the unknown. We were able to bring Sheena home from Urgent Care on Saturday morning. We could not wait to see her and embrace her in our hugs and shower her with our kisses. It is hard not to cry every time we look into her beautiful, trusting eyes. We promise to take the absolute best care while begging her to be strong  and get better! They still do not know what is wrong but something is very wrong or so it seems. They got her temp down, got her to eat, monitored her through the night Friday night and let us bring her home to continue. We have been giving her antibiotics, encouraging her to eat, taking her temp, and just keeping her as close as we can to our sides. We have been letting her rest. Hopefully there is healing going on inside her little body. The goal is to keep her stable for an ultrasound on Monday morning. We are praying for good news.  The doctor told us horribly scary things on Friday afternoon. He mentioned words I never imagined when I called on Friday with my concerns. They are treating her for a UTI with two antibiotics. They took blood during the night Friday and saw that her red blood cell count was increasing. This was encouraging in the hopes that she is no longer bleeding internally. The xrays were unclear. This is a major concern. Something is wrong. We just are not sure of how serious it is yet. Please pray it is something she can recover from. We have a couple of other concerns as well. It is too emotional for me to go into too much detail. The important thing is she is stable, fever gone, eating, drinking water, urinating, and taking her meds. I am looking forward to getting some answers from the ultrasound, but so petrified of the results that I cannot breathe at times.

The first morning with the new baby!

March 2008

 Our most faithful babysitter.

 Just staying close...

June 2008

 The Girls!

 Ready to go bye-byes!

 Best Buds!

September 2008

 Hey, look who's here!

September 2008

 Watching Mommy!

 Out for a stroll...

 Playing...

 Go Buckeyes!

January 2009

We pray for another uneventful, stable night tonight. She slept right by my side last night, but she moved away at some point. I think she got tired of being stared at and constantly petted with my hand resting on her side to feel her breathing all night long. Poor pup needs some space. It is just hard for us to let her out of our sight. Please, please let this be something we can "fix"...something she can fully recover from. Please let us have been so observant of our sweet pup that we caught whatever it is early enough to help. Dear God, please, please let her be okay.

A truly heartfelt thank you to our family and friends for the phone messages, texts, emails, messages on FB, messages on the BB, and all the prayers and good wishes being sent Sheena's way. It warms our hearts. We love her so much, and we know many others do too. I will try to update when I know more...