Prayers, good thoughts and virtual hugs requested

This is my first blog post on my iPhone, so let's see how it goes.

You know how I've been working on my daughters birthday party, right? I've bought all of the food, made the decorations, made her a dress, everything needed for a super awesome first birthday party. But instead of her being the guest of honor at her party, instead she's going to be having surgery.

I won't write all of the history, nor am I coherent enough to try and figure out how to make a link, but you can look up the post titled "Ava's Story". Quick cliff notes, she was born with gastroschisis, where the abdominal wall doesn't close in utero and babies are born with their intestines on the outside. Ava had a significant amount out, so it took 4 surgeries to close her up.

We knew that gastroschisis isn't a one time thing. There is always complications for future issues. But I guess hubby and I were hopeful that it wouldn't have any further complications.

On Thursday night, hubby went to the airport to pick up his dad. Ava wouldn't go to bed, just kept fussing. I tried to rock her, sing to her, etc. None of the tricks were working. They got back at 10:30 and when hubby picked her up, ava started retching. No, she can't vomit because of a surgery she had to fix a hiatal hernia, so she just does a really violent looking dry heave. Hubby said he would stay up with her so I went to bed. I woke up at 3am and he wasn't in bed yet, so I got up. ava was still retching, but every few minutes or so. I called our dr; and he said to bring her to a hospital in Dallas and he would call ahead for us.

We checked into the ER and they start IV fluids and do xrays. xrays showed a large mass in her stomach. So they put a NG tube in her nose down to her stomach, which pulls out any fluids or gas. As soon as they got it in, 75 ccs immediately came up the tube Into the canister. A total of 150 came up before we left the ER.

The dr on staff called the original surgeon who did the surgeries to get his opinion and we were admitted. They did a barium test, and it shows that she has a large obstruction in her intestines (a complication from her gastroschisis). They did a total of 5 xrays to see if it would pass and while it did move a little bit, it's still stuck.

So Ava will be going into surgery this morning at 8:30. No clue on surgery length since it depends on what they find in there. No clue on recovery time, could be days to weeks. Again, depends on what they find.

I have peace in knowing that it's the same surgeon she's always had, who is one of the best in the area. I have comfort in knowing that so many people are praying for us. I hope you will say a prayer too. If you don't pray? Then send us good thoughts and a virtual hug.

It's funny. I was so stressed with making her party perfect. It's funny how life reminds you what your priorities are.