There's No Place Like Home

Yes friends. After 6 days in the hospital, my Ava Grace was discharged last night. The dr came in at 3:30, and said that Ava was doing well, she was eating and had great bowel sounds, and there was nothing that they could do there that we couldn't do at home. 

She said she needed to get the surgeon to come up to remove the tube in Ava's chest, and I asked her if it was going to happen before 4pm. An amazing lady named Christy was watching my girls, and I told her that I would pick them up at 5. Her husband works with my husband, and I hate the idea of watching my kids was going to interfere with family time when her husband gets home at 5:15. The dr said she'd find out and let us know. 

The surgeon comes in at 3:40 (yay for small favors, at least we weren't waiting around for 7 hours for him like the day before) and pulled out her tube. Ava of course was upset and screaming, I hate those parts. We were told that she needed to stay there an hour to watch for bleeding, so I texted Christy and she said it was fine for the girls to stay. I was extremely thankful, because if they couldn't, then I'd have to drive 40 minutes to go pick them up, and then 40 minutes back to pick up Jake and Ava, and then 40 minutes to go home.

So right at 4:40, after changing the gauze since she was still bleeding a bit, we signed the papers and we able to go home. Ava fell right asleep in the car. We got home, hubby made grilled chicken and green beans (SO sick of eating out), Ava went to bed at 7pm, and I went to bed at 8pm. 

I'll tell you this now that it's all over. There was a part of me that was convinced that somehow this was my fault. Not that I can cause her to have adhesions from her gastroschisis. But when she was trying to throw up, and they said her bowels were obstructed. I was convinced that I did something wrong, and that's why she was in pain. Like I didn't vacuum enough, or she ate too many dust bunnies or a Polly Pocket dress, or something. It wasn't until after surgery, and her surgeon said it was adhesions related to her gastroschisis, that I finally stopped blaming myself. So not only was I dealing with the stress of almost losing my daughter, I was internally beating myself up, thinking it was my fault. Seems silly now, maybe it's a mom thing. You always just want to keep your kids out of harm and pain, and you feel so helpless when you can't. 


Thank you for your prayers, the emails and comments there were far too numerous for me to reply back to all.

We had friends that kept us company in the surgery waiting room, had people come up to stop by for a short visit and bring candy, drinks, cupcakes, gas gift cards, presents for Ava. Girlfriends who watched my older kids so we could focus on Ava. All of those things made a horrible situation just a little bit easier.

Day six and done?

Today is shaping up to be a good day! It's day six, and hopefully we will be able to go home tonight. I don't want to get too excited, but I'm still optimistic. 

Ava had the Torodol pain medicine yesterday, and then switched to Tylenol, and now she's pain med free! Yesterday I felt her tummy rumbling, and then she pooped! Which is an amazing thing for a baby that had an obstruction in her bowels. She pooped two more times yesterday. Nothing huge, since she hasn't eaten since Thursday night, but it still was wonderful to see. She started acting like her normal self. Smiling, clapping, talking, cheesing. It was wonderful to have her back. 

Yesterday was a day that tested my patience though. Ava pooped at 10:30, and the surgeon said to call him when it happened so we could proceed. He didn't call back until 7:30, which seemed like forever. But I kept telling myself that he was probably saving the life of someone else's baby, so not being a emergency was a good thing. But when he did call, he said that they could remove the ng tube and give her pedialyte. She was really excited to see the bottle, but kept pushing it away when she realized that it was water. She's never been a big water drinking so it didn't surprise me.

She had a great night, went to bed at 8:30, slept until 3:20. Then after her vitals check, slept until 7:30. She of course, slept in bed with me. It's funny, when it's my husband's turn to stay here, she'll sleep in her crib. But with mommy? No way. She would even start to scream when I would get up to use the restroom and the nurse was standing there watching her. She said that Ava is really sensitive to where I'm at. It's nice to feel needed though. 

So the dr came and looked at her this morning. Said that since Ava wasn't digging the water, that we could go ahead and try formula, so I called Jake and had him bring some. Ava was super excited to see that bottle, and chugged the whole thing. We have to start slowly though, so it's just 1.5 ounces every 3 hours to make sure she can handle it. Plus she pooped again this morning, the biggest (and smelliest, yuck) one yet, which is awesome. The dr said that if all goes well that we can go home tonight! It's so hard not to get over excited. 

Thank you again for your continued prayers, it's been the longest week in history. 

 

Day 4 in the land that time forgot.

Day four in the land that time forgot. I think that's the most fitting way to describe a hospital. 

This morning was BAD. Probably one of the worst mornings of my life. Ava didn't sleep at all last night. The dr took her off Toradol (a pain med) since it's an aspirin and she needed a blood transfusion yesterday. He put her back on the morphine, but on a continuous drip with a push button for an added boost if needed. The morphine was making her really itchy, she was rubbing her eyes so hard that she was breaking the skin around it. Plus, every time she would rub her eyes, she'd bump the tube in her nose, and a couple of times, almost pull it out. 

She could have benadryl every 6 hours, but it was wearing off in 5 hours, so I would have to deal with trying to hold her hands down for an hour until she could have it again. The dr decided to try another pain med (in the same family as morphine) and Ava had a really bad reaction to it. She was writhing on the bed, clawing at her face, her heart rate was shooting up and her oxygen levels were dropping. I called my husband to see where he was at (we alternate nights that we stay with her) and he was pulling into the parking lot. He pulled right up front, hopped out and let my father in law go park the car. 

The dr decided that Ava had such a bad reaction to it that they didn't want to give her any other meds until it had worn off. At this point, it was 9:15, so she said we had to wait until 11 to give her something else. Plus, with her oxygen levels dropping, they didn't want to give her any more benadryl since it's a sedative. So for almost 2 hours, my husband, father in law and I had to take turns holding down Ava's arms, trying to keep her from moving too much (she did just have abdominal surgery) and listen to her cry out in distress. It was fucking awful. Sorry, that's the only way I can describe it. 

She started to settle down, and the nurse got the okay to put her back on the toradol and benadryl. So Ava had those at 11:15. She still seemed really antsy and wouldn't sleep (even though she had been up since 7pm the night before) so my father in law suggested that maybe Ava was bored. We got some toys for her and she started to play with them. I did have to hold her up in a sitting position, but it was so wonderful to watch her be "normal" again. 

So right now it's just after 2pm, and she finally fell asleep. Jake did have to get the nurse to shut off an alarm (Ava had a lead attached to the wrong place on her chest) and I told the nurse that if anyone came in and woke her up, that I might have to kill them. Not even joking. 

So that's where we are, folks. Thank you for the continued prayers. I apologize that I can't personally write back each and every one of you who has commented and emailed me personally. But know that I appreciate it, so much. 

So, we're still waiting on poop before they can feed her. They're not hearing bowel sounds yet, but the morphine does slow down the bowel (another good reason to take her off it). The hemotologist just came by and said that Ava's blood levels are better, not perfect but on the low end of normal. At this point, I'll take it. 

I get to go home and sleep tonight, hoping hubby and Ava has a good night sleep. The support of our friends has been amazing. Food, gas gift cards, drinks, magazines, toys for Ava. As much as I'm hurting right now, I still have a lot of blessings to count. 

Highs and Lows, kinda

Thank you to all of you who sent us your prayers yesterday. Since you're praying for us, I thought it only fitting to update you.

Ava's surgery went well. The surgeon said she had a lot of adhesions in her intestines that he had to remove. She was fine in the recovery room, woke up a few times, but nothing too bad. But when we got back to her room, Ava was really uncomfortable, kept writhing on the bed, crying, whining, etc. Even at one point, sat up in the bed and flung herself over. All of which is not normal after a surgery. We kept telling the nurses that she needed more pain meds, but they kept saying that she's had what they can give her. The charge nurse came in and tried to tell me that this was normal, and I told her that this isn't Ava's first surgery. It's her SEVENTH. I know what the hell is normal for my daughter and what isn't. They finally called the surgeon, and got the okay for extra pain medicine. 

I understand that nurses don't have the power that doctors do. But I also know my daugher, and I'll walk thru fire for her. Which means that I'm not going to stand there and say okay when she's in pain. Tough shit, lady. You're dealing with a momma bear.

So the up her pain meds, and give her a different kind. My father and law and I left for home at 6pm, after hubby and I took the girls out to a mexican restaurant. He said that we needed to get out and clear our heads and it was really nice to do so.

So now I'm sitting here while Ava sleeps in my lap. I'm pretty sure I should just put on a diaper. The only time I put her down, she got really distressed and it just wasn't worth it.

So since I'm asking for your prayers, let me show you what you're praying for.

Happy girl during the day on Thursday.

Friday morning at 5am, after being up all night. Crazy how fast things change.

Still waiting in the ER to get admitted.

After the IV and ng tube were inserted.

Saturday morning at 5am, before her surgery at 8:30. At this point, I had been awake for 48 hours with only 5 hours of sleep

Waiting to get wheeled down to surgery.

After they gave her the valium to relax. I know she's only smiling because of the drugs, but it's the first smiles we'd seen in days. Drug induced or not, we were over joyed to see them.

Our awesome friends came to see us and brought us an entire convenience store :) Cherry Coke, Dr Pepper, candy, sea salt and vinegar chips, energy drinks. Everything you need to stay up for days on end.

Me and my father in law with Ava, Sunday morning.









So that's the updates. Waiting on a blood transfusion since her white blood cells and platelets are low. No clue how long we'll be here, a week at best? No idea. Thank GOD our wonderful friends are going to be watching the older girls Tuesday-Friday during the day so Jake and I can be up here together. Then we'll alternate nights. We learned with Ava's RSV that there is no sense in both of us being sleep deprived.

So thank you for your continued prayers for Ava. She just had her seventh surgery. Like, 7. And she just turned one last Wednesday. I know some people who haven't had that many surgeries in their entire lives.

So that's my version of highs and lows today. Everything else that I could bitch or brag about just seems so petty at this point.

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.

Kix. Kid tested, Mother approved + GIVEAWAY

School will be starting up in a next couple of weeks. My girls aren't exactly the best at waking up early, so I need something in the mornings that is quick, easy and nutritious. Some mornings we do fruit and oatmeal, other mornings we'll do scrambled eggs and toast. But on those mornings that things aren't just running smoothly, cereal is our trusty standby. But just because it's cereal, doesn't mean I want something that's full of sugar, marshmallows, or other stuff my kids don't need in the mornings.

So when General Mills offered to send me 6 boxes of their Kix cereal, I happily accepted. 

I remember eating Kix when I was a kid. The “Kid Tested Mother-Approved” cereal has no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, or no artificial preservatives and is the same great taste kids have loved for more than 70 years.  

Are you jealous of all my cereal goodness? Want to get your own? General Mills has graciously offered to send the winner 6 boxes of your own! 

Ways to enter...


Required entry: Must be a follower of my blog. Tell me you are, and what your breakfast routine is on a busy school morning. 


Extra entries...


Follow me on FB +1


Share this on twitter/fb/blog and post the link +1


This giveaway ends Friday August 19th at midnight!

"Disclosure: Kix cereal, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark."

Happy 1st Birthday to our princess!

One year ago today, our sweet girl, Ava Grace, was born.

Which began our 66 day stay in the NICU.

Tears, headaches, and six surgeries later...

We finally got to start our lives outside of the NICU.

This sweet girl has been such a blessing.

Always has a smile on her beautiful face.

Always knows how to make us laugh.

LOVES her daddy and always wants to play with him.

But thinks Mommy is the best one to snuggle with.

Thank you Lord for this precious, perfect girl! Happy Birthday, Sugar Bear!

I love you to the moon and back.