Our journey to our daughter: 2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Great News!!!!

Playing dolls with cousin Emerie during an afternoon visit

First bite of solid food, can you see the excitement on her face?

Some much neede snuggle time, just what the Dr. ordered!

Food overload!!!

One of the world's best nurses, Tracey!!!

Our angel Lou paid us one final visit of the day with the best news yet...We're going home in the morning!!!! Little Ava has recovered the fastest of any of Dr. Firlit's other patients that have ever had this procedure done!!!! She also almost broke the record for his youngest patient to have it done also, but one other was a tad bit younger than her. We have been so VERY impressed by everyone we have encountered in this facility, not one single negative incident. Ava's urologist has also been an absolute Godsend. He is one of the leading specialists in this procedure and once again, he was just laid in our laps. His love for children is so evident the first second you meet him.
We also were thrilled to learn that lil Miss could at last have her first real meal since last Sunday evening. On the menu, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, ice cream sandwich, goldfish crackers, and lobster ravioli!!!! Whew, nothing like making up for lost time. I've been waiting for this huge feast to backfire, but so far, so good. Chris went home to be with the boys tonight and my mama is up here with me for the night. After the 3 boys are off to school in the morning, Chris will race back up here and we will get the crash course in ACE flushes. Our plan is to pack up and head home just in time for one of us to attend the school band concert tomorrow evening. Whew, back to our craaaazy life (wouldn't have it any other way)
The one comment I keep hearing this week is, "I can't believe how good she's doing!" But, I can!

Post surgery day 1

Finally in our room

Morhine is good!

Post-op day 1 and feelin' good!

This playroom is awesome!

We had to bribe her to leave.

Praise the Lord, Ava made it through surgery and recovery beautifully. I had anticipated a much more difficult process but so far it has been pretty smooth sailing.Yesterday evening, her nurse asked her if she was a Princess and she quickly replied, "Um, no. Cuz Princesses can't be naked!"
She had a very restful sleep through the night but the diet of ice chips only started getting old really quickly especially since it had been over 48 hours since she had eaten any solid food. Mommy and Daddy were both able to sleep in the room since they have all private rooms here at Cardinal Glennon. When she woke up (at 5am) she started asking for "cooked" food, Ha!
We assumed the docs would making rounds pretty early so we held off running down for a quick breakfast. When 9am rolled around, we decided to go ahead and order room service so as not to miss them. Well, needless to say, I scarfed my breakfast sandwich down while sitting on the edge of the bathtub (so Ava couldn't see us eating "cooked" food). Of course, the doc made his rounds right at that moment, ugh! He was VERY impressed with her progress and even began talking about paroling us in the morning!!! We were absolutely giddy at this news but it was short lived. Her nurse clinician (and heaven sent angel) Lou, said we would need an extra day so we could master the flushing process. We were a little bummed about it at first, but it's only 1 more day, right? Lou changed her dressing and showed us her incision...wow, it's soooo teeny tiny!!!
They have almost removed all tubes and wires and have given her a couple of lovely clear liquid meals which she has tolerated perfectly. We even took a stroll to the playroom and of course she wanted to stay forever. Now we just have to keep increasing her diet and have a successful colon flush and we are outta here!!! The staff here have all been absolutely incredible to both us and our little Princess but we really can't wait to get home to our boys!! Keep the prayers coming because I'm sure loving watching them work!!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Surgery Day

Here's a quick update...we made it into St. Louis yesterday evening and were thrilled to be upgraded to a large suite almost directly beneath the Arch. Ava tolerated the clear liquid diet all day yesterday much better than I had anticipated. We made it to the hospital around 9 this morning and she was taken back to the OR just a little after noon. We got our first update a few minutes ago and they have started the surgery. Now we just wait. More info soon.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Surgery week

Well, I'm hoping to keep it pretty active here this week. I'm planning on keeping everyone updated on our progress over the next few days....key word, "planning".

In case you haven't heard, we are driving up to St. Louis this evening and Ava will be undergoing her 2nd surgery since being home. She is scheduled for the MACE procedure tomorrow morning at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. Most people have never heard of this, including her pediatrician, but this procedure will basically allow her to have a regular bowel routine and eliminate the need for diapers!!!! It is usually done at an older age, but her docs have continually assured me that she is more than ready. They began discussing this with us in February and I have been researching and asking for an alternative to surgery but they insist that this is her best option. After a lot of consideration and even more prayer, we have decided to move forward. So, at 11am tomorrow morning, Ava will be having, hopefully, her last surgery. We will be in the hospital for 3-5 days, yuck-o , and it couldn't have happened on a busier week. We have 2 track meets, an academic banquet, Spring band concert, and a mother's day kindergarten celebration, whew! We are gonna be burning a hole in the road back and forth to and from St. Louis this week!

I did have the most wonderful Mother's Day yesterday though. It started with a beautiful baby dedication ceremony at our church, then lunch out with Mom and an afternoon with my Mom-in-law. A nice, relaxing time with family...nothing better.

Our lives are still consumed with swim right now and it's about to get even crazier cuz we just signed up Jackson and Hudson along with Morgan! They are loving it so far. In March, we traveled to Mizzou for the district swim meet and Morgan was thrilled to swim where Michael Phelps had broken several records. It was an awesome weekend and his relay team advanced to State finals.

Ava had her first dentist visit last month and she did wonderfully. Unfortunately, Dr. Wayne found 4 cavities. Over 2 more visits, we have all cavities filled and a star patient!

Well, Ava and I are off to enjoy a nice bowl of jell-o. Please say a prayer for our precious baby girl and for the rest of the family. It's gonna be a little rough this week but we are resting in the fact that we are in the Great Physician's mighty hands!!!

Baby Dedication day at church

Picking Mommy some beautiful

flowers for Mother's Day

Ava's Dedication Day!

Swimming at Mizzou

Nervously waiting his turn

Morgan and Coach Laura

Giving his all!

Hudson at his Kindergarten Easter Party

First Cleaning...not too fun!

Easter Morning goodies

Anxiously awaiting to see the Easter

Bunny's suprises!

Ava's favorite Prom Princess

Friday, January 21, 2011

Busy, Busy, Busy

Time for my semi-annual update, he he. Actually, I feel pretty fortunate to have the time to sit down and update at all! Our schedules are fanatically insane with no end in sight, sigh. Our weekends are usually booked solid with swim meets. (Morgan joined the local swim team last fall and the other 2 boys will join in a couple of months) Our weeknights consist of driving him (or sometimes letting him drive us) to his 2 hour practices every evening at our local junior college. I’ve also reluctantly agreed to help my big sis with her junior high cheer squad again, although I definitely am not putting in nearly as much time into as she is or as I have in previous years. I love helping, though, but just wish I had more time to give them. The squad has once again qualified to compete next month at state this year!!!
Since my last post, we’ve had some exciting events occur in our household. While we were in China, we learned that Ava’s foster program was started and sponsored by Holt International. We were told that without their sponsorship, all the orphans would’ve spent the first part of their lives in the small orphanage. A woman in our travel group encouraged me to contact Holt once we returned home to see if they had any early info on Ava. Well, I let time get away from me once again, and kept putting it on the backburner. We also were told by Ava’s docs that the foster program probably saved her life. She was most likely in a much cleaner and attentive environment where they would’ve noticed signs of infections much more quickly. Around last September, I decided to sit down and write to Holt to see if Ava, by chance, had any US sponsors. We soon received a letter back saying that she indeed had several US sponsors, but their policy did not allow them to release any information to us. They said we could write a thank-you letter to the families with our contact info and they would forward it on to them.
I guess it was a few days later when we got our first response. We were sitting at home and Chris was doing a routine check on our emails. We had one from a sponsor family!!! With tears in our eyes and shaking hands we read and re-read their message……they were not only from Illinois as well, but about 20 miles from us!!!!! What???? We couldn’t believe it…..we began calling everyone we knew and telling them. We also immediately made contact with the family and began to prepare a time for our first meeting. This family had attended a “Newsong” concert in Marion, IL in Dec. of 2008 where the band told the crowd of their mission with Holt to find sponsors for orphans all around the world. The Perry’s had heard of the sponsorships at other events, but had never felt led to pursue it. As they passed sponsorships packets through the audience asking for sponsors, the Perry’s saw Ava’s face and knew that that night was different. God was urging them to listen and they did! Cathy took the packet to her girl’s mission group she led at her church and together they raised money to send to Ava until they learned a few months later that she had a new family. They heard nothing else until they received our letter.
We were able to finally meet in November and were also able to meet with the mission group at their church. It was an immediate connection….almost like we had known one another forever!!!! It was just another affirmation of God’s hand in every aspect of this journey. He continues to show Himself over and over!!!
We forwarded our story to the band that started it all, “Newsong” and we were asked to share our story at their upcoming concert. So, in early December, we had the privilege of sharing the stage with the band and our new friends, the Perry’s as we told the crowd the story of how the Perry’s took a step out on faith that led to an outpouring of God’s blessing!! About 100 orphans were sponsored in the two nights we spoke!!!
We also received a letter from another sponsor family from up North. They sent us the best Christmas present of the year……baby pics of our sweet Ava!!!! Ava had been asking me over and over why I only had baby pictures of the boys and not her…..not anymore!!! Our family photographer even said to bring him the pictures and he will do his best to turn them into portraits!!!
Christmas was another huge success at our household this year. Santa was very generous to some well deserving kiddos!! We are all ready for the snow to stop and look forward to summer weather once again, even with all the added chaos summer brings. It also means our annual Disney trip, so we are most definitely ready!!
Ava still sees her neurosurgeon once a year for a check-up and her urologist twice a year. She has been the picture of health this last year and for that we are so thankful! She has begun asking for a little sister, which hasn’t been totally ruled out, HA! We continue to look forward to all that God has in store for our “little” family!

Yep, Santa's been here....the stockings