Gaining weight!

Avery had her first professional photo shoot on Tuesday and did really well. She had shots taken inside and outside, some alone and some with us. We can't wait to see the final product!

She went to the pediatrician today and now weighs 8lbs 9.5oz and is 22 3/8 inches long! That is a 3.5oz gain in less than a week. We want this little girl to get nice and chubby! She didn't have to get any shots, which she was really glad about. She got a really good report from the doctor. We have to go back in 4 weeks for a weight check.

Avery has started sleeping better and is getting back on her routine. The past 2 nights have gone well, she has slept for about 5 straight hours and has gone right back to sleep after eating in the middle of the night. So, needless to say, we are alot happier. She is really cooing now and will 'sing' along with me when I sing to her, it is really cute. We are having a great time at home!

Settling in...

We are so glad to be home! Avery had her first bath since being home the other night and she loved it! We were able to give her a full bath not just a wash up since her belly is healed. She really loved splashing and kicking in the water. She has rediscovered her swing and really loves that, sometimes it is the only thing that will calm her down. She is eating really well, sometimes sleeping really well. We are on an every other night rhythm, she slept 6 hours straight Sat. night, but hardly at all last night, we are still trying to work it out, hopefully it will get better!

Home at last!!!

Leaving in my carseat!

We are home!!! We actually got to go home yesterday, thursday. After I posted the blog yesterday, I got a call from Avery's nurse saying that they decided Avery could go home a day early. So we got home yesterday around 3pm and have been so happy to be home. Avery actually slept 5 straight hours last night! She is still having a hard time going to sleep for naps and bedtime, but hopefully it will only be a rough couple of days to get her back on schedule. We love being at home and are having a great time just hanging out without any lines or tubes! We are so thankful to everyone for all the prayers and well wishes. Thank you again!!!!

Egleston Again Day 16/17

I love tummy time!

Hanging with Mom

This sleeping thing is tough work!

Avery is doing great! She had another upper GI study yesterday as a precaution to make sure that everything looks good. The doctor said everything is perfect, no dialated loops and great motility through her intestines. This is great for my piece of mind. She also got her central line out yesterday, initally she wasn't very happy, but now she is! The plan is for her to come home tomorrow!!! We are so excited to have our precious girl home again. She is eating really well, we have been breastfeeding again since Tuesday afternoon. She really loves food, just like her Mommy and Daddy. Hopefully, the next post will be Avery at home!!!!

Egleston Again Day 14/15

In my pumpkin hat that my friend at the hospital Pam made

During my EKG

I love being clean!

Avery is now up to 65mls and loving it! A full feed for her, according to the doctor is around 65-85mls depending on how hungry she is. She is sucking down the food and doing really well with feeds. She is now up to 8lbs 6oz! Her new thing has been her heartrate. Last week we were worried about it being to slow, well since the weekend, it has been too high. It happens when she is eating and anxious. They did another EKG yesterday and the report didn't say anything. I think she is so worried that we are going to take food away again so she gets really anxious and excited when she eats. Another theory is that she has had so many antibiotics and medicine, her body is just off. Who knows! Hopefully now that she is off antibiotics and almost off her IV nutrition and her central line comes out, she will go back to normal. We are still maybe looking at the end of the week for discharge, I sure hope its soon!

Egleston Again Day 12/13

Passed out on Daddy's chest


Avery is up to 30 ml of milk and hopefully up to 40 today. She now weighs 8 lbs! We finally broke that 7 lb marker. The xray came back normal and she continues to do well. This should be her last day of antibiotics and they are decreasing her IV nutrition as she increases her milk intake. The doctor said we could try breastfeeding around mid-week, so we will see how that goes. Avery is starting to smile more frequently and is starting to play with toys and focus on an object. I just wonder what she is thinking all this time!

Egleston Again Day 10/11

I love this six flags ride!

Stare down with my elepahant

Gettin' chubby, look at my double chin!

I love milk!

As you can see Avery finally got to eat yesterday!!! She was so excited, she got 10 ml of milk and hopefully today at the noon feeding it will go up to 20. After I gave her the bottle she, of course, wanted more so I gave her the pacifier to calm her down and she just sucked so hard on her paci trying to get more milk out. It was the cutest/saddest thing! She is still pretty calm despite the fact that she isn't eating very much. She continues to have bowel movements, which is a great sign. Avery is going to have another xray today to make sure everything looks ok after eating 24 hours. Avery now weighs 7lbs 13oz! Hopefully we can just keep slowly increasing her feeds and she can sleep in her own bed soon!

Egleston Again Day 8/9

What the crib looked like when I came in yesterday

what happened when I pulled back the blanket

Avery gets to eat tomorrow, Thursday! She is going to start with 10 ml every three hours and then work up by 10 ml every day until full feeds. They are going to take it a bit more conservatively than last time, because the doctors feel that the quick feeding may have been an issue with this new sickness. I would much rather be here a few days longer to ensure that she is healthy, so it looks like maybe we can go home around next Thurs or Friday. I was wrong in my earlier blog, Avery is going to get antibiotics for 14 days total, so that will be Monday. Avery is so much happier now that her oral tube is out , she is much more content and much more like herself. She just lays in her crib, playing with her hands and cooing, it is the cutest thing.

Egleston Again Day 6/7

Go Dawgs!

The only way to keep the pacifier in my mouth!



Avery is continuing to make progress! She is now in a regular crib; she is able to control her temperature so she doesn't need the bed with the warmer. She also pullled out her oral tube overnight and the doctor said lets just try it without the tube and see how she does. Hopefully she will be a little happier without the tube, it will make it easier to suck on the pacifier, which she loves doing. She weighs 7 lbs 10 oz now which is good, because when we went to the ER she had lost weight all the way down to 7 lbs. Sounds like the plan is to get antibiotics until Wednesday, they will probably start feeds on Wednesday as well. Avery is handling all of this so well, she is such a trooper. She is having a harder time calming down because she is so hungry, so she is getting Ativan, a medicine to help calm her down. She is super sensitive to any medicine, so I have asked for the lowest dose possible and it seems to be doing the trick to calm her down but not completely snow her. I imagine when she starts eating we can stop this medicine. This poor little thing has had more medicine in her and more procedures done to her than Lance and I put together in our whole lives! We are so proud of her! Hopefully on the next post I can say that she is eating!

Egleston Again Day 4/5

Avery continues to hang in there. The good news is that they are definitely not thinking surgery anymore and Avery got taken off of her oxygen yesterday and is doing great without it. The hardest part right now is that Avery cannot eat; she had 2 weeks of the good stuff and now knows what she is missing. She is fine when she is resting and sleeping, but the second someone messes with her to take her temp or blood pressure, she realizes that she is hungry and it takes at least an hour to calm her back down. Poor thing is just sucking away on her pacifier waiting for something to come out of it!

After her anesthesia wore off from her central line, Avery's heartrate continued to be low and that was concerning. So yesterday she had another EKG and the cardiology team came and looked at her and they determined that there is nothing wrong, that is just her normal heart rate, just a little low. They said that older babies can have low heart rates and since Avery is alittle older than last time, that is likely why it is lower. If she never came back to the hospital we would have never known the difference. They are continuing to watch her but don't see it as a concern.

So we are just trying to keep Avery from remembering that she is hungry and distract her as much as possible! She is getting better and is acting more like herself, so hopefully the worst is behind us!

Egleston Again Day 1/2/3

Being transported for my central line

Thumb family

Hanging out with Daddy

Hard to believe that we are back in the hospital, it is like a bad dejavu! Luckily we are back with the same nurses and she is getting the care that she needs. Avery is doing better than she was a few days ago. It sounds like what happened is that the bacteria that was in Avery's intestines is very fast acting and she got sick very quickly. She needed to have 2 blood transfusions on Tuesday and alot of IV fluids to help boost her back up. She continued to have xrays done on her abdomen to monitor her intestines and the air around them. The xrays continued to look better and it seems that they have healed and we aren't thinking about surgery at this point. Avery has to go at least 6-7 more days without eating to rest her stomach and intestines and to make sure that the bacteria are gone from her intestines. She is also again receiving her nutrition through her veins, so she needed a bigger IV access than through her peripheral vein. Last time she had a PICC line which is what they tried to do again, unfornately after several attempts there was no avaliable vein to put the line in. So yesterday she went to the OR to put in a central venous line, which is a small line directly into her subclavian vein, I belive. She had to go under anesthesia for this. She did really well and it only took about 20 minutes. She was and still is VERY sleepy from the medicine they gave her. So at this point the plan is to receive antibiotics and nutrition and not let her eat for at least a week, then they will start slowing feeding her again like last time. After she is up to full feeds, gaining weight and looking healthy she can come home again! We are expecting this process to take at least 2 more weeks. I will continue to update y'all on her status every few days. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers!

Pics from when Avery was home

Smiling in the sunshine

Sleeping in my crib

Prayers Needed....

First of all, I apologize for no posts in a while. Our camera broke and we ordered a new one, so I was waiting to have some new pictures to post. We did get our camera and are still figuring it out. Avery has had a great couple of weeks home, we were finally beginning to settle into a routine. However, on Friday, Avery began vomiting and it continued over the weekend, so we went to the emergency room and unfornately we were admitted back to Egleston. We are on the same floor, even in the same room that we were in before. It looks like Avery has a perforation of her bowel, they aren't sure what caused it, but maybe some bacteria was contracted and weakened the wall and caused a hole. The good news it that it looks like she might be healing the hole on her own, because if she doesn't she will need to have another surgery which would keep us at the hospital for over 4 more weeks. Right now, she is on IV fluids, has her oral tube back in to rest her stomach and intestines, and she is no longer allowed to eat. She is such a strong little thing, she is really mad that she can't eat. So.. we really need everyone's prayers that she can heal on her own without surgery and get better! Thank you to all for your continued support! Pictures to come soon...