Cleft Repair/Ava's 2 Months Old!

Ava had an appointment with Cranial Facial at Children's Hospital in Seattle on September 10th. We had four back to back appointments where we were able to meet the whole team that decides her care plan and will be working with us through the process. After meeting Ava and evaluating her cleft lip, the surgeon said that the best fist would be to have the surgery done around six months from Ava's due date. He said that Ava with stay in the hospital over night for evaluation (we will be able to room with her). Then we will need to apply ointment over the first week and go back in to have the stitches removed a week later. The care team all agreed that usually babies are able to go back to nursing after the surgery without any need for assistance or special feeding. This news was a huge relief to me and made me feel better about the whole process. We also went in for Ava's two month appointment where she weighed 9lbs 10oz!!! I knew she was getting heavy. She is a happy healthy girl, starting to pack away her adorable newborn clothes as she grows out of them. It hard to believe that she is growing so fast. :) I guess they all do, since I can't believe how big Cam is getting either.

Happy Due Date Ava: 9/9/2012

Happy due date sweet baby girl. Wow, so much has happened. It's hard to believe I have gotten to know you over the past 10 weeks and you were not even due until today. :) We are so happy to have Ava home. Working on adjusting to our new life as a family of four. Cam loves his little sister sometimes it"s hard for him to give her a little space. It's tough learning to share mom and dad. I know he will be a great big brother though.

37 Weeks: Ava is Home!

Ava came home Thursday the 16th and is doing great. She weighed in at 3lbs 1oz when she was born and today she is almost 7lbs! We are so thankful to have her home and get to start our life as a family. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and support through this journey. We love you!

36 Weeks

Wow, hard to believe that it has already been six weeks since the night the girls were born. Ava has doubled her birth weight weighing in at over 6lbs. No more preemie clothes for this girl. :) Ava is doing great in the NICU and we are really hoping to have her home in the next week or two. Before she can come home she has to prove that she can eat on her own. She needs to take full feeds (51ml 8x/day for at least 48hrs). At this point she is taking in some full feeds and some partials. What she doesn't eat on her own she is fed through her tube feeds. It feels like it is so close, but so far away since there is no date set, we just have to watch how she does with her feeds. Here's to hoping our next update is that she is coming home. Obviously we don't want to have her home before she is ready, but we want her home the moment that she is. We are ready to start this next chapter of our life together, as a family. :)

July 27th (33 weeks)

This has been an exciting week for Ava. On Tuesday morning the nurses moved Ava out of her isolette and into a bassinet/crib. This felt like a huge step and makes her so much more accessible. Grandma and Grandpa Douglas (Great Great & Nanaw)were in town on Tuesday and Wednesday, so they got to see her make her debut and got in a little much loved snuggle time. She seems to be doing great and not having any trouble keeping her temperature up and continuing to gain weight. She even broke the 4lb mark this week, weighing in at 4lbs 8oz today. She has been growing a ton this week. It looks like by the time we get to bring her home she won't likely be in preemie clothes anymore. Yesterday Jeff and I got to give Ava her first bath. Can you imagine not taking a bath in over 3 weeks? She seemed to like like it, especially once she was clean and dry and snuggled in some fresh clothes and blankies. To top it off, the Physical Therapist stopped in today to evaluate where Ava is at in regards to being ready to nurse/bottle feed. For the past few days they have had me pump and then let Ava get used to the idea of nursing - without all of the milk. It is still a bit early for preemies to get the whole such, swallow and breath down. Ava was super excited and got some great suction (this is a great sign that the cleft is not likely to be a feeding issue). Maybe a little too zealous since she didn't want to stop to breath without us making her. It is still early but we will be working with her slowly when she shows interest. We also have an appointment set up with Ava's Physical Therapist(PT) on Monday morning to meet and evaluate her on actually nursing. The PT said that some babies do better with one or the other and nursing may just be her thing- that would be awesome. Either way it's a big step forward to be at this step. We are so thankful for how well Ava has been doing and so look forward to the day when she is ready to come home!

Thank You

(I love this photo from our maternity shoot. It makes me feel a sense of peace and of letting go. This pose was all Cam. -photos taken by Vicki Zoller and Rachele Valadez)

(25 week maternity photos. It's hard to believe all that has happened in the past 8 weeks. -photos taken by Vicki Zoller and Rachele Valadez). I am constantly reminded of all of the wonderful people in our lives, and all of the new people who have entered our lives through this entire experience. I am so thankful for all of you. Thank you Vicki Zoller for the beautiful photos that you have given to us as part of the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. We will cherish these memories forever and love making new memories with Ava in our lives.

3 Weeks

(Ava 3 weeks/33 weeks, napping with mama) It's hard to believe that 3 weeks ago tonight I went in for an unexpected c-section and met our girls. So much has happened in the past month that at times it feels like months and other times I can't believe that Ava has already been the NICU for three weeks. Ava continues to do great. She seems to have bypassed many of the problems that preemies can run into early on and is just focusing on growing and developing. When she first started eating (until around 34 weeks this is all done by feeding tube), she was ~3lb 1oz and taking 3ml of milk, now she is ~3lb 8oz and takes 33ml. It sounds like pretty soon we will get to introduce Ava to nursing and see if she is developmentally ready and see how her suction is with her cleft lip. All of doctors and nurses have said that Ava's pallet looks great and that there is a good chance she can still be a great nurser. Jeff spoke with someone from the Cranial Facial Clinic at Children's who said that they expect Ava may only need one surgery to correct her partial cleft lip. They said that with a full term infant that is usually done between 3-6 months, so I'm not sure exactly when that falls with a preemie. They also said that they would want to follow up with Ava again around two years and then again around five to check on the development of her nose and pallet to determine if any additional surgeries are needed. It was nice finally getting abit more information. Thank you again for all of your continued prayers and support. Thlay