What's Going On? All about Avery:UPDATE

Last Monday was Avery's MRI at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. We had to be there at 8 o'clock that morning. We woke Avery up at 5:30 am and gave her some apple juice. She was not allowed to drink anything after 6am. I gave her a bath and got her dressed. We were on the road by 6:30. We arrived a few minutes early, which was nice for my already-elevated stress levels. We got checked in and they sent us to the playroom to wait. This playroom was wonderful! There were toys of every kind for her to play with! They even had a Lightning McQueen ride-on toy...Avery's favorite! She played for a few minutes before they called us back for pre-op stuff. They got Avery's hospital bracelet on her and we changed her into her little hospital gown. They had me fill out more paperwork and asked us lots of questions. After pre-op, we went back to the playroom for about 1 1/2 hours. Avery dug through my purse and found her new Cars toys that were supposed to be a surprise for after the MRI, so we let her play with them and all of her other Cars. She was having a ball! At almost 10am, they took us to the MRI suite. We met with the anesthesiologist and he explained what he would do. He said one parent could go back with Avery while they did "the gas". I went in with her. They set her down on the table and put a "bubble gum" mask on her...they smeared bubble gum scented lip balm on the mask. The anesthesiologist told her to smell the mask and see if it changed from bubble gum to strawberry-this got her breathing more deeply. He told her she could lay down if she was feeling sleepy, but she resisted-she was trying so hard to stay awake and smell the strawberry smell! Her eyes finally closed and I helped lay her down. They told me I could give her a kiss, but not to breath too deeply! I kissed her and then it was time for me to go out. I went and joined Brian in the waiting room. We went to the giftshop and bought her a Cars book and then came back to the waiting room. It felt like the waiting took forever. After close to an hour, they called us back. She was not awake yet...and she did NOT want to wake up! She was sleeping good! We woke her up and she was soooo out of it! We got her dressed and they let us go home. We carried her to the van and gave her the new Cars book. She had not eaten anything since dinner the night before, so she was hungry! She said she wanted Cracker Barrel. We went and she had pancakes and lemonade-2 of her favorite things! She also got the biggest lolly-pop I had ever seen! We took her home and put her down for a nice, long nap. I was so relieved to have it over! On Thursday we got the results from the MRI. Avery has something called PVL. It is not a disease, but rather an injury. When I was in labor with Avery, my contractions were extremely intense and long-lasting. When I had a contraction that lasted for over 5 minutes, Avery's heart rate bottomed out and they had to give me a shot to relax the contraction. They think that during that time, Avery was deprived of oxygen and this caused the injury to her brain. She also spent 8 days in the NICU because of under-developed lungs. This also could have caused too-low oxygen levels. We have now been referred to a pediatric neurologist and a physical therapist. The neurologist will evaluate the MRI also and tell us more about the injury and if there are any other things that go along with the injury. The course of treatment for this is physical therapy. I will continue to update on her as we find out more and as she goes through her therapy. Thanks to all who have supported us and prayed...it means more than you will ever know!

Check this out to find out a little more about PVL!


Avery standing on top of Lightning McQueen modeling her hospital gown



getting a little comfort from her "Dora Blue" and her thumb



Playing with her new Cars toys



Look at that beautiful profile





The worlds biggest lolly-pop

What's Going On? All about Avery

Many of you have been faithfully praying for Avery Jane over the past few weeks. We are so thankful for your prayers! For those of you who don't know what is going on with her, I thought I would update you on her situation. At her 3 year old check-up, Dr. Anna noticed Avery was holding her left foot very tight. She told us to monitor her and bring her back in if we noticed it happening a lot. After that appointment, we began to notice her walking funny and really turning her left foot in. We also noticed her holding her left arm in close to her body and not using it. So, a couple of weeks ago, we took her back to the doctor to get that checked out. They did a very thorough examination and had Avery walk, run, hop, jump, skip and just about everything else they could have her do. They checked her reflexes, asked us lots of questions and ultimately decided we would need to have an MRI done of the right side of Avery's head to find out why she is struggling to use the muscles on the left side of her body. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, and vice versa. So, after an agonizing week of trying to get an MRI appointment within a reasonable amount of time, we got an appointment for August 3rd at 10am at Wolfson's Childrens Hospital in Jacksonville. We have to be there at 8 am that morning for pre-op procedures. Avery will have to be sedated for the MRI because she has to lay completely still during the entire procedure. We will know much more after the MRI, but at this point we feel that we will definetly end up in physical therepy with her. She is doing fine...she doesn't even know there is anything wrong! She is a trooper and has done great at all of her appointments. I am so proud of her-she is a very special child! Please pray for us during this time. It is so scary to have something not right with your child. We are so thankful for all of the faithful prayers being sent up on our behalf. I will continue to update the blog on this situation as we get new information.

Avery is 3 years old!

Avery Jane-6 months old

Avery Jane pulls up! 8 months old


Avery and her Blues Clues-9 months old

Avery's First Valentine's Day



Avery's First Birthday-3/20/07
Grill cheese for Breakfast-Ave's Fave:)


It is hard for me to believe that my baby girl is 3 years old already. It really seems like just the other day we were looking down on her tiny little body hooked up to machines in the NICU at Wolfson's Children's hospital in Jacksonville. Avery Jane is a tough little cookie. Looking at her then, she seemed so tiny and helpless and fragile. She had a very rough start. She was born a month early. When she was born, she looked so beautiful. But, she couldn't cry. She made a pitiful grunting noise. She was whisked away to the NICU. It was the strangest feeling. She was in the NICU and Brian was gone to tell our families what was going on. The doctors and nurses had finished up and left me all alone. I knew I had just given birth, but it all felt so unreal. It almost felt like maybe I had just dreamed the whole thing. We didn't get to hold her or feed her for the first week of her life. It was the scariest time I have ever experienced. To look at her now, one would never guess she had ever had such a rough start. She is an amazing little girl. She is sweet and funny, tough and beautiful. She loves to play outside. She loves dogs, especially Crush! She is a HUGE Lightning McQueen fan. She likes to wear dresses every day. She has a stubborn streak. She says she wants to be a whale trainer when she grows up. She is such a blessing to me. I am ever-so-thankful to God for the wonderful gift of Avery Jane. Happy Birthday to Avery!