C.S. Mott Women and Children's Hospital

I just finished writing a great update and lost it all!! Now I can't re-do the wording so I'll give the brief update.

Avery's heartbeat has been irregular all day. Her blood oxygen levels have been on the lower side and did de-sat, or go down low (she was blue). Thankfully she got back up and the great staff here are watching her well. I was able to hold her for awhile.

This morning I went w/ Avery to have a swallow study done. She has the raspy sound, stidor, from her vocal cord nerve being bumped/irritated during surgery. It doesn't seem to effect her swallowing much. She has to work hard to suck, swallow and breathe. We're giving her just a little bit of milk once a shift to see how she does, and she gets the rest in a tube. When I tried it she had a little bit and tuckered out.

There's a movie called, "Something the Lord Made" about Dr. Blalok and Vivien Thomas who successfully operated on a blue baby's heart. My brother, Evan had told me about it, but I never got around to watching it. One of the nurses here had it and brought it in so I could watch it. I thought it was really good and I highly recommend seeing it. You may have to dig around to find it.

We are so blessed to be here where there are great doctors, nurses, techs, social workers, and everyone else who work hard to help all of these children. There are so many who need so much. They cry, hurt, reach out for reassurance and you just want to love them and tell them it'll be okay.