1 Year Anniversary

Well, today marks the one year anniversary of Ava Jane's Congenital Heart Defect Diagnosis. I'll never forget how that evening felt when we found out, we were scared and completely out of our comfort zone; we were reeling from the news. Nothing could have prepared me to hear those words from Dr. Abraham. I have been re-reading my blog posts from that time in our life, and realized I didn't quite write it correctly. Dr. Abraham looked at both Adam and I and said, in his very Indian accent, "she have problem, she need surgery." He said it very matter of factly and assuredly, without question it was gonna happen, we just had to figure out when. I had trouble looking at her "perfect" little body, that seemed healthy (aside from the breathing problems that RSV was causing), but understanding and fully processing the words, "she have problem, she need surgery" were so foreign, so scary, they really were so shocking.

But now, a full year from the original diagnosis and surgery, she's doing great! It's amazing what 365 days can do. She's gone from the 3% to the 75%, from being behind and a bit slow developmentally to right on target. She's gone from 3 blood pressure meds every 8 hours down to NONE! She's walking now, as of 3 weeks ago. She is all over the place and enjoying her new found freedom of going where she wants to, when she wants to, and you will definitely hear from her if you try to get in her way! And just in case you missed it in her birthday post, we finally got the call from the Cardiology Clinic that "Ava Jane has normal, female chromosomal formation." What a praise that is, and it's nice to finally have closure on the question of whether or not she had Turner's Syndrome. We are so thankful for that great news!

Today, she's an active little one year old who is quickly going from a baby to a little girl.



She's certainly found her voice, the one that I thought might be permanently effected, the one that I couldn't hear for 4 days after they took her off the ventilator. That was by far the most helpless I ever felt, she was crying, big crocodile tears, but you couldn't hear a thing because her vocal chords had been separated, that was horrifying to watch since she couldn't be held yet either, I had no way to comfort her!


She loves playing with her brothers and trying to keep up with all of them.




I'm so thankful for her little life, for how well she's doing now, and for all the doctors who have used their God-given, life-saving skills on her and treated her back to health! I'm overwhelmed and oh so thankful for the blessing of her this holiday, for the life she has and the years I look forward to having with her! I love this little girl, she brings such delight to all of us and we are so grateful to have her in our family.