We made it--welcome home my sweet Ava Nicole. We were discharged from the hospital this Saturday, September 11th. It feels good to finally be home and whole as a family for the first time. 

18 days. Never would I have imagined to have such a happy life event suddenly turn into my worst nightmare. I was still riding the high of having my beautiful baby girl in my arms when she was suddenly taken away from me, at less than twenty-four hours old, to have a major emergency surgery with an unknown outcome. It was the longest five hours of my life. Every day spent at the hospital was an emotional roller coaster. The hours went by fast, but the days were long. The necessary poking and prodding for labs and multiple IV’s, the crying, the wailing, the tubes and cords attached to and inserted into her little body, the starvation she had to endure for days, the helplessness I felt during this time saddened me to the core. We weren’t able to cuddle and bond as much right away like I wished we would have, but we’ve finally made it to the end, Ava, it just took 18 days. We will be stronger because of this. Mom and dad see the fighter in you.

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I want to give a special thank you to all of our friends & family who provided support to us during this time. Your thoughts and prayers helped us through this terribly difficult time. Thank you to my family and Alex’s family who watched Aubree while we were in the hospital and to those who prepared homemade meals for us so we didn’t have to. Thank you to those who reached out with your kind words of encouragement. Thank you to you all, following along on our journey through CaringBridge. We love you and appreciate everything.

I also want to thank all the staff involved in Ava’s care. I’m ever so grateful that her malrotation was caught early on and while we were still in the hospital, for if it hadn’t, her outcome could have been more dire. Here’s a list of some, but not all, of the staff that we would like to personally thank:

Maple Grove Hospital:

Dr. Schultz & Shanna, RN: Thank you for the best delivery experience

Dr. Mahony & Tara, RN for assessing Ava early after delivery and consulting NICU

NICU staff and doctors--Carmen, Dr. Ferrara, Courtney, RN and more

University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital:

Dr. Segura--who performed Ava’s surgery

Dr. Osterholm, Dr. White--neonatologists as well as the nurse practitioners involved

The nursing staff (not limited to):

        Dani, Jordan, Katie, Lisa, Tami, Julia, Amy 

IR, OR & anesthesia team(s) involved

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Now, if you need me, I’ll just be over here soaking in all the snuggles I missed out on. <3