13 is a lucky number!

Well, we have made it thru a full day, Avery's birthday! We didn't think we would get out of Fayetteville in time, and we did. We conquered the C-section, with some agony on Carissa's part. Our hope that we would hear a wimper out of Avery's frail little body came true as she came into the world! She also transferred from one machine to the next by the talented Angel One Ground Team with the only complications being adjustments and tweaking of valves and knobs. A smooth ride over to ACH seemed effortless! The scary but sometimes misunderstood ECMO was challenging because of Avery's difficult anatomy, but the heart team put their heads together and went straight to the problem area, literally. And as I stayed with Avery for a while tonight, tickling her cute little toes, stroking her tiny warm head, and whispering in her fuzzy little ear. My hopes that she would respond to her Daddy's familiar voice that she has heard over these past months came true! She twitched her eyes and stretched her foot while trying to grasp my finger with her itty bitty hand... and we made history together because it is now May 13th, 2009. As we push thru the night I know now we must win these little battles as a family and take it one hour at a time, or you can just call them "baby steps"! Good night Mae Baby, Love Daddy.