Last Minute Appointments

Hey all. I just wanted to continue to update all of you as much as possible. All the appointments that we had today went really well. I have no doubt that we are in good hands and that Avery will be receiving the best care possible. Other than a few other hospitals in the U.S., Arkansas Children's and UAMS are probably some of the best prepared facilities for CDH and heart defects. I take great comfort in knowing that we are getting the attention we deserve. Every doctor we have met with so far has been nothing less than amazing and I am already overcome with intense gratitude.

As for this evening, we are planning to take it easy. Eat, laugh, and be. Tomorrow, my dear friend Bethany Gillham will be taking over update duty. I will be calling her to give her an idea of what is going on and she will be in turn let all of you know the story. I imagine Shane is going to be distracted and I will be on drugs...not to mention neither of us will have easy immediate access to the Internet.

Dr. Wendel will be ready to deliver Avery around 8:30am. We will all wait patiently for the Neonatalogist to be available before delivery so if he/she is running late, we wait. The neonat team is an integral part of Avery's care so we flex for them!!! Hopefully, Avery will be out and I will be in recovery by noon. Once the cord is cut, it will take an hour or so to stabilize her. Short of any absolute emergencies, the team will bring Avery to me in recovery before she is transported to Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) which means I will get to see and touch her before she leaves. This is a huge relief for me because I was concerned that I might not see her at all. Once she arrives at ACH, it will take another hour or so to gather information about her condition. Shane will follow her to ACH and be there to take care of paperwork and all that mess. He should be able to see her after she is stable. I will remain at UAMS to recover from surgery and then make my way to ACH as quickly as possible. Dr. Wendel is hoping that I can be up and moving 12 hours post surgery and released as quickly as 24 hours post. I will have two lovely ladies at my side all day tomorrow to help me both physically and emotionally recover so that Shane can stay with Avery. I am forever indebted to them for their love and kindness! My mom and dad as well as some of Shane's family are on hand to keep tabs on Kaitlyn. It will be a day of absolute chaos but I have no doubt we will be well supported!

That's it for now...