Surgery

Ava was born with a condition called Pierre Robin. The biggest problem with this condition is that the airway is blocked causing feeding and especially breathing problems. This came as a total shock to us when she was born and since then we have learned alot. We had to do a surgery when she was 9 days old called a tongue lip adhesion, in hopes that this would clear her airway, but in the last month we have found that this didn't help very much. After finding this out, the doctor put her on oxygen when she sleeps, but ultimately decided that she needed another surgery. Tomorrow she is going to have what is called a mandibular (jaw) distraction to pull her lower jaw out. The whole process will take about 2 months and will be difficult for us to see her go through, but in the end will help her breathe better and solve other problems. We love this little girl so much and want to brag about her; she is such a good baby, so good natured and happy overall even with all the things she has gone through. We are nervous for tomorrow but are excited for her to get the help she needs. We love you Ava!

We love this expression

Such a friendly girl

Anyway

Well, things are continually interesting (and wonderful for us). Especially since I got a cold this week and Lindsay was more or less solo for many things. She did a great job but is now questioning her sanity, with little sleep and not leaving the house for the whole week. We had a wonderful visit from Alyssa, she cooked for us! It's also nice to have an extra set of hands to help with Ava. Overall she is eating a little more, sometimes surprising us with a extra big feeding. We had our first family outing last Sunday and we went up Logan Canyon for a little fresh air. Ava slept for awhile allowing us to get deep into the canyon but then woke up and started throwing a grand old fit. She cried the whole way back so we didn't pull off until we got to campus. She was pretty exhausted by then but at least she got some sunshine and wind.

We haven't gotten a picture of her smile yet but this looks like there's potential

Our first outing out of the house (for something other than doctors visits)

We found that Ava sleeps best in a "big girl" bed.

Visiting with the Grandparents

Auntie Alyssa with her newest niece

More Pictures of Ava

This little one is our main focus these days. Things seem to be getting a little better, she is feeding well and and getting bigger, slowly.

Ava Elise Handley

Well, as most of you know, our sweet daughter Ava was born on August 27, 2009 at 2:16 p.m. Unfortunately she had some complications and she had to be flown down to Primary children's hospital in Salt Lake. Instead of doing the normal 48 hour postpartum stay at the Logan hospital we left the next morning to go down there. Lindsay never had a chance to recover as we drove to the hospital every day from her grandmas house.  Ava was in the newborn intensive care unit (N.I.C.U.) where she was having a hard time breathing and later had a surgery to try and open her airway more. Needless to say it was very hard for all three of us.  After 23 days of her being there, we were able to bring her home last Saturday night (Sept. 19, 2009), the day before her due date. Now we are home with her and trying to have a more normal newborn experience. She seems to be doing pretty well, our main goal right now is to help her gain weight which she seems to be doing slowly. She has to feed out of a special bottle which is sometimes a struggle but she is doing better, Lindsay is getting to be quite a pro at it. We have loved getting to know her better; she is a true joy to have around.

Life in MD

We are getting a little more into our Maryland groove, I am putting in my hours at Coverstar and Lindsay has set up a room to sew and do crafts. Of course it is a bit different than the past two summers with Lindsay being pregnant (26 week now). I can definitely feel strong kicks from our little baby! We got another ultrasound and saw her full profile and her sucking her thumb which was very cute. We even saw her pulling her thumb out of her mouth and back in again, it sure is neat to have such advanced technology to see things like that. We got some pictures but didn't get them in digital form so we will have to scan them before we can post them. We are working our way through our baby name book and have a few names picked out as hopefuls but haven't decided on anything for sure yet. Lindsay has started sewing baby things and has made some great looking burp cloths. Stay tuned for more pictures of stuff she makes!

Lindsay is getting bigger every week!

Looking at baby names!

This is where I spend most of my waking hours in the summer (Not literally in the truck).

Here's Lindsay after we went to the National Arboretum, it was cool but too big for one day.

Some more baby

In the last post we forgot to mention that we are having a girl! It was such an exciting day when we found out. It seemed like we waited for that ultrasound for way too long even though it was just a little after 19 weeks. It's hard to explain how cool it was to actually see her. It was amazing to be able to see that she actually exists and can move and has all of her own parts. I was so sick until about 17 weeks and only had that as proof that I really was pregnant, so to be able to see her was a happy experience indeed. Morgan and I can't wait to see her again, maybe at 32 weeks. We know that other people's ultrasound pictures are never quite as interesting as your own, but here are a few if you can figure out what is going on:

Her face. Kind of blurry and she still has a lot of growing to do, but this is her profile.

Her head is facing downward, you can see her spine and her leg bent at the top.

This is how we know she is a girl. It's a little intrusive (sorry baby) but still cute to me! (Looking from below her).

The only thing we have gotten so far is her crib. Morgan did a great job of putting it together before we left Logan. It is hard to not be able to be there and get everything ready, but I'm getting ideas and planning things out.

I like these Martha Stewart tissue paper pom pom balls and want to hang them in her room. I definitely want to use the pinks, but they also come in white, so I might do a mixture. Morgan is going to repaint her room since it is more of a mature tan color right now, but I'm still deciding on the color. Silver sage from restoration hardware always pulls me in. Several rooms in our house are painted that color, but I think it's so pretty and calming. I think it might be nice with bright decorations such as the pom pom balls.

These are crib sheets that i like all by Dwell.

I have really liked sashiko for a long time and have experimented with it a little, but i decided that I want to make a baby quilt with sashiko squares like these. I haven't designed the layout of the quilt or decided on the entire color scheme, but most likely the stitching will be in white and i will either use some of the traditional geometric sashiko patterns, or I will design those too. I am very excited for this, but it's going to be a big project!

Pregnancy pics

Well, we are back in Maryland and I am working at Coverstar. It's nice to be done with another year of school. One exciting thing is that I found out yesterday that I made it into the Landscape Architecture program. I still have two more years but at least that is certain now. The big news in our lives right now for anyone who doesn't know already is that Lindsay is pregnant! She is 22 weeks along and showing more everyday. Here are some cute pictures of her.