Ava Marie our Heart Warrior

April 19th Ava will have her first heart surgery at Children's Hospital St. Louis. She was born with a rare heart defect called Double Inlet Left Ventricle. Instead of a normal 4 chambered heart, Ava has 3 with an underdeveloped 4th chamber. The wall between the 2 bottom chambers has a hole which allows her blood to mix freely and flow into her lungs. Surgeons will be adjusting the flow of blood to accommodate her special heart and make it work until her next surgery in a few years. Looking at Ava you would never know she had this heart defect. We are very lucky they spotted this defect by ultrasound when I was about 20 weeks pregnant! We have been preparing ourselves for this and now it's actually happening.

We are not sure what this life saving procedure for our baby girl will cost us. All we want is to be there by her side. They are predicting Ava will be at Children's for a week for recovery. I am hoping Phil will be able to help me care for Ava those few days but it's tough having one income it doesn't leave any available time off. Its even tougher for him to leave his baby girls side and return to work but we have no choice. To add to our stress, Phil's work has been temporarily shut down since Friday. What a mess. This week will hit our bank account hard. It costs us about $60 a day just to eat at the hospital's cafeteria. Our friends and family are more than welcome to visit us or even bring us meals. This will be the toughest week for us so far. Hospital stays are no fun and I thought reaching out to our friends and family would help make it a little bit easier. Thank you so much for reading and/or donating. We will keep everyone updated on Ava's recovery. If you cannot donate I understand, prayers will do just fine.