This past week Ava and I had to go off-island two days in a row. This meant 2 early mornings, 2 days of ferries and waiting in ferry lines, 2 doctors visits with a lot of touching and poking (not her favorite), and naps being pretty much nonexistent. This created a tired baby and an equally tired mom. However, despite all of that, Ava did really well. And the even better news was she checked out great at each of her doctors visits. Ava's labs all came back normal. The infectious disease doctor told us she saw no reason for her to return and once she is done with the antibiotic she's on now (she'll be done tomorrow morning), we don't need to get another refill! YAY! We have one more visit on the 3rd with the Orthopedic doctor and I'm hopeful for the same news. I only have one area of concern, in regards to her leg, that I'm going to bring up to him and I'm hoping he'll be able to put my mind at ease before we leave for our trip to California.

The Latest Scoop...

There hasn't been a lot of excitement around here, and for this I'm thankful. Here is a little glimpse of what has been going on. We'll call this the Parsons' Happenin's :)

• Sean and I went to dinner last night and it was so good. I'm not sure if I thought it was extra special because the food was so good - I got the fresh, corn crusted halibut salad with gorgonzola crumbles and a lime vinegarette dressing - YUM, or if it was because this was Sean and I's second time of going out by ourselves since Ava was born - no interruptions, no cutting up someone else's food... All in all, it was great and I'd gladly do it again tonight :)

• Stella was complaining of a stomach ache, but when she saw her red sparkly shoes for Aunt Tricia's wedding had arrived, her stomach pains magically disappeared?? It's amazing what a pair of new shoes can do for a girl.

• Jonah got measured for his Tux for the wedding. They tried the shirt and jacket on him and I can pretty much sum up what he looked like in one word - adorable. Jonah said to me, "mom I'm going to be the prince." Ladies, I think I have a heart breaker on my hands. I'm pretty sure his dance card is going to be full at the wedding! Now if we can just get the CA weather to cooperate with us...
  

• The '5 am antibiotic wake up call' hasn't been too bad. I'm greeted each morning with a beautiful sunrise out my window and a smile on a cute little face that is eagerly awaiting her bottle and yummy medicine. One more week left of medicine and Lord willing the infection will be completely gone. Ava had an appointment last week with the Orthopedic doctor and it went well. He was pleased with what he saw, so pleased in fact he wants us to come back next week ;) It's a long day for a 10 minute doctor visit (shoot, it took longer to schedule the next appointment then it did to wait and to see the doctor!!), but for the health of my baby girl it is well worth it. I'll fly to the moon and back for her.

• Ava is now eating applesauce. I'm not sure if it's her favorite?? What do you think? I'll leave you with these...

While in the hospital, Ava turned 6 months old. It's hard to believe she's that big already, time really does go by way too fast. I think her getting sick set her back a little on learning to sit up. We have yet to master that trick. I'm thinking maybe it's a blessing from the Lord she isn't sitting yet. Maybe the Lord is letting me keep this cute girl as a baby a little longer because it seems like once they sit up then they're crawling and before you know it they're toddling around the house. So I'm pretty content with her just laying around :).

Ava's definitely feeling better and starting to stand again on my lap, but she isn't out of the "woods" yet. I bring her in tomorrow to Children's to see the Ortho doctors and get more blood drawn. I'm praying for a good report and hopefully a clean bill of health will come soon. When I think about all she has gone through, I can't help but have a thankful heart. I'm so thankful for all the doctors down at Children's and how they aren't letting this sweet girl fall through the cracks. We have gotten calls on almost a daily basis from someone down there checking in, making sure she's doing OK, making sure we're getting check ups and so on. As scary as it is at times, I'm trying to remember to continually trust in the Lord, find joy each day, and give thanks to Him because I know this is His will for us.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thes 5:16-18

Rewind....

Prior to Ava getting sick my friends came for a visit (actually they came Friday night and Ava got sick that next morning). It was such a treat to have them over, I was so bummed Ava was not feeling well. Despite a sick baby, we still had a good time which makes me love these girls even more. Not only are they some of the coolest girls around, and love to laugh and have a genuine love for food, they were willing to just lay low and kick it at the house due to Ava feeling sick. I hope they'll come back to visit again and hopefully it'll be drama free - meaning no sick kids or EMT's at our house at 6am!! And hopefully next time we'll actually get to go and really tour the island.... girls please come back!

Karen, Jorden, Jen, Sara, Tori

Here's a few of the highlights...

Good Eats...
Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries
Cannery House sandwiches overlooking the harbor
BBQ hamburgers and a yummy salad
Special 'K' bars and ice cream

Good Fellowship...
Lot's of laughs
Picking up conversations right where we left off


Good Worship...
Sean serenading us
Singing a few worship songs by the "camp fire"
(we had hoped to make it to the beach for s'mores... next time)


Here's some of Stella and Jonah's highlights...

New coloring books
A new race car
Playing polly pockets and barbies... bucket head barbie ;)
Jen letting Jonah wrestle her
Pixie sticks the size of them
Candy, candy and more candy

Oh How Sweet the Sound...

Here's a little clip of Ava enjoying her nutty brother and sister. It isn't the greatest, but you get the idea - she is happy to be home and be surrounded by her family. It is such a wonderful sound to hear her deep, raspy laugh and her jabbery little voice, and to see her smile again.

I'm praying now that the antibiotics she is on will finish the job and completely rid her body of the infection. The fact that there is a slight infection in her hip is of some concern, so I have to watch her carefully. I take her in tomorrow to get her blood drawn to make sure her numbers are continuing to trend downward.

Home Sweet Home

We got back from "Hotel Children's" today on the 2:45pm boat. It is so great to be home and I'll tell you what, I am going to sleep good tonight, you better believe it!

Streptococcus Pneumoniac a.k.a. Pneumococcus, try saying that 10 times fast. That is name of the bacteremia Ava had. Supposedly this type of strep is very common and a number of people carry this in their mouths. Although somehow this bacteria got in her blood which caused her to become one very sick girl. The doctors said they vaccinate for this type of strep, but on rare occasions the vaccine won't work and that is what happened with Ava, she was one of the rare cases. Ava is slowly showing signs of improvement in her legs. As I mentioned before, the MRI showed a slight effusion of the bacteria in her left hip which is the cause of her not wanting to move or stand on her legs. The ortho doctors are pretty confident the oral antibiotics she is taking will continue to clear up that infection and she won't need surgery on her hip to scrape it out. She has follow up appointments with both the Ortho doctor and Infectious Disease doctor for the next couple of weeks.

I can't thank the Lord enough that He spurred me on to bring her in to the ER on Sunday... I can't even begin to let my mind think about the "what-if's?" Life is so precious and this whole situation with Ava made me realize that even more. Thank you again to each of you who prayed for our family. What a blessing it was to go to the computer and see your encouraging words and to feel your prayers. We serve a mighty and awesome God!

Despite not getting much sleep at the hospital, there were a few perks too :). Since Sean and I were not prepared for a 5 night stay, and I refuse to wear the same clothes for that many days... 2 days - sure, but 5 days - gross. Well, U-Village just happened to be right around the corner ;) Unfortunately I didn't find great deals like Debbie Daniels, but how nice was it to actually say "Sean I need a shirt" and for that "need" to be (kind of) real?!! Another perk was my friend Tori coming to the food rescue. That first day at the hospital Sean and I sat in the ER from 9am to 6pm. We had gotten up for the red-eye ferry and hadn't eaten since 5am. When we finally got to our room at around 6ish we were starving! And Tori, bless her heart, came and brought us food, and not just any food but my most favorite - Baja Fresh!!! Yum! Tori, thank you girl, you ROCK! Before Tori brought the food we were also able to see Debbie and Biz. Biz had just gotten out of surgery from her biopsy and she looked amazing. She is one remarkable girl to come out of something like that with a smile on her face. Biz gave Ava a little stuffed dog and I was so thankful for it. We didn't bring much entertainment for Ava so it was nice having something to distract her with and for her to smile at - thank you Biz! Then Saturday both Karen and Tori came back and took me shopping. Karen hooked us up with some candy and then we brought in Chipolte for dinner, yet another great meal. Sunday night the Harrelson's brought us dinner. I have to say it was so nice having a home cooked meal. Thank you Sean and Becky for coming and visiting, the food was awesome and it was so great to see you! So yep, we definitely were not lacking in the food department. I had gone in there having had lost 5 lbs from pure stress to gaining it all back from lack of movement and eating a ton, but what else do you do in a hospital for 5 days other than sitting and eating????!!! Here's some pictures Tori took from our first night in the hospital. I was so thankful she had brought her camera because Ava looked so cute in her little hospital gown!






Thank you again for all your prayers! We truly are so grateful.

Thank You For Praying!

The MRI went smoothly today, and Ava handled the anesthesia really well. The "bone" doctors came up to our room and discussed the results with us. I guess they found some fluid in her left hip which means the infection may have gotten into her joint. It isn't much and all her numbers are continuing to go down, but they still want to keep an eye on her and make sure things continue to improve. So it is looking like we'll be here until at least Monday. I'm really hoping, by the grace of God, that we can come home sooner. As many of you know, hospitals are not the most restful places and for a baby that is used to uniterrupted sleep, it is very trying on her and her mother. I'm tempted to baracade the door and put a sign that says - NO VITAL CHECKS WHILE BABY IS SLEEPING!!!!!.... but I don't think the nurses would approve. Everyone is really great here, and they show genuine care for Ava, so I am very thankful. They will be discussing whether or not they think Ava will need to be on antibiotics for a longer period time tomorrow (meaning 3 to 4 weeks) in regards to the fluid they found. Overall I'm seeing improvements in her as each day goes by, so that is a definite praise and answer to many prayers. Thank you all so much for your prayers, we appreciate them more than you know.

Update...

Ava just fell asleep so I finally have a chance to fill you in... although I have to hurry because others are waiting for the computer. We're still at Children's. Ava is doing pretty good despite all the usually things like being horribly tired, both physically, and of any and every hand that pokes, prods or touches her. She is still not herself though and has yet to stand on her legs or bounce on your lap. So we are staying another night. Tomorrow at 9am they will be giving her an MRI to check her legs and hopefully rule out if the infection has interceded into her bones. So please pray the infection hasn't gone into her bones and also pray the MRI goes smoothly. She'll have to be given anesthesia so they can get her to lay still, so pray there are no complications with that too. It's kind of a mystery as to why she isn't using her legs, so please pray they'll be able to figure that out... sooner than later. Sorry if this is a complete jumbled mess, I need to get back to our room. Oh how I wish we would have known we were staying 2 nights, Sean and I look like a couple of bedraggled parents! Yikes! Thanks for praying for our baby girl, we definitely can feel your prayers!

Keep Praying!

I can't express enough how thankful I am to each of you for praying for Ava and for Sean and I. Please keep praying!

Another visit to the medical center today, and another shot of antibiotics for Ava. She is definitely showing signs of improvement, yet she is still not 100%. I think our main concern now is her legs and why she isn't really using them. She wiggles her toes and occasionally bends her legs at the knee, but it's like she has dead weight from the waist down, she has yet to stand or bounce on your lap like normal. We're headed to Children's Hospital tomorrow to see the 'infectious disease specialist.' So I'm asking you to pray for us tomorrow, that we'll get answers to our questions. Such as - What are the lasting effects of this? Is there a chance of re-occurrence? How did she get this, and what can we do to avoid ever getting it again?!.... Pray also for Ava, for comfort because I'm sure there will be a lot of pokes and not many naps. Pray also for complete healing in her little body, that tomorrow she'll be kicking those legs again.