The Sun Did Not Shine...But We Did!

Even though it was raining, hailing and lightening on Saturday at the March of Dimes, "March For Babies," Avery's Aviators were still able to shine!  The walk was cancelled after a major hail storm came through the area...we were all standing under a tent as it came down!  Many of the folks on our team came out despite the weather and looked awesome in their T-shirts.

I was told by a March of Dimes representative that never has a family team raised more than $5,000 in the entire state of Arkansas.  Avery's Aviators raised $8,055!  I am so proud of all of our fundraising efforts and feel confident what we did and the inspiration of my Avery is going to make a difference in the lives of so many.  Thank you to all of the folks who joined our team or gave GENEROUSLY to Avery's Aviators!

 

Professional Photos...18 Months in the Making

There were so many wonderful things that came out of our time in the UAMS NICU.  While there we fell in love with our baby and knew for the rest of our lives we would do anything for her happiness.  Encountering so many families that were struggling made us appreciate our own situation; we realized that we had it pretty good.  Ryan and I learned that our marriage grew stronger in times of crisis and it brought out the best in us instead of the worst.  The best thing we encoutered was the kindness of others.  Nurses gave us tissues when we could not hold back the tears, doctors hugged our necks and shared in our victories, volunteers from Ryan's squadron brought us meal upon meal, perfect strangers sent us emails and words of encouragement through our blog.  We also had a neat surprise the day Avery came off the ventilator.  Crystal Goss, a local photographer, volunteers her time and talents to take pictures of NICU babies and she offered to take Avery's picture.  As you will see below Ryan and I were totally unprepared - he still looks in shock and I look so tired.  But the good news is the pictures were not about us they were about Avery Beth.  So why are we just now seeing these pictures you ask?  Crystal already had one child born prematurely (this explains her interest in photographing preemies!) and was put on bedrest with her second pregnancy shortly after she took Avery Beth's picture.  The March of Dimes preparations reminded me I never received these pictures and I found the name of the photographer and gave her a call.  As it turns out her family is the March of Dimes Ambassador Family for Arkansas this year!  I have been checking my email inbox almost hourly since we talked - I am so excited to share these!

No More Itty Bitty Babies!

When Avery Beth was born I did not have a direct connection with a premature baby. As far as I knew I did not know anyone with a premature baby. In fact I thought of preemies as those small versions of Cabbage Patch Kids! I had no idea what a premature baby looked like, how they struggled and how their birth could change lives forever. After having my sweet baby girl I found friends from all corners of the nation that had preemies, were a preemie or were somehow helpful in educating me about what we were going through. So many people contacted us to tell us their stories of miracles - I was astonished by how many people we knew who had been impacted by a premature birth! I in fact have a close friend here in Little Rock that was a former preemie weighing exactly what Avery did when she was born...2 lbs 6 oz. I am so thankful for her friendship and know that God placed her in our lives for a very special reason. It was comforting knowing that my baby had the potential to grow up to be smart, successful and beautiful too. But because of all of these stories my eyes were opened to a huge problem and that is why we walk with and raise money for the March of Dimes! We walk with hop that no one else we love will go through this struggle! I don't think anyone else but Ryan and myself (and maybe my mom) have seen this video clip. Avery was about 2 weeks old, finally off the ventilator and making her first sounds. I remember crying tears of joy when I finally heard my baby making noises! She even had an opinion then...she did not care for all that stuff "all up in her grill!" I love that you can hear the nurse in the background. I will forever be thankful for those ladies who took care of my baby when I could not!

Marching!

Avery Beth and I will be walking this Saturday in the March of Dimes, "March for Babies!" I am so excited and am desperate for no rain! Above is a picture taken of Avery just moments after her birth. It was such a scary time for us and am thankful for all the people who helped us through our struggle, including the March of Dimes. It is so amazing that this tiny little baby has inspired so many to give!


We have our very own team, "Avery's Aviators" and above is our team logo. We currently have 25 team members and have raised a whopping $6,765!!! We have so much momentum right now! I am so close to my goal of $1,000 but I am $130 short. Click this link http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?pp=79702&ct=4&w=4064292&u=laurengsanders or the purple box to the right to give!

Please think long and hard about giving to the March of Dimes. What a difference they can make in the life of a family. One of the focuses for March of Dimes funds is on educating expecting mothers about what to look for and signs of problems with their pregnancy. How different my experience may have been if I had been more informed about my symptoms and knew to question my doctor. I was so sick. I was literally dying, in my bedroom, alone, with a dismissive doctor who sent me out the door with pain killers and an appointment at a specialist for heartburn. I learned so much from my experience and feel it is MY DUTY to tell expectant mothers to trust their body, visit the March of Dimes website while expecting, ask for a second opinion and trust their new "maternal instinct" if they feel something is wrong. I wish I had.

This image was taken the day Avery was born. Her hand was the size of my engagement ring. So tiny!

Daddy Kisses

So Ryan is deployed. Watching him leave this time just about broke my heart. Daddy and Avery are best buddies and I guess I hurt more for him than anything else. I know it would kill me to be apart from my little girl for almost five months. I would not want to be in his shoes; when he returns from this deployment he will have been gone 9 out of 21 months of Avery's life...including her birth. I get so worked up and sad when I really start thinking about the impact of Ryan's military career and how the story of our life will be told. The Air Force has provided a wonderful life for us, yet Ryan will watch and know his child through stories over the phone, pictures, mailed video clips on a disk and time delayed moments on Skype. I know families have done this for years and "back in the day" had to wait on mail to arrive a month later but this is MY family and MY struggle. Ryan and I spoke tonight and I raced to tell everything Avery had done in the last three days before we ran out of time: Avery is totally obsessed with stickers and coloring, she tried to do a forward flip on the carpet - where she learned that I will never know, she ate dog food today, she tried to shave my legs today after watching me do it once in the shower earlier in the week, she found a panty liner in the bathroom cabinet and tried for 15 minutes to stick it to a body part saying "boo boo!," Avery got a new toybox in the mail today, she finds five day old, scabbed over "boo boos" and immediately goes into hysterics all over again, she is way smarter than we give her credit for, she is wearing me out! Ahhhhhh exhale. And Ryan is not the only one we are apart from because of his job. We live hundreds of miles from any other family member. They miss out on all kinds of special moments and everyday goodness because of the distance. I am so thankful for Ryan and people like Ryan who sacrifice...I just wish the sacrifice weren't so hard on my family.

The daddy kisses jar and a little hang begging for more!

While Ryan is away Avery Beth gets a "Daddy Kiss" everyday. The jar of kisses started with 135 kisses and when the kisses are all gone daddy will be home...and our child will have a serious chocolate addiction. She gets SO excited and insists on opening these kisses all by herself; one tiny little shred of aluminum foil at a time. I love that she has a connection with daddy and something that makes her so happy.