And... We're Back

We arrived in Madison Saturday evening after a whirlwind 24+ hours of excruciating travel. It's not that the flying was bad -- except for the Space Mountain flight between Minneapolis and Madison ("This is your captain. We're going to ask that the flight attendants not serve beverages and remain securely belted." Terrific.) -- it was the marathon of sleeplessness while we tried to keep Ava comfortable. Ava slept for the majority of the three flights home, and for that we were very grateful. Our legs were numb by the time we landed and our stomachs a little wonky, as Ava was sleeping in all manner of positions across our bodies and we were just downright air sick. We told ourselves not to move, less we wake her. All in all, that strategy worked out well for us.

Saturday night we all slept long and hard, and Ava only woke up once for her bottle. "This is going to be easy," we said. WRONG!

Ava has had a cold since we welcomed her into our family. She's mostly had a runny nose and a sneeze. Her cold still lingers, but now you can throw in some serious diarrhea and occasional vomiting, some of the projectile nature. Bleh! Bleh! "Nice shot, Ava!" She has been up 2-4 times a night now.

As a result of her sickness, Ava has been slow to eat and slow to drink, but fast at becoming dehydrated. Ava was down about 20 or so ounces of fluid from her usual routine. She was also weak and just not the playful and smiling Ava we had come to know. We also had a difficult time waking her, another sign of dehydration. Needless to say, we were worried about her, so we brought her to the doctor (for a second time in two days) and they recommended we hydrate her intravenously. We spent about 6 hours yesterday at the doctor and hospital. Scott's brother, David, stopped by the hospital and helped us to pass the time while we tried to keep Ava's attention away from the needles stuck in her hand. The few times she saw them, she wanted to yank them out. It was a long day.

Today Ava seems to be feeling a little better, and is eating/drinking more than yesterday, but still nowhere near the level in which she should. The doctor said to keep trying and even a little bit is better than nothing. We hope the virus passes soon.

Meanwhile, we are on poop collection duty for the lab. Just throwing that little tidbit in there in hopes that you are reading this over your lunch hour.

In between all of the ugly stuff, Ava has been a sweetie. We've had visits from both sets of parents and our neighbors, and she was just a little ham. We're happy that she enjoys the company of others, although we are keeping that to a bare minimum for a while as we try to establish strong bonds with her. Today Anne carried her around in the snuggly for several hours and Scott played with her on the floor. She especially enjoyed sitting on a sweater and being pulled along the hardwood floor. It was nice to see her laughing and smiling again.

If we look tired in some of these photos, we are.