Prayers please...Avarey is doing well this morning but she has to have a few procedures which are risky! With taking the fluid off it has caused a space between her windpipe and breathing tube...they now have to change her to a bigger breathing tube. This means moving her neck with the blood tubes in...and with being a blood thinners this could cause bleeding. Also they are not pleased with the artery line in her left leg and will be pulling that and placing it in her right leg. Once again this could lead to bleeding or too much clotting. AS good as these things are, ECMO is making them big bad and scary! Please please please pray! Prayers go up Miracles come down! ♥

Avarey Grace Champagne has to be the toughest girl I know! ONE week old and she has already been poked, prodded, and put on big bad ECMO! But she is two days on ECMO and kicking booty! The doctors are pleased with her numbers and are already talking about weening her off in about two days! PRAISE GOD...I know we are not out of the woods yet but we have hit a clearing :) And as it is with all CDH babies you celebrate the good days and take the bad days with stride! Avarey's brain ultrasound came back showing no blood clots and no other bad activity. Her heart echo showed no enlargements and her functions are doing exactly what they should be! We could not be happier and we are so so proud of our sweet princess! Thank you for our continued support and prayers! <3 <3

Been kinda a down day...Avarey stayed stable all night but started having blood pressure issues throughout the day. She is now back on her paralysis medicine because she was becoming to active and trying to breathe on her on and upsetting this vent. All of this led to her blood pressure dropping. She has been added to another blood pressure medicine, but they are weeening her off of one of the stronger bp meds. So we are up to 3 bp meds for the night, but hopefully down to one in the morning! The docs are looking at Wed for her surgery but that's not 100% ECMO has been mentioned again, but once gain not a definite either. She's is now stable, hopefully for the night, and beautiful as always :) And she's getting a bow change tomorrow...so be sure to look for pics :) :) Please please please pray for Avarey as she continues down this road...she is such a fighter and we are SO SO proud of her! What God brings us to HE will bring us through...Thanks everyone! ♥ ♥ Leighann & Kevin Champagne

Ok...big update on Avarey...first of all thank you for every last thought prayer question well wish and concerbs...it is amazing to see how many peoples hearts Avarey has touched...she sure has grabbed a hold of ours...Kevin and I are so thankful to be blessed with such amazing people in our lives...thank you!! Now the princess has had a great day!!! They kept ger on the jet vent instead of switching to the traditional bc right now it is gentler on her...they have completely turned her paralisys medicine off which in turn has allowed them to bring down her bp meds even more! She is still heavily sedated..but is feeling again, twitching her hands, and slighty moving her head!! Blood gas numbera are picture perfect and all other numbers are holding strong! The doctor told me this morning that although ECMO is always an option...she does not see Avarey having to go on it at all!!! PRAISE GOD!!! They is eveidence of a left lung and her right one seems to be workibg and doing its job!!! :-) Surgery will hopefully be sometime this week!! Pleaae continue to pray....prayers go up miracles come down! :-) Thanks!!! ♥♥ Kevin & LeighAnn

Where do I even start? This is the first time I have ever done anything like this, and trust me, I'm a rambler so this may take a while. My Avarey Grace is coming Feb 8th or 9th of 2012 and I couldn't be more excited and scared. My Fiancee, Kevin, and I first found out about Avarey's CDH on Sept 9th 2011. Let me tell you, there is nothing like seeing your first baby for the first time, then being told it's a GIRL , and then being told there may be a problem. Talk about something to bring you down. You spend the moment from the first time you find out your pregnant until the BIG ultrasound day imagining how your baby is going to look and what it is going to be, and then all of that is forgetten given a few simple words. It truly crushes your heart. Kevin and I had not heard of CDH until that faithful day and since then my whole world has been upside down. Avarey has left sided cdh and only her stomach and part of her intestines are up in her chest. Her heart is pushed all the way to the right, but it is full size, beating correctly, and pumping blood great! We have been told by doctor's that we have "the best case" for a "life threatening" birth defect. Being CDH parents we all know this still does not mean she will make it. I find that trying to explain it to people is one of the hardest parts. You never want to tell someone that you are having an unhealthy baby, and then further on trying to explain exactly what is wrong complicates things. As great as it is to hear "Oh babies make it all the time, babies that are born 3 months premature live to have perfectly healthy lives..."so on and so on. Or even worse, "Oh it's a simple surgery, babies are fighters, they always come out on top. She'll be just fine." No It's not OK, no it's not that simple. There are 1,000,000 things that could wrong, and the surgery is the least of the complications, she has to be able to breath in the first place. But people who are not CDH parents are supporters just don't get it. I know they mean well, but it's just not that easy. Or maybe this venting is just all the built up resentment.... I try to so hard to stay positive and i try so hard not to be angry, but it is nowhere near easy. Never in my life have I known what true heartache is till now. Never in my life have I ever cried to the point it hurts, and now it seems to happen day in and day out. I am finally moving forward somewhat, the mornings aren't as sad and the days don't seem as long. I know she still has a chance, but there is also that chance of what if. What if my angel doesn't make it, what if I decorate a nursery and no sweet baby girl to bring home to it, what do i do with all the cute pink baby clothes and the christening gown and her blankies? How do I ever move on? My support group from home is great, I could not ask for a better fiancee or grandparents for Avarey, but sometimes they don't can't quite get it. I'm her mommy, I'm suppose to keep her here, and what if I fail at that? Avarey's due date is fast approaching, as I much as I cannot wait to see her pretty little face and hold her tiny little fingers, I want to keep her inside as long as I can, that way I know she's safe. But until till I guess it's doctor appointments every week and a BPP test on Monday the 5th! (Prayers for that are more than welcome) And in the time being I'll enjoy every last kick,flip, and turn she makes and every last ultrasound screen I get to see her pretty face through! May God Bless each and every one of you!

Mommy Loves you Angel Avarey <3