Avery’s story begins the evening of November 28^th, 2008.  After a day visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving, my husband and I arrived at WarrenGeneralHospital to be induced into labor.  It had already been a busy day in the delivery ward with around three or four babies being born.  We were taken to a room overlooking the city of Warren and the ConewangoRiver.   We unpacked our things and got comfortable for the night. 

Around 9:00 to 10:00pm the midwife gave me a pill to start dilating my cervix.  My mother and grandmother were with us, but they decided at 11:30pm to go home and wait for the call to come back when something more was happening.   After they left, I tried to get some sleep. 

At 1:30am I woke up and called the nurse because I felt the sudden urge to go to the bathroom.  As soon as I went to get up a gush of water come out and my water had broken.  When I got to the bathroom, I noticed that the water was a funny brownish green color.  I remember thinking to myself, “this is not right.”  Then I remembered that sometimes there can be meconium in the amniotic fluid and that this is not a good thing. 

The rest of that night and early morning is somewhat of a blur to me.  I know my mother and grandmother were called and they came back to the hospital, and that after my water broke I went into natural labor.  Somewhere around 4:00am I was given an epidural. 

The rest of my family and my husband’s family arrived the next morning.  All of them came into the delivery room to wish us good luck.  At 10:46am my angel Avery Ann entered the world.  She weighed 6 pounds 3.5 ounces and was 20 inches long.  As soon as she was delivered, my husband cut the umbilical cord and she was laid on my chest.  I was overcome with love.  She was the most beautiful perfect little girl.  I was so happy and blessed.

For the next five hours my husband and I held, kissed, hugged, and loved our little girl.  We were so thankful that she was here safe and sound.  At least, that’s what we thought. 

Our nightmare began around 4:00pm that day when Avery was taken away for her first bath.  My husband and I decided that we would try to take a nap since we hadn’t slept the night before and I was tired from her birth.  After about twenty minutes of hearing Avery screaming at the top of her lungs, I called the nurse in to see what was going on.  I knew something was not right.  Call it a mother’s intuition.  The nurse came into our room and said that they had noticed that Avery was having seizures.   The pediatrician was looking at her now and he would be in to talk to us in a few minutes.  Those minutes felt like hours.  What had happened to our little girl?

Finally the pediatrician came in and told us that Avery would have to be flown to Erie or Pittsburgh.  We were all in shock.  How could this be happening? It was decided that she would be sent to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.  There they have doctor’s specializing in neo-natal neurology.

My first thought after this was that I was going with my daughter.  No way was I going to stay at the hospital.  I needed to be with my little girl.  Thankfully, my doctor agreed to discharge me.  Eight hours after giving birth I was in a car with my mother, grandmother, and husband heading to Pittsburgh with my mother, father, and brother in-law following in their car behind us.

Once we got to Pittsburgh, it was clear that we weren’t going to get any answers that night.  Many tests would need to be performed before they would confirm what was causing the seizures.  Over the course of the next two days, we were asked many questions concerning our health, our family history, the pregnancy, and the birth.  My husband and I racked our brains searching for answers.

Finally, the nurse told us that the doctor specializing in neo-natal neurology was going to come and speak with us.  He asked us if we wanted a private room and we said yes.  Sitting in a tiny breast-pumping room, we were told the worst news imaginable.  Our daughter Avery was a victim of an umbilical cord accident. 

He told us that some time twenty-four hours prior to her birth the umbilical cord became twisted or knotted cutting off all blood supply to her brain.  This lasted approximately twenty to thirty minutes, and as a result much of the left side of her brain was severely damaged.  The meconium in the amniotic fluid was an indication that this had happened prior to birth.  Then he told us that Avery would never function as a normal infant, child, or adult.  She was terminally ill. 

After the doctor left, my husband and I collapsed on the floor and cried. How could this be happening?  Why is this happening?  We couldn’t understand.  We had done everything right.  We had bought a house, decorated a nursery, gone to birthing classes, washed her clothes, and disinfected bottles.  How were we going to say goodbye the little girl we wanted so badly?

Over the course of the next week my husband and I made many gut-wrenching decisions for Avery, decisions that we never imagined that we would ever have to make.  But with the love and support of many friends and family we were able to get through them.