On December 18th, 2014 at 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant, my worst happened. Without any explanation, I went into labor. We had been prepared by the doctors to expect the worst. We were told statistic after statistic of what could happen if I were to deliverer. The goal was to try to stop my labor for as long as possible because each precious day would give her a chance to grow stronger in the safety of the womb. My husband and I were ready to camp out in the hospital until April 12th when she was due. That all changed at 12:43am on 12/20/14. After 13 hours of labor, lots of labor stopping medication and only 1 steroid shot, Avery came into the world on her terms-and screaming.

Everything seemed to be going well at first. She was small but she was feisty. On Christmas Eve when Avery was 4 days old, we hit our first hurdle. An ultrasound had shown grade 3 bilateral bleeding on her brain. Since a grade 4 is considered the most severe, the only comfort we had was that it wasn’t the worst and time would tell how it would affect her.

At 8 days old, she stopped digesting her feeds. She was transferred from OSU to NCH for emergency surgery. During surgery, they discovered her stomach had developed a spontaneous hole in it that needed to be repaired. It is such a terrifying feeling handing over your tiny fragile child to someone knowing it may be the last time you see them alive. We are so thankful for the skilled hands of the surgical team.

NCH children’s hospital became our home for following 172 day. There were lots of ups and downs, 2 more surgeries, several more diagnosis and countless other procedures during our stay. There were times we didn’t know if we could make it through another day. It’s a painful thing leaving your child, day after day. It crushes you to watch them go through so much while you stand by helpless.

However, through every rough day, we were thankful to be at NCH. If it wasn’t for all the wonderful staff at Children’s, our beautiful daughter wouldn’t be here. Everyone ranging from the doctors to the janitorial staff treated us like family.

Avery is now 15 months old and is doing extremely well. She loves to laugh and play. Her giggle is infectious. We are extremely blessed.

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• Name: Avery M.Avery McCarthy
• Condition(s): Prematurity
• Age at Treatment: 0 days
• Age Today: 12/20/20149 Years

On December 18th, 2014 at 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant, my worst happened. Without any explanation, I went into labor. We had been prepared by the doctors to expect the worst. We were told statistic after statistic of what could happen if I were to deliverer. The goal was to try to stop my labor for as long as possible because each precious day would give her a chance to grow stronger in the safety of the womb. My husband and I were ready to camp out in the hospital until April 12th when she was due. That all changed at 12:43am on 12/20/14. After 13 hours of labor, lots of labor stopping medication and only 1 steroid shot, Avery came into the world on her terms-and screaming.

Everything seemed to be going well at first. She was small but she was feisty. On Christmas Eve when Avery was 4 days old, we hit our first hurdle. An ultrasound had shown grade 3 bilateral bleeding on her brain. Since a grade 4 is considered the most severe, the only comfort we had was that it wasn’t the worst and time would tell how it would affect her.

At 8 days old, she stopped digesting her feeds. She was transferred from OSU to NCH for emergency surgery. During surgery, they discovered her stomach had developed a spontaneous hole in it that needed to be repaired. It is such a terrifying feeling handing over your tiny fragile child to someone knowing it may be the last time you see them alive. We are so thankful for the skilled hands of the surgical team.

NCH children’s hospital became our home for following 172 day. There were lots of ups and downs, 2 more surgeries, several more diagnosis and countless other procedures during our stay. There were times we didn’t know if we could make it through another day. It’s a painful thing leaving your child, day after day. It crushes you to watch them go through so much while you stand by helpless.

However, through every rough day, we were thankful to be at NCH. If it wasn’t for all the wonderful staff at Children’s, our beautiful daughter wouldn’t be here. Everyone ranging from the doctors to the janitorial staff treated us like family.

Avery is now 15 months old and is doing extremely well. She loves to laugh and play. Her giggle is infectious. We are extremely blessed.