ugh.

well, we thought it was croup anyway...so, here's the long story....

about 3 weeks ago avery developed a wheeze that sounded kind of scary, so of course i thought it might be rsv and took into the doc quick. but he said everything checked out so we took her back home. another week goes by and she still has the wheeze, so i take her in again. we saw another doc who said it definitely wasn't in her lungs, but in her upper airway...so he prescribed some acid reflux medicine in case it was reflux that was just irritating the upper airway. ANOTHER week goes by with no improvement, and this time we had plans to go to canada for jordan's gradmother's funeral. anyway, we thought we should have the doc take one more look before we take her out of the country... so jordan took her in (because i knew i would be too emotionally charged)... and it's a good thing he did because the doctor said her airway was so narrow at that point that had we taken her to canada she would have died! are you serious?! we couldn't have figured out that it was this serious sooner?
so we admitted her into american fork hospital so that she could be monitored and begin receiving treatments for croup. jordan would stay over night with her so i could be home with tilly, and then we would switch in the morning. it was NOT fun, but we at least felt better about being in the hospital in case anything too serious happened.
anyway, our 4th day there, jordan called and told me they would be flying her to primary children's hospital in slc, because they just couldn't figure out why she was not responding to treatments. so they intubated my poor little baby, and flew her off.

we met her up there, while aunt jana watched tilly--thank you jana! so there they told us since she wasn't and "emergency case" they would keep her intubated for a couple of days until a doctor could see her. i had two feelings about this...1.)phew, she's not considered an emergency, that's good... and 2.) could we please see someone right away so that the poor thing doesn't have to be on a ventilator longer than necessary! kind of frustrating. fortunately, my mom flew out to stay with me and tilly in slc because jordan had to be back in provo going to school--since he missed a bunch of school the week before.
so, they finally went in with a scope to see what the problem was....drum roll please....
the poor thing had an enormous cyst near her vocal chords that was basically blocking off her airway...she had this tiny little whole to breathe through! while they were in there with the scope, they removed it, and she already sounds a MILLION times better!
so now we are home, reunited as a family, finally! avery is in on the mend. she is still taking the acid reflux medicine to prevent irritation and scarring, as well as amoxicilyn to prevent infection. her throat still sounds a little scratchy, but she is getting there.
anyway, i just wanted to take this opportunity to testify of the reality of our Heavenly Father. this has been a very trying week for our family, and i can't imagine having to go through something so traumatic without at testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. although i was a complete basket-case through it all...i really have been sustained. i am so thankful for family and friends who care enough to fast and pray for our family. we are coming away from this experience feeling incredibly blessed...and we thank you all for your concern!