My (not so) Perfect Life: Little Miss Ava

Not everything in life goes as planned..... I didn't get over to Heron Island on the weekend, as my beautiful little niece Ava was admitted to hospital.

We got a phone call from our Brother in law just as we were leaving for the airport, letting us know that Ava was being flown down to the intensive care unit at Royal Brisbane Womens and Children.

Ava has asthma and that combined with a (suspected - tests aren't back yet) chest infection was stopping her from absorbing enough oxygen. I am sure that Jen that will explain more of the details on her blog.

Luckily Ava is now out of icu and in the regular childrens ward and is feeling much better! She is still on oxygen and a few medications, but she should be getting out later this week :)

Visiting the hospital is not something I have ever really had to do (except when I went to see Ava the day after she was born) and seeing the way that the doctors, nurses and staff have looked after Ava, Jen and Richard has given me a few things to think about....

Firstly I am very grateful for the fact that I haven't had to spend much time at hospitals before this. My family has been blessed with relatively good health and I have always taken that for granted. Ava was able to leave the icu after 36 hours, not all families are that lucky. My heart goes out to the parents and families of the children that need to spend considerably longer there.

I am so very impressed with each of the nurses that I have met. Their jobs must be mighty challenging at times and they all have such big smiles and lots of kind words for their patients.

I also think that Ronald McDonald House provides a really valueable service for families of sick children. I plan to ensure that I make a donation evertime I go to McDonalds from now on!