Beginnings And Endings In 2010

Where to start...oh, the beginning! 2010 began with a brand new baby, Averie Grace Mauck, born January 6! What a miracle she is, from the start. As you may remember, she was diagnosed inutero with a very serious heart condition and most doctors did not expect her to survive to birth. We had so many praying for us, and she was born and got to come home for almost 6 months before her heart surgery. Our pastor and his wife were at the hospital for her birth, it made the wait so much easier, what a special blessing it was to have them there to cry and rejoice with. We did not know at that point that she would do so well, just that she was alive and she cried and did not need any help! She is doing great and is just about to walk, what a blessing she has been to our family. Her brothers and sisters just love her to pieces!



Another beginning for 2010 is that our church family at Grace Baptist got the awesome privilege of moving into our new building, built by our pastor and church members with the help of some builders sent to share their ministry. The building is beautiful and has been the place where many have received Christ and or gotten baptized, including our daughter, Aubrey Shae! She asked Jesus to save her this year at 4 years old and is already very concerned that others she knows does the same. If you have not had the opportunity to see this building, please come by. (5000 Leo Kerner/Lafitte Larose Hwy, Marrero, LA 70072-www.gracebaptistofmarrero.com)



One ending in 2010 was Matthew graduating kindergarten! He is such a joy to teach at home, and is reading well, adding, subtracting, learning money and much more. Very smart kiddo, his latest amazement with school is learning cursive, so proud of himself. He turned 6 in August. With that ending, another beginning, Aubrey started kindergarten! Aubrey will be 5 on November 29. She is so much fun to teach as well. She is about half way through and already the basic sounds for each letter. She thought after she got to "Z" that she did not have to go to school anymore! She does enjoy it and often asks if we can do more. (I know, that will change!)



Andrew turned 3 this year. What a sarcastic, charming, outgoing kid. He never stops and many times gives us a scare or two with his climbing and jumping. He is the official "middle child", as we are stopping at 5! I wasn't sure I would ever get to the point where I felt like we had enough and I did not want to have another baby, sounds silly to some, I am sure. Besides our unique circumstances of two serious heart conditions which will require future surgeries until they are adults, we are so content with five. I have never been so happy to get rid of items which Averie outgrows, be it bouncy seats, walkers, clothes, it just feels great! I am so excited about getting to do big kid things like camping, boating, fishing, etc. without being pregnant or nursing a baby! I know know what it is like to have a 10 month old without being pregnant again, I never got passed 7 months before. (Which is how the 5 kids, 5 and under happened!) I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to have 5, wow, but no more, Lord willing!



Maci is a very sassy and cute 2 year old now, potty-trained and all! She is a handful and often wants to be the baby, and we let her a lot. She gets away with a lot more than the others did at this age, just feel bad that the entire second half of my pregnancy(with Averie) when she (Maci)was still a baby, I was gone so much for appointments almost daily and worried the remainder of the time, I guess I am trying to make it up to her! All of my children have learned to be pretty well behaved, so I really cannot complain.



Don is still working at the same machine shop. His employers seem to like him a lot, he gets raises and they tend to give him busy work when they are slow just to keep him on the clock! (which only happened for a couple of months here and there) He got to go deer hunting for the first time this year, actually, is there right now, still waiting to hear about poor Bambi!



I do not take it for granted that God has given more grace this year, Averie recovered from 2 surgeries well, one for her ovary at one day old, and the other open heart at 6 months. She came home from each one in less than 2 weeks! And, our Andrew had a bad case of pneumonia, which he had to stay over a few nights at Children's for, but also recovered very fast! We just never know what each day will hold, as anyone else, take one day at a time.



All said, what a year, beginning to end! (of course, December could bring many surprises!)

One Long but Short Week!

One week ago today our youngest baby, Averie had her open heart surgery to repair her Tetralogy of Fallot. Her recovery has been AMAZING! We are already about to go home, maybe tomorrow. She came off of the ventilator and her chest tubes were pulled so soon and without complications! That really does mean alot with babies and heart surgeries, there is so much that can go wrong and did not. We are very thankful to all of our praying relatives and friends.

Many people are asking, (meaning friends and friends of friends) "Why did they have anymore children!, I mean wasn't it bad enough that Andrew had to go through this and now another! What were they thinking." First of all, this hurts, ALOT! Secondly, not that we owe anyone an explanation, but after we had Andrew we did go through all of the genetic testing and we were told we should be fine to have more children. When we found out about Averie, we have re-entered genetic testing and they are really digging deep, as this is unusual. Would I do it all over again...OF COURSE! So not that our family's expansion is ANYONE'S business, we are NOT having anymore. Now, I feel better! By the way, noone has a choice in the matter-God designed my children exactly like HE WANTS them! And they are special because of it. If I only had one child and it was a heart baby and I wanted another, I would still risk it. It is hard, but they are worth it and anyone around us can tell you we lead a very normal life, aside from surgery. I just think too many people talk about things they have NO KNOWLEDGE about, it is usually UNEDUCATED opinion, which is worthless to anyone! My husband and I wanted 6 and maybe one day will even get to adopt, hey here you go-maybe we will adopt one of these heart babies who get abandoned because their parents did not think they were perfect! Thankfully, none of my children have terminal issues-it is all fixable-PRAISE GOD! Now, I feel soooo much better.

Our other kiddos cannot wait for their baby sister to come home. Our family is so close, we never take a day for granted. My mom has held down the fort pretty well, but is most likely exhausted! Can't wait to get home and help her!

Once again, thanks for praying! We love you all!

Averie's First Open Heart Surgery

Sorry I haven't posted much, been putting everything on Facebook. Just incase you are not on facebook, Averie will be having surgery on July 1. It should last 5-6 hours and should involve a complete repair. She will need valve replacements as she outgrows her pulmonary valve they are putting in. She is doing great, the doctors just think it is a good time.

Has It Really Been 2 MONTHS????

Wow. Hard to believe it has been two months since the birth of our little miracle. She is precious just as the other four! We have had so fun with her. She seems to be doing okay with her heart problems, so far. She is tolerating everything so the cardiologist is still okay with watching her and waiting for surgery for 6- 12 months of age. Seems too good to be true still. We will never get over God's goodness to us! She is growing fast and weighs 10.5 lbs! And, just like her sisters, she is quite the "Mommy's Girl."

Matthew has been doing awesome in K5 homeschool, even when I couldn't devote very much or any attention to him. He is reading, adding and subtracting, telling time and counting money. It is getting harder and harder to keep him in with this great weather. He is the best big brother and really puts up with alot!

Aubrey is maturing, finally! She loves to make believe, esp. babies. She is always so quick to respond to Averie's cries, running to search for a pacifier or just try to calm her by talking to her. I love the bond she has with her.

Andrew....he is the busiest, most sarcastic, extremely curious little guy. He really comes out with some crazy stuff. He will be three next month and has already made up his first joke: "Why did the moo cow go across the road?...He wanted to get to the water!" The joke really was nothing to laugh at, but hearing him tell it had everyone in the suburban cracking up!

Maci is such a sweet baby! She is 18months old now. She is SUCH a sensitive little girl. She does not like to see anyone upset. If she thinks she is in trouble, she keeps repeating, "I love you, mommy." She is trying to potty train herself, I am not ready for that.

Don is still working as a machinist and is learning so much at the company he works for. It is definately a "blue collar" kind of job. He comes home SO filthy! I am usre he is exhausted too, but he never acts like he is. He does not stop until he is ready for bed. What a great daddy my kids have! (And I could not ask for a better husband!)

I am still staying pretty busy with appointments and homeschooling. With three kids seeing a cardiologist, two going to genetics, 4 to the dentist, 5 here and there to the pediatrician, myself to my post partum checkups...that is enough .

Our church is in the new building now and it has been awesome. We have seen a steady flow of visitors each week. We have a great location. There have been salvations and baptisms each week. It is such a beautiful auditorium and building. I need to get pictures!

Once again, Thank you for your many prayers for our family!

Averie's Progress (As of Sunday)

Today is Sunday, Averie is 5 days old! What a miracle she is. Even the doctors admit that in their own way. She has kept perfect numbers, never even gave us a scare. She got to drink milk for the first time today and loved it. Her only complaint was that she has a 10-15 cc limit. I was told that she would be able to go home if she did well with eating. I think I have to room in with her for a couple of days first, to take over total care for her and get comfortable with it. She is on NO medicines, WOW. (Well, except for the antibiotics she is having b/c of her ovary surgery) She is a little yellow, hopefully the numbers go back down for this so it does not delay things. I am sure everyone knows this, but she does still need surgery for her heart, she just does not need it immediately like Andrew did. She will come home and go to the cardiologist frequently and they will be watching through ekg and echo to know when it is time. Some babies like her have gone to 9 months, we will see. What a blessing that is just is not now! We are still waiting on Pathology reports for her cyst they removed. And we are also expecting to hear soon about the DiGeorge Syndrome test. The genetics doctor met with Don and Averie, and he is almost sure she does not have this syndrome, they are running the tests to be sure.Doctors tell us more than daily that she is suprising everyone by doing so well. She came out SO blue, it really scared everyone. She pinked up very fast. Most doctors I knew basically did not give her a chance at all. Even the internet was not helpful in giving us hope. But, "Lean not unto thine own understanding..." That is what I alwasys quoted over and over on the way home from my appointments. There is no way to really say thank you to everyone who has prayed for this baby. I do hope you all continue as you just never know what each day will bring. Take care and live each day for God, put Him first and everything else will be taken care of!

Averie's 2nd Day

AngieDon Mauck January 7 at 9:57pm
She is stable and still out of it after surgery for removing the large cyst and removing the ovary it wrapped around. I misunderstood the ventt thing. She is on the vent still, they have weaned the pressure and there is no extra oxygen required. I am hoping to hear she is back to no vent tomorrow and acting like she was prior to surgery. They expect her to. We should be getting results back on the testing of the cyst tomorrow or Monday. Her colon is completely fine, no issues there! Thank you again for being there to hear our concerns and pray for her so much.

Averie's Birth

She did great, as I am sure you have heard. Once again, God has surprised the doctors, but not us! She is my biggest girl, 7 lbs even but short like the others, 18.5 inches long. Her hair, not much up there, but what we see is dark. That is how all mine start out. She screamed and screamed at her birth, something I prayed VERY hard to hear! I cried and cried and rejoiced!Her heart is doing great, she was under the oxygen hood for a couple hrs, but nothing since then. Her cardiologist is awesome and you could hear him smiling through the phone when he gave me her first update. We do not know much about the cyst or her enlarged colon. Cyst is still there, smaller at 4.4 cm. We will know more today, PLEASE PRAY FOR GOOD NEWS! You never know what is going on inside these little babies.Don has been up there the whole time with her except for overnight, at her hospital. He has done an excelent job on sending me pictures and video. He should get to hold her today. She cannot eat yet, and has been off and on fussy, but she seems fine. Big brothers and sisters are doing great with Grandma, of course, unaffected. Don's parents were proud to hear of this miraculous birth of their 22nd grandchild, and having a 6th granddaughter! The doctors now need wisdom more than ever as they get together and plan treatment for her. Will she need surgery right away or go home and grow first, if she keeps this up! What kind of cyst she has and so forth. I cannot tell you how much your prayers have meant to us and Averie's life and awesome start. I do not count any of it lightly! Thank you and there will hopefully be more awesome news to come today. I know there may be things we do not want to hear, but God always gives the right amount of GRACE!I just called to check on her at 215 and she has had NO changes!