Thankfulness

This week on I Heart Faces, the theme is "Thankfulness". I am most thankful for my three, wonderful miracles. They were born 11 weeks early and were fighters from the very beginning.




For 2 months, they fought to overcome being born so early. Finally, after 2 months in the NICU, they came home!

Everyone was doing well, and were just "normal" babies.




We thought our fighting and struggles were over. We lived life like nothing could stop us.


We were wrong.


When the kids were 7 months old, Anna and Ayva were diagnosed with Infantile Spasms. It's a rare and very serious epileptic condition, and it stripped away all of the milestones and skills my fighters had learned up until then.


Anna responded very well to the first medication we tried....Ayva however, did not. She has since tried many medications, and has almost died from one of them. That month in the hospital, watching my baby get so sick from a medication that was supposed to help her, was so hard.




She was struggling again... but this time her fight would be much longer.

Once off of the deadly medication, Avya became seizure free for 2 short-lived months. Once they returned, the effects of the seizures took a toll on her little body.
She can no longer hold her head up, she can't roll, and is no where near where she once was- almost sitting... With the hundreds of seizures a day, 24/7 of her brain being so plagued with abnormal electric activity, it is a constant struggle for her.


Now, over a year after my girls were diagnosed, we are still struggling to fight the seizure monster. We live our lives by the day, and we are glad that it is behind us when it's over. We look forward to the day when we no longer have to worry about seizures, developmental delay, and fighting for everything we have. We don't know when that day will come, or if it will at all. But I am SO thankful to have these special people in my life. They have shown me that life is worth fighting for. That every day is special, and that tomorrow will be brighter than today.



They have shown me that happiness isn't the things you own, but is the people you love. And ever since the day these three miracles came into my life, I have been thankful.