I’m not sure if Dallas is ready for the hurricane of cuteness and personality that is Davy Elizabeth Frazier, but ready or not – she’s here!

We got Davy and Chelsea moved into Our Children’s House (OCH) yesterday. OCH is a hospital that, “offers an array of coordinated, comprehensive services for children with special health care needs. The program brings together a licensed pediatric hospital together with nine outpatient clinics.”

OCH states that they have one singular goal: “to return each child to his or her optimal level of health.” Ultimately, that’s why Davy is here. We desire for her to achieve an optimal level of health, specifically through feeding therapy that allows her to take all of her feeds by mouth. You can read more about OCH and the program here.

The First 24 Hours

I would describe day one as “full” to highlight my skills in understatement. We moved into a temporary room around 11am and then began the onslaught of meetings, conversations, and paper work. All necessary things, but things you get done with and wonder if you just got beat up and mugged by a pack of nurses. Do nurses run in packs? You bet they do. They are the salt of the earth, but don’t cross them.

If we’re continuing in the vein of understatement, the night was “eventful”. Davy doesn’t do overly well in new locations, especially new beds that look like comfy prison cells. We got Davy down around 9 while Chels and I debriefed the day. We crashed around 11, but had to maneuver around our room like ninjas.

Then, question, have you ever got onto an air mattress gracefully or quietly? No, of course you haven’t because no one has except the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World. Also, every time we shifted on the air mattress during the night it sounded like we throwing a garbage bag into a full dumpster. Would Davy wake up every time? Yep. Would she cry like you had just slapped a little puppy? Yep. Again, the night was eventful.

The morning was slightly smoother if you don’t include the 6am Davy wake up call (and by wake up call I’m not talking soft piano music waking you up gracefully, but a blood curdling scream inducing fear that the pack of nurses were back to mug us) or the massive blowout she had right before her first appointment that we were late to due to said blowout.

The rest of the day went relatively smooth. After our first full day, we’ve  learned that each day will be extremely busy for Chels and Davy. They will go to five speech/feeding therapy appointments a day and at least two other therapy appointments for occupational and physical therapy. All of that plus four tube feeds, a nap (somewhere in there), daily vitals, and some play time squeezed in there just for some semblance of normalcy! On top of that, they are not able to leave the premises at all during the month long stay!

Many of you have asked how you can help and I wanted to point you to three ways you can support my girls.

How You Can Help

1. Give

I’ve had a lot of you ask me if you can send money to pay for a coffee for Chels, a meal or a toy/book for Davy girl. Instead of trying to collect money individually I put together a little fundraising site that will collect it all in one place. If you want to give financially you can do so at this link.

http://www.youcaring.com/davystrong

2. Encourage & Support 

Chelsea will need your encouragement over this month and I know just how you can do it! Chelsea is a words person. You can get her gifts all day and get a “oh, that’s nice,” but if you share a timely word it speaks to her on the heart level.

I would encourage you to send texts, FB messages, emails or you can send an encouragement to davyelizabethstrong@gmail.com. Disclaimer: Chels  won’t be able to respond to all messages, but would still love to hear from you.

3. Prayer

Last, but definitely not least, the best way to encourage Chels and Davy will be through prayer. I put together a little prayer calendar that you can find at the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LmjkeSlzw-sXkjGo0GceBhGpmtLpDErIxNN8Ohh7TZs/edit?usp=sharing

Put your name in the slot and pray for Chels + Davy as they come to your mind that day!

We want to thank you guys so much for continuing this journey that is nearing two years. I can’t wait to share with Davy, when she’s old enough to grasp, the global support group she had advocating for her through funds, encouragement and prayer. Until then, know that Chels and I are deeply appreciative of this community that has rallied around us both near and far. Love you guys.