Our Sweet Girl

The picture on the bottom, right is of Ryan's hand next to Ella. She is so tiny, but doing well for her age.

01-08-10 ---- 01-11-10

Over Ella's first days, all of the NICU doctors keep telling us how amazing she is and how she is "not the average 27 week baby" in many ways. Here are a few reasons/updates on her:

*She is sucking on a pacifier. If you remember, Carter went to the NICU at 36 weeks because he could not suck to eat/use a pacifier.

*She has only been using a nasal cannula for her oxygen since her first day of life. At one point, she was using less oxygen than her mommy! She is now on 2 Liters of oxygen at 21% (room air).

*She did have a blood transfusion this morning 1-11-10 which is a common thing. They said it will probably not be her only one. The transfusion helped stabalize her blood gases and oxygen carrying capacity. She recieved about 1 Tablespoon on blood.

*She does have a heart murmur ( Patent Ductus Arteriosus ) and is on day 3 of the medicine to treat it. She will have another Eco Cardiogram on it tomorrow to see if it closed. This again is very common. We are hopeful the medicine will take care of it and she will not need another round of medication/surgery.

*She is experiencing Bradycardia (apnea). This is when she is holding her breathe and her heart rate dips. She is forgetting to breathe. However, it is positive that these episodes are fast and she is correcting on her own. She has not needed any stimulation to correct it. She had a total of 7/8 yesterday and had only 1 this morning as of 11am.

*SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL RED HEAD!!!

We know we are on a roller coaster and we will have positives/negatives along the way. I am so happy with the wonderful care she is receiving and the AMAZING staff in the NICU!!

I am being discharged tonight. It will be sad, but I know she is in good hands and God is with her. I am doing well, but really tired and sore.

Delivery Day Tuesday, Jan. 7th

One of Ella's first pictures.

I was in pain all night and into the morning of Jan. 7th. After none of the pain medicines had worked (there were a few they could not give give me due to my kidney/respiratory levels) and determining my water had broke, it was decided that it was time to deliver. I went back at 9:00 am, I was put under about 9:20 am and Ryan was told by 9:35 am that Ella was here and headed to the NICU. He was immediately taken to her and updated by the doctors. I was sent to recovery for a short time and then brought to see her.

My condition prior to delivery

** This well written note about my condition prior to delivery was composed by one of my co-teachers at HTS and sums it all up!

Tuesday ( December 29th) Megan began experiencing pain that was determined to be caused by an acute physical issue related to her pregnancy, which required what should have been a short surgery to correct the problem. (Not a problem with the baby, but one with her which was affecting the baby.) The surgery took much longer than usual—about 2 ½ hours, which started a snowball effect of difficulties for Megan health-wise (pre-term labor, pneumonia, kidney failure and more). All of this is what landed Megan in ICU at St. Luke’s on the Plaza. (She’s at 26 weeks and they want to hold the baby until at least 28 weeks.)

Let's keep pouring out prayers for her and Ella Brooke (which is what they will name this baby)!

P.S. Megan just called. She’s out of ICU, but very weak and worn out. Not ready for calls, and no visits, PLEASE. She’ll let us know. I told her I’ll check in with whoever is at her house tomorrow for an update

Christmas 2009

He was so happy on Christmas morning!

Carter LOVES Thomas!!

Carter and Jay (cousin and another red head) seeing Santa

This ornament hasa stocking for "daddy" one for "mommy", a green one for Carter

and a little red one that says "coming soon"! Lucky, our dog also has a spot.

We had great time with family and friends. Carter LOVED opening presents and playing with his new toys! Santa/family members loaded him up with Thomas the Train items, trucks and cars. It was so fun! He also loved decorating the tree this year. He was at a great height and you could see exactly which ornaments he put on the tree.

Carter is 3

Carter had a construction party at home with a few neighbors and friends, a party at Debbie's with his daycare friends and a Thomas the Train party on the actual day (Thanksgiving this year) in Newton. Three parties for the three year old! He gets the opening present thing this year and loved being sang the Happy Birthday song to him!!

What an AMAZING weekend

Friday- We found out the new baby is a GIRL!!! We were shocked and THRILLED and so excited!! My mom, RJ and I attended the appointment. She was breach, and I wsa afraid we were going to leave the appointment without knowing boy/girl. I am glad they were able to see her finally and confirm 95% GIRL!!! Her due date is April 11th.

Carter was at Debbie's and was finishing lunch getting ready for nap. So we quickly went and got a few PINk balloons to bring him! He said all along it was a baby sister!! Please notice his BIG BROTHER shirt he is wearing!

We went lunch with Ryan, Jennifer and Jay to celebrate! Meg and her family invited us over for dinner to celebrate. She gave us our first baby gift and made PINk cupcakes!! We got to see their new house, too.

Saturday- Carter and I went to out Parents As Teachers activity. It was a program from the KC Zoo. As soon as we got there, Carter wanted to go outside and see the bIG animals, since it was a zoo program. I had to explain it all to him...and he did enjoy seeing the "little" animals they brought to show.