New Year's Eve

Ella was a little giddy today after soaking up the all-you-can-drink milk specials included in her NYE MotElla package. She decided to get into the fun of 2010 and created her own list of New Year's Resolutions!

1. No more heart rate drops.
2. Gain an ounce a day (the opposite of Mom and Dad's resolution)
3. Take all 8 feedings by bottle each day.
4. Save the blowouts for when the diaper is on, not off.
5. Come home to Mom and Dad!

Wrapping up 2009

Ella finishes out 2009 looking strong. She is taking about 2 of her 8 daily feedings by bottle. Sometimes she doesn't finish the whole bottle, but she is still doing pretty good. She must be doing something right, because she is up to 4 lbs and 10.7 ounces. She is still on her 0.2 liter air flow. However, they stopped giving her caffeine today. This is a real good sign, as she needed caffeine when she was younger to help her regulate her breathing and heart rate, so going off of it means she is doing that better on her own. Ella also remindeed Dad that she qualified for his 2009 tax credit today!

Just Because

Tech Talk

It's been a while since we've posted updates on Ella's medical progress. So here are some updates on the essentials for her coming home -

Blood count - Ella's blood count is holding steady at a reasonable level. However her reticulate (ability to make new blood) has dropped a bit. Doctors will continue to monitor to ensure no blood transfusion is needed.

Oxygen - Ella continues to be on 100% oxygen at a low air flow (.3 liters). Although the doctors would like to see her flow lowered to 0, they do not want to challenge her when the reticulate is low since oxygen is needed for new blood cells. The good news is that her heart rate drops have essentially ended (knock on wood) so there are no major concerns with weaning her off oxygen at a casual pace.

Bottle Feeding - this is slowly coming along. It seems as though Ella is quite content sleeping while having food deposited directly into her belly (who can blame her). Bottle feeding is still a lot of work for her and she exerts many calories doing it. Timing her bottle feeds is very important as well since she needs to be awake and alert at her scheduled feeding time in order for us to even attempt bottle feeding. I will say though, that when the stars are aligned, she does quite well with the bottle. "Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp,...(oh wait, I forgot to breathe)... and deep sigh." Repeat.

Eyes - Ella had another eye exam last week, where the doc dialated her eyes and studied the retina development. Seems as though everything is developing just fine and the doc has indicated no further exams are needed...woo hoo!

Vaccines - Ella will have her first round of vaccines next week. : (
She'll get 7 routine shots, but OUCH! Good thing she's got more body fat to soften the impact.

Clothing - Ella is starting to fill out the preemie clothing! It's bitter sweet to see her growing into (and soon out of) the tiny outfits so quickly. Newborns here we come.

Weight - 4 lbs, 6 oz.
Length - something over 16 1/2 inches (will have weekly measurements Monday night).

Overall - progress is happening and the nurses are beginning to start & end sentences with "in order for her to go home", which is a reminder to us how close the big day is.

MotElla Christmas

Ella enjoyed her first Christmas! She was showered with many gifts and hospital visitors. I'd love to mention all of the gifts she received and the specific friends and family that visited, but that would make for a very long post. So here are just a few pictures that quickly capture it.

Family photo on Christmas Day:

















New nativity scene set up under her tree on Christmas Eve:

















An ornament from Nurse Tammy:






















And the most exciting news - her new crib!! Although the blog poll results indicated that Ella should get a puppy on her first Christmas, I think this new bed is a much better gift for her on Christmas Day. Our little peanut is now 4 lbs, 5 oz and is capable of sleeping in an open air big girl bed where she can maintain her own temperature.



















And for the record, we had a semi-white Christmas. : )

Merry Christmas Eve

Just a cute picture...

Fashionista

Watch out Project Runway! Ella's bringing the popped collar to the Midwest.












Feedings: Moved to 3 hour feeds, 1-2 bottles per day
Weight: 3 lbs., 15.5 oz.
Length: 16 1/2 inches
Equipment: Upgraded size on blood pressure cuff and pacifier!

Dad's Turn

Tim bottle feeding Ella


...and burping her. As you can see, this wasn't Dad's most confident role, although he did just fine.

Ella's ready for Christmas

Big Girl Feeding

Each morning when we enter Ella's room we're not sure what the mood of the day will be...sometimes exciting, sometimes disappointing, sometimes worrisome, sometimes relief. We are pleased to report that today was exciting news! Ella has been doing well enough on her low-flow oxygen that the doctors were ready to take her from continuous feed to 2-hour feeds. Essentially, this means we give her enough food for 2-hours and she has 30 minutes to finish it. (Then hopefully she digests it all rather than spitting it up or leaving it sit in her belly.) When the feedings are spaced out, it allows more air to enter her body, which is why it's important to get the oxygen flow correct first.

On top of the move to 2-hour feeds, the nurses are allowing her to bottle feed 1-2 times per day! This is very good news, and a huge step towards her getting to come home. We were unsure how she would react to the bottle since she is only 33 weeks old and typically babies don't express interest until 34-35 weeks. However, our over-achiever took the bottle like a champ and ate about 1/2 of her feeding (the other 1/2 was then given through her feeding tube). With this, comes a few more guidelines - we aren't supposed to move or disturb her within 30 minutes of her eating, and we have to more closely monitor her stats and breathing to make sure she isn't working too hard to tolerate the new feeding schedule and method. Bottle feeding is hard work for her, and I can certainly now understand how hard it is after trying to drink cosmos out of a bottle at my shower last weekend (kudos to my creative gfriends). It's tougher than it looks.! : )

Just say no2 high air flow

Our little sweetie continues to impress us every day. Little Miss Ella has moved to a low flow nose cannula to help wean her off of supplemental oxygen. Essentially she was on 30% oxygen at high flow (4 liters). When the doc tried to reduce the flow to 3 liters she did not tolerate it. So they are doing a modified approach whereby they put her on 100% O2 at a very low flow (.5 liters) which allows her to take in more room air (which is 21% O2) to even out the amount of oxygen she's taking in to be about the 30% level she was receiving. She did so well on the .5 flow that they reduced her to .2 flow within an hour. Gold star day.

On another note, today she also had blood work done to check her cell count. Her cell count is holding steady from last week at around 30. If she dips into the lower 20s, she will need another blood transfusion (she was at 21 when she received her first transfusion), however all signs are looking good. Better yet, her reticulate count (her ability to make more cells) is high which means that a blood transfusion is even less likely. Since her body knows how to make more, giving her blood now would teach her body to shut down production.

Whew! That was a lot of technical talk. We'll try to keep tomorrow's post less complex. : )

Uneventful Monday

Ella was much more relaxed today and snug as a bug in her bed when Mom arrived this morning. Ella kangaroo'ed most of the afternoon and slept soundly, guess she was tired from yesterday's commotion.

She had chest x-rays this morning and everything appears to be developing normally. Doctor is continuing to increase feedings and caffeine. Plans are in the works to transition her off oxygen over the coming days/weeks.

Weight: 3 lb., 4 oz.

You better not cry (but she did anyway)

Today was exciting - Santa came! Yes, we know him! Santa comes around the NICU once a year and takes one free picture with each baby (through the The Jeremy Project). To be ready for the big photo shoot, Ella dressed in her Christmas sleeper & red hair bow, and Stef's sister, Stacie, drove up to take additional pictures. The plan was to take pictures with Santa and then grab some family photos, however Ella started to cry and had several heart rate drops when we attempted the pics. We hurried to get some quick shots and then gave her a few minutes of rest. But the press would not wait, so we pulled her back out of her bed and quickly took a few family pictures. She did not tolerate those very well either. Santa moved on to other babies...and then, Santa came to see Ella again, hoping she'd be in better spirits. This visit, Santa had extra time to allow us to get a few creative poses. We are only going to display a few teaser photos here, but you may be seeing some more later. ;)

After all this commotion, Ella was definitely not a happy girl. We got her calmed down again and Stef held her for an about hour to help bring her stats back in line. She was back to her peaceful self once we finally left the NICU.

Shame on us...

...for not posting in a while. No real reason, the days just sort of slipped by us. Wednesday through Saturday was fairly uneventful. On a good note, Ella had only one heart rate drop over those 4 days! That is a sure sign of her developing well and reaching an older gestational age. She hit 3 lbs., 2 oz. and now stretches out to 15.6 inches...2 inches of growth since birth.

We also apologize for an info error - not all kids are allowed in the NICU. the loosely enforced rule is only siblings or visitors age 18 and up are allowed, however they will let visitors age 14ish and up on a good day. Unfortunately this means many of you will still have until she comes home to see her.

Warning! These Are Very Cute...

Ella got to wear clothes today for the first time!! It was so exciting for Mom. The night nurses picked out a trendy pink and white sleep sack for her and the photo shoot began. When I arrived to her room this morning, there were many pictures posted on her bulletin board. Makes me wonder how much sleep she's getting at night with the St. John's papparazzi. She was so cute all dressed up today that I just couldn't resist sharing.

Highs, Lows and So-Sos

Today's visit contained some great news and some disappointing news.

Good news -
The results of Ella's head ultrasound and eye exam came back fine. There is immaturity in her eyes, which the doctor expected, and she'll have a follow up exam in 2 weeks. We're hoping Ella will look better in 2nd grade without 2-inch thick glasses like Mom had. She is also scheduled for another round of blood tests tomorrow to make a final decision on whether another blood transfusion is needed.

Ella had a fun photo shoot with the night nurses. They put a cute bow in her hair and placed her in her big Christmas stocking. The pictures are adorable! Unfortunately I only have hard copies of the photos so difficult to share with you at this time. I'll scan them and send electronically, or hang them in her room so you can see them the next time you visit.

Ella also took to the nipple today. It was quite an amazing and emotional event. It's incredible how instinctive that is for a 2 lb., 14 oz. baby. This is the first step into her feeding process. She won't actually get to take any milk for a couple of weeks still, as she can't breathe, suck and swallow at the same time.

Disappointing news -
We learned that Ella won't be coming home until February (original due date) or late January at the earliest. We're not sure how New Years was the original estimate, or if we created that date in our minds. Either way, this is the time needed for Ella to continue learning the essentials of breathing and eating. Looks like the NICU will be our home away from home for a bit longer.

Daddy Time

Stef and I pulled different shifts today (usually we try to overlap a decent portion), so Ella got a few quality hours with just Dad. She behaved really well and did not feel the need to show off with any Brady's or Apnea. At 2 lbs. and 13 ounces, she is nearing the 3 lb. mark, which is a very important weight threshold for mom because that is when Ella gets to start wearing clothes! Mom has several outfits already picked out for the occasion.

It was a rather uneventful day today otherwise, which is good - it is nice to have those too. Tomorrow Ella will get her first eye exam, so we will let you all know how it goes.

Minors Allowed

No fake ID is needed. The NICU lifted the under age 18 ban since the flu season is no longer a high threat. So for all the cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. that have been anxiously waiting to see Ella in person, you are now free to visit. Just let us know when you're coming!

Jolly Old St. Nick!

St. Nick visited Ella last night and she was ecstatic! (ok, really she just slept, but it excited her parents). Ella received several stocking stuffers - a Baby Einstein CD, a stuffed Santa toy, a Christmas plague, and some college fund contributions. Mom and Dad played the CD for her as we Kangaroo'ed. Perhaps this early exposure to classical music will create some form of musical talent in her (besides the bag dance) since those genes are clearly not coming from her parents.

She was a little fussy today though after her blood work early this morning. The results came back indicating she was a little anemic. The doc will perform a similar test later in the week to make the decision on whether or not to give her another blood transfusion.

Medical update

Weighing in at 2 lbs., 11 oz., Ella received another good report from the doctor today. She has a few upcoming exams that may be a bit stressful to her over the next few days (and her parents too).

Tomorrow she'll have blood tests done to ensure that the transfusion she received last Monday provided her with a high enough cell count. If not, another transfusion may be needed. The other thing the Dr checks for is whether she is able to produce more cells on her own. If she is, then even if her count is low they want to let her body do what it's capable of on her own without a transfusion.

On Tuesday morning, she'll have another ultrasound of her brain to ensure it's developing properly and to check for hemorraging. The Doctors have seen no indications of problems based on vitals and other visual observations. We've learned so much lately about proper interaction with a preemie to help develop the neurons in Ella's brain without over stimulating her. It's all very interesting and amazing how important every touch, sound, sleep position, and amount of light is at this point in her development.

Tuesday is also an eye exam, which will entail the Dr numbing her eyes and examing her retinas. They expect to see immaturity and will continue to check them every 2 weeks to monitor their developing. Laser surgery may be needed in the coming weeks, but is not uncommon for babies of her age.

Although these tests carry low-risk with them, they will be stressful. The hospital staff has been great in detailing all of this for us each step of the way. We've also recently learned of the development check-ups she'll need over the next 3 years. There are far more resources and follow-ups than I ever imagined. We'll likely keep very familiar with the doctors over the next 3 years, but it's in our best interests.

On a lighter note, Ella is sound asleep waiting for St. Nick's visit tonight. Her stockings (yes, plural) are hanging in her room!

Hospital schedule

For visitors intersted in seeing Ella the week of Dec 6, here's our schedule. Just let us know in advance what day/time to expect you so we can be sure we're there.

Sun, Dec 6 - noon
Mon, Wed, Fri - daytime/lunch
Tues, Thurs - evening
Sat, Dec 12 - TBD
Sun, Dec 13 - exclusive event with Santa, visitation closed. ; )

One-derful! (thanks Stac)

Happy Birthday! Hard to believe our beautiful little girl is one month old today. For her special day, she got to spend lots of time bonding with mom.

A couple of co-workers and Omama visited as well and witnessed her spitting up out of her nose. Ella seemed unphased by it, unlike Omama. Guess that's sort of like the 'puke and rally' concept. I suppose she's really training for the 21st birthday.

Ella weighed in at 2 lbs., 9oz. and continues to increase her food intake (minus the spit up). She also had x-rays taken to ensure that the lungs and heart are continuing to develop properly...and they are.

Check out the new Poll!

New Digs

Here's a picture of Ella's new digs. She seems to be enjoying them so much that she decided to poop in her bed while I changed her diaper today. Apparently, I need to improve the speed in which I swap out the diapers. It was so much more relaxing to hang out in her room today (for 7 hours!) instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the crowded North unit.


For visitors, it's easiest to take the Green elevators now. These can be found next to the Information Desk through the Main Entrance. You can also still use the Blue elevators and just follow the signs to NICU South (instead of North). The sign-in process at the NICU is a bit more regulated, but easy breezy.

Oh yeah, and Ella was sure to let me know that she was 4 weeks old today.

Graduation Day!

Well, not the big graduation day, like graduating from college, but more like graduating from grade school. Ella has moved to the NICU South! A little earlier than expected, but pushed along a little bit by a heavy inflow into the North. Ella's new home is Butterfly Pod 25 (there are 4 pods with 25 rooms in each). Her new room will be great for us, but there will no longer be viewings of her from a visible window for Ella's guest. We are still allowed to take guests in though, but the over age 18 rule still applies.

Ella started her stay at her new place with some new blood. We knew a blood transfusion was likely, and they decided today that her count was too low (all the tests, etc. use more blood than a preemie can make). She started her transfusion an hour ago, and things are going well. It is a three hour process. If there was to be any negative reaction, it usually occurs in the first 15 minutes (and rare anyway). So things are going well! I am sure we will get pictures of the new digs up tomorrow.

Heading South for the Winter

Wow - lots of good info to blog about today.

First and foremost, Ella is projected to move to the South NICU unit in a few days!! We are so thrilled about this for a couple of reasons. First, she is stable enough in her breathing and heart rates that she will soon be able to move from the constant nurse monitoring to a shared nurse. For her size and gestation, this is incredible news. Secondly, we got a tour of the South unit today, and the facility is pimped out. Ella will have her own MTV Cribs episode. Each baby room is private and she'll have her own little "bedroom" with glass sliding doors where we can stay overnight (there's a couch bed for us) and decorate with her personal items.

We've heard the move South can sometimes be worrisome for parents since there isn't constant nurse monitoring, however the baby monitor alarms are all linked to a cordless telephone that each nurse carries so they are still notified of every desat, brady, etc. Also, once you see the facility, you'll see that the there are still plenty of nurses assigned to a block of private rooms, so I'm sure she'll continue to be in good hands.

On other notes -

We learned that St. John's has a website for each NICU baby where they post daily vitals & pictures, and we can blog (hmm, that would have been nice to know sooner). So after almost a month of being there, we're still discovering new things. Rather than asking you to follow two websites, we will interpret the important 'need-to-knows' and share with you on this blog.

Each time Tim talks to Ella she gets a smirk on her face. We're still proving out whether this is linked to her enjoying her Dad's voice or if she's taking care of business in her diaper.

Ella started decorating for Christmas today too. St. Nick thinks she's definitely deserving of a visit in a few days.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ella embraced her first Thanksgiving. Unknown to us, she and the nurses had arts & crafts time in the wee hours of the morning. She made handprint turkeys that hung on the walls of her bed, and will definitely now go into her scrapbook. Apparently this was a popular idea, as Tim and I packed a little craft bag to trace her hands and make similar decor.

As you can see, Ella also fit right in to the Bauwens family wearing her Cowboys shirt. (Thanks Uncle Matt & Aunt Michelle!) She cheered on a turkey day victory.

She was wiped out most of the day, not sure if it was the arts & crafts, football cheering or tryptophan.

Exceptional Ella

Ella continues to get a good report card from the doctor. She has moved out of her preemie incubator bed to the next model up. This one does not regulate the heat inside as much, as Ella can do a little bit better on her own. She has been 100% on the nose plugs for several days now - a great sign. She was at 5 liters of air flow, and went down to 4 today. When that goes down to zero, she will finally be breathing on her own! She also weighed in a shy under 2 1/2 pounds. Ella heard there was a little party for her today, and thanks everyone who showered Stef with gifts!

Everybody loves videos

Ella turns 21 (days)

Hooray for Ella! She moved to 100% nose prong breathing assistance today! No more CPAP.

Our little book worm enjoyed a couple of new books today from the awesome baby shower in Perryville this past weekend, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". She really liked them both.

Food update - Ella will begin receiving a supplement in her feedings which is high in calories so she can grow quicker. History has shown that babies do not always react well to this supplement so she may have a belly ache, more spit up and undigested food. Right now she seems to be exerting her calories during her moments of exploration, which I captured today in the picture and short video clip. She loves to stretch and look around every opportunity she gets.

Hospital schedule

We've had several people ask to visit Ella over the holiday weekend. Here is our schedule for the next several days.

Wed: 10am-1pm
Thurs: 11am-1pm
Fri: 1-4pm
Sat: 10:30am-noon (heading straight to baby shower afterwards)
Sun: TBD

Feel free to stop by and you can come on in and see Ella. Otherwise feel free to visit any other time and you can check her out through the window.

If possible, send me an email or text (314.482.7462) letting me know when you might visit so I know who to expect in case something would change with our schedule.

Back to bloggin'

We're back to bloggin'.

Our little peanut is doing great. She's a whopping 2 lbs., 2 oz. and we're celebrating every ounce. She successfully had her I.V. removed last week and has not missed the extra wire. She continues to breathe well on the nose prongs and nurses have indicated that she might be moving to that full time, and rid of her fighter jet mask entirely. Either way, Ella has been so tolerant of all of the switching back and forth. Hopefully she's that patient at home as well. ; )

I can't say enough great things about the nurses at St. John's. They all stop by each day to say hi to "Little Miss Ella" and today they were trying to pre-arrange a prom date with the handsome baby boy next to her. Good thing Dad wasn't around for that conversation.

She's so lovable. Admittedly, it's getting more difficult for Mom to leave her each day after holding her and seeing how peaceful she sleeps on me. Thankfully we're a 1/3 of the way through her NICU stay and it's gone by faster than we realized. Gotta stay upbeat and positive, especially through the holidays.

We love our baby girl.

Taking a Break

The blog writers will resume posting on Monday. Stay tuned.

Hello, World!

Mom's favorite time of day

16 days already?!

Can't believe we've been parents for 16 days now. Time has gone by so fast.

Ella had a great day - increased continuous food intake again (I've stopped posting how many mils it is per hour since the calculation gets a bit complex...just know that she is increasing and that's a good thing). The nurses will start adding a little fortifier to the milk to make sure she's getting the appropriate amount of calcium and other vitamins that she would have otherwise received in utero. Funny to think that milk needs calcium added...hmmm.

As of 5pm today, she was also scheduled to have her I.V. removed. Woo hoo!! The doc is going to try to switch her back to 8 hours of nose prong breathing and reduce CPAP to 4 hours. This was tried once before, but they think she is ready to try again. Initially the doc thought the nose prongs were partially causing the heart rate drops however as of now they do not see a correlation. Fingers crossed.

And most importantly, our little princess "wore" her first hair bow today. Thank you Tante Helga and Jim! Girl might as well look pretty while she's growing!

Ella's Move

So Ella got to move! Not because she improved though, just because they had to mop the floors on the other side. So, for those of you visitng, she is now to the right of the entrance. She is still visbile - look through the first window you come to, she's right htere. Definitely a better viewing spot for her fans!

Terrific Twos

Who says twos are terrible? Today was filled with terrific twos!

Ella weighed in just over TWO pounds. The awesome nurses made TWO gifts for Ella - a nice pink blanket to cover her bed lid and a pretty name tag. She is TWO weeks old today, and her mom is thirty TWO - well, that's not so terrific.

Ok, you get the picture...

Other updates - Ella's food was slightly reduced today, as the doc thinks the increased quantity of food was a bit too aggressive since she was spitting it back up. However, she is now on a continuous feed which so far seems to be drastically helping with her apnea. Also, while we were visiting today, she had 2 dips in her heart rate which she was able to bring up on her own, without stimulation. That's a good sign.

A day late...

We're a little behind on posting yesterday's progress report. Apologies to all of her dedicated followers who anxiously log into the blog each morning. : )

Ella is back to her birth weight of 1 lb. 15 oz.! This is right on schedule with where they'd hoped she'd be at 2 weeks. Her feedings continue to increase in quantity and they are also occuring more frequently. The doc believes this will help with her apnea as well. She's upgraded from a syringe to a feeding pump.

Since the feedings are increasing, there is less of a reason to have an I.V. for supplemental nutrients in her foot. Doc thinks the I.V. line will be removed in the next day or so. Fewer wires is a good thing.

Thumbs up for Ella

Mostly good news today from our little fighter. Over the last 48 hours, she has increased from 2 cc to 8 cc of food (now at about 2 teaspoons) every 3 hours. Mom is going to have to start working overtime.

Her Jaundice levels have slightly increased but have stayed within a manageable range.

The only area we'd like to see improvement is in her breathing/heart rate drops. She has had a bit of a set back in terms of staying on the mask breathing apparatus for most of the day.

We really appreciate Ella taking time out of her busy day to pose for our photo shoots.

Day 11

Just a quick afternoon visit with Ella today. Uncle Matt and Aunt Michelle stopped in to say hi. Her color and jaundice levels were good today. However, she had a few heart drops, so they decided to switch to 8 hours on the CPAP, 4 hours off, to give her some rest.

Gold Stars

Ella earned lots of gold stars from the doctor's round today.

She weighed in at 1 lb., 14 oz. (only 1 ounce less than her birth weight)! The doctor expected her to be at her birth weight at 2 weeks and she's just one ounce away at 10 days! Exceeding expectations.

Her food intake will increase from 2 cc to 3 cc tonight, and to 4 cc tomorrow. Double pumping for Mom.

She is continually improving on her breathing. She is currently alternating the CPAP (fighter jet mask) and nose prong breathing every 6 hours. Starting tonight the doctor has asked that she only be on CPAP for 4 hours and increase nose prongs to 8 hours. This is a step in the right direction.

Three cheers for Ella!

Ella finds her thumb!

Mom spent several hours with Ella again today, holding her and enjoying every moment of Ella's tiny body sleeping on her chest. Ella has learned to enjoy a pacifier when she's fussy and when that's not available, she discovered the permanent version also known as her thumb.



Her weight continues to increase, 1 lb., 13 oz. today. The nurses plan to double her food intake tomorrow from approx 1/2 teaspoon of milk every 3 hours, to a full teaspoon. She's growing fast!

Dad returned to work and is juggling the stress of Ella's heart rate drops and audit filing deadlines. Hopefully he finds a comfortable balance soon.

We've heard lots of great feedback about this blog - glad to know Ella has so many fans and that this blog is effectively keeping everyone informed of her progress.

Ella finally has 'a room of her own'...

or so she thinks...

Mom's POV

I had the most relaxing day with Ella. I spent almost 5 hours with her, along with a few visitors. Since she is now out of the blue light, we can hold her for as long as we want each day. I'm sure to enjoy my new routine. : )

Ella also had a scan of her brain this week, and all results came back positive. Looks like we'll have a scholar on our hands. She's already read 4 stories at the hospital. She's going to be a book worm just like her Daddy.

Day 8 - Dad's point of view

Well, I had to return to work today, so I did not have much time with Ella. Mom on the other hand got dropped off there at 8 am and picked up at 1 pm, so I will let her give most of the update. The real good news is that Ella is off the blue light special! They will check her levels in 2 days to see if this is permanent without the light. The bad news is that the heart rate drops continue, but we are told this is still normal at her stage of life.

Family photo

Happy Birthday, Ella!

Ella celebrated her 1-week birthday today! She is doing great, as usual. Mommy and Daddy spent a couple hours with her this evening. Here are a few noteworthy comments/observations/updates from our visit.


1. Ella gained another ounce and is up to 1 lb. 12 oz. Her skin color is improving every day.
2. Daddy gave his baby girl Kangaroo Care for about 45 minutes tonight. See the beautiful video posted below.
3. Ella had one heart rate drop tonight, which caused Daddy's heart rate to drop even lower.
4. The Ronald McDonald House has an amazing lounge area for the NICU parents.
5. Mommy loves percocet.

Day 7 (to be continued)

Ella continues to do well! She spit up a little food last night, but generally is taking the milk very well and gaining weight. We will visit her later tonight to hold her again and get a more detailed progress report...stay tuned.

Day 6

Another good day for Ella! She is eating and digesting her food. She also gained some weight and is at 1 lb. 11 ounces. She is on the CPAP for 6 hours at a time, and then off of it for 6 hours. So everything is looking great! Mom got to hold her for about an hour today!

Visitors

Hi everyone. I just wanted to explain the visiting situtaion. First, Stef is now at home. Visitors are welcomed at our home at anytime, just give us a heads up first.

To see little Ella, we do need to be present. If you are interested in seeing her on a particular day, give us a call and find out what time we plan on being at the hospital that day. Currently we are going around 10:30 am each day, and staying till noonish. Once I start working this Thursday, I may swing by each morning around 8 and after work around 6. Stef will have to figure out the best time to go. If you do go, park at the main entrance, go straight in to the blue elevators (about 10o yards in) and go up to floor 2. Then ask or follow the signs to NICU North. Ella is currently located near a corner window, so you are more than welcome to go when we are not there, but you will only get a glimpse.

Thanks,
Tim

Random Pictures Days 1-4

A little cry

If you turn the sound up, you can hear her cute little cry

Day 5 - Daddy gets to hold Ella

Great day today! I got to hold Ella for about 45 minutes. Although she had two heart drops while holding her - which scared me to death. She made these awesome little pathetic cries too. The Dr. says she is a star little patient. Her jaundice levels are dropping and they hope to have her off the blue light by Wednesday. She is still losing some weight, which is expected through the first week. She is down to 1 lb. and 9.25 ounces. She is starting to digest her food though. She is also on 3 hours of CPAP, then 3 hours on the nose prongs/canula, for the next few days. So that is good too!

New Pictures

First Family Pic and First Time Stef Holds Ella