Life outside the NICU...

Home? What is home? To Ella it was the four walls for the NICU for 4 1/2 months. She has adapted so well to her new surroundings. When she got home, for the first few weeks she always wanted to be held. I blame that on the many nurses that loved her so much. :-) We were so blessed to have so many nurses love her like their own. It sure made me feel comforted knowing that she was in good hands. I cant help laugh every time i see pictures of Ella right when we came home...she was so FAT!! Thanks Joan(nutritionists) :-)

Going Home!!!

I thought this day would never come. It was the best day. She was finally healthy and strong enough to go home. Tears of joy fell all day.

Look How Much I've Grown!!

Rand & Ella

Rand will always protect his little sister. From day one he has always wanted to be right there with her. Even when she was so small and so sick. Size for him didn't matter all he knew was that she was his sister and he was there to protect her for the rest of her life!

Ryan & Ella

Yesterday was Ryan's first time holding Ella. He has always been so scared to hold her in the past. But yesterday we all went in to see her and I haven't asked Ryan if he wanted to hold her, I figure that when he was ready he would tell me. So yesterday Randon was feeding her and out of the blue Ryan said "mom it is time for me to hold Ella". He was so excited and so cute. He didn't want to let her go. He held her for about 20min then Rand wanted to hold. Ryan wasn't ready to hand her over so they started fighting. O WOW!! I better get my snuggles in before we leave, because between 3 boys in the house she won't be available for long.

Almost Home!

Ella is 8lbs 13oz! She's still doing good. She just working on eating. its hard for preemies to eat right away. She gets to tired. Eventho she's a full term size baby she still is a preemie inside. So the boys and I are waiting patiently till we get the green light to go home. I don't want to push her when she's not ready. Hopfuly this next weekend we will be taking her home. I pray for health and strength everyday for my whole family. Prayer works, Ella is proof of that!

Ella's 7lbs!!! YaY!

These are some up to date pictures of Ella! She's 7lbs 1/2oz! She's so big and so cuddly! I love to just sit and hold her for hours. They tried to take her off oxygen and she did good for 27hrs but I could tell she was getting a little tired especially when she ate so they put the prongs back on. She just needs more time. She's come such a long ways and I'm so proud of her. She's such a blessing to our family and proof that there is a god that loves us.

Ella Update

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on Ella's blog, she's just improving so fast. She's 6lbs 4oz. She's about 18in long. She's been on low flow nasel prongs for about 2weeks with her liters at .25. Hardly anything but just enough for the little help she needs. She's been breastfeeding and bottle feeding! She loves to breastfeed. They told me that its hard to breastfeed a preemie but she did great. She gets tired faster breastfeeding then bottle feeding but we just take it slow. Everyday she gets stronger. I'm so proud of her. She surprises me everyday with how well she's doing.

Cute Pictures from Heidi and Lacey

Heidi and Lacey take the cutest pictures of Ella. They do such an awesome job.

Ella and Heidi

This is one of Ella's favorit nurses Heidi. She has many favorites. All the nurses have been so awesome. We haven't had anyone that we haven't just loved. We have been so blessed to have such talented nurses to help her grow and mature. I've always wondered how women that have babies in the nicu survive the experience. After being there I see that the nurses play a huge roll into the experence. If it wasn't for the awesome nurses and attendings that we have had it would have been unbearable. They take such great care in Ella's care. Not only do they take care of Ella they also take care of us. We've been so blessed to have met these wonderful people. The nurses have become family. For the past 3 months the nicu is all we've known. It will be so hard to leave when the time comes.

Grandpa comes to visit

Grandpa came to visit Ella and he held her for the first time. While he was holding her she was sucking her thumb the whole time. She's never sucked her thumb and never has since.

Ella is a big girl

Ella's a big girl. She moved out of her isolet and into a big girl crib! Its so nice that since she's in a big girl crib now we can hold her whenever we want!

Health update

Ella is on high flow nasel prongs! She's doing really good on them. she's on 25% oxygen and doing better on not desating so much. She weighs 3lbs 5oz. She's gaining weight like crazy. She's also been doing better at letting us hold her more. She loves her daddy. She always does better for him then me.

Rub a dub dub, Ella's in the tub!

She had her first bath on Saturday. She LOVED it so much that she fell asleep. She did so good! She's such a big girl.

She's Getting Bigger

She weighs 2 lbs. 13 1/2 oz. and she is 14 inches. Yay! almost 3 lbs.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day! Ella's cute nurse took a really cute picture of her and wrote an awesome poem that made me cry. It's perfect. I got to hold her for a really long time. The boys made me a cute card. And we played at the park. Best mothers day ever!