Christmas Eve

Today, 12/24 was supposed to be Ella's "real" birthday...So on her bday she is weighing in at over 7lbs 2oz. Hard to believe she has been here over 2 months already, but we are happy she continues to do so well.

Here are some pics from her first Christmas. The Grandma's came down again and brought some presents. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everybody!

Somewhere in Michigan...

...Ella has a calf named after her:In honor of the calf Ella's mom bought her a new outfit.

Week 2 at home

Sorry for the delay - the little one has decided it is better to sleep during the day and be up at night. Not much new to add so here are a few new pics. Ella is outgrowing some of her preemie clothes already (but the newborn sizes are still a little too big).

First Week at Home

Ella had a busy week at home. She made it through 2 trips to the pediatrician (and a shot), meeting Desmond (the dog), swinging in her chair, and a ton of eating and sleeping. We wish were getting half the amount of sleep that she is, but it is so great to have her home!

Thanks

We didn't get much of a chance to thank the NICU nurses for all they did for Ella, and us.
We can't thank all of you in Pod D enough (especially her primary nurses Amy, Tracey, and Shannon, as well as Tara, Essie, Michelle, Jenna, Jen, Linda, Megan, Betsy, and many others...)

You all treated her as if she were your own and we sincerely appreciate it.

And of course Dr. Tara who started all of this on Oct. 18th and visited almost every day after.

Thanks for getting us ready to take Ella home:

Home

After 34 days in the NICU, we're happy to say that Ella is home!

Today we all watched the football game (what an awful season).

5 pounds and no tubes

It's been a busy few days - Ella weighed in at 5lbs, just under 1 oz. today.  She has really started waking up, and becoming more alert.  More importantly she has taken all of her meals by mouth, so today they removed her NG tube.

We were excited (and nervous?) to hear that if all goes well tonight she will be discharged tomorrow!  Just in time, because we had resorted to doing "senior picture poses" with her to pass the time in the NICU (which we felt guilty about, but were laughing really hard at the time). We are embarassing her already.

Big Girl Crib

This weekend Grandma Debbie and Uncle Trevor came to visit. It was good timing, because on Friday, Ella moved to a "big girl" crib so she is now regulating her own temperature. Both thought she looks much smaller in person than on the blog...

Current weight: 4 lbs, 11 oz; she is really putting on weight but at this point more interested in sleeping than eating every 3 hours.

P.S. Congrats to Danny and Kyle, sorry we couldn't be there today.

First bath

Tonight Tara, Ella's nurse, suffered through showing us how to give her a bath. Unfortunately for her, it took over an hour.
at one point Ella was white-knuckled, holding on for dear life... But it all ended well. Current weight: 2025 grams (4lbs, 6 oz); after the stress of this bath, she will probably not gain so much weight tomorrow...

A first

This morning we were surprised to hear that at 5am Ella made it through an entire bottle for the first time...and did it again tonight at 8pm. We didn't think she'd get it this quickly (you saw the video). She was "cashed out" after that though...

Learning to eat

We crossed the 4 lb mark today (current weight: 4 lbs 2 oz.).

Amy taught us how to try to feed Ella. The main issue now before she can come home is to be able to get food by mouth instead of the NG tube. Since babies born this early can't quite coordinate swallowing and breathing, it's a little harder than it may seem. Today Ella was more interested in sleeping than eating, but gave it a shot with the bottle for the first time.

As you can see it didn't go so well (the video is a good example of how Aaron can't stop watching the monitor)...Tomorrow's another day...

P.S. (Happy birthday Grandma Debbie)

ECG

We didn't have a middle name picked out when Ella was born. We decided on Caroline because:
1) Andrea's aunt (and godmother) is named Carol and her great grandmother was named Caroline, and we wanted a family name of some sort.
2) Aaron's aunt Carol, a former pediatrician, fought a long battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
3) We wanted Ella to remember the hospital that saved her life. Go Heels (however obviously Ella will be going to the University of Michigan - Go Blue).

Election Day

(for Obama)