My Ella...
Things with Ella have been going very good, she is doing so many new things and is trying so very hard to sit up, rolling over and is always laughing. We have been VERY blessed to keep her healthy through the last few months. In early October the Pediatrician and I decided that maybe being in daycare was not the best thing for her, although she done great and I loved everyone there, she was staying sick a little more than normal. I hired a private sitter and it has been smooth sailing since then. She has really starting gaining weight and actually has little fat rolls. I am no longer working and am hoping to be able to get things back to normal with her therapy, play dates and all the doctor appointments we have. I feel like I have really lost my focus with her over the last year. Its hard to do the things I need to do with her when I feel like I have to work. I probably still need to work...lol, but I have to remember the faith that got her here and trust in that. Please remember to keep my family in your prayers. Until next time...

Wonderful blessings...

Its finally happening! Once again god has answered yet another prayer. As you can see from the picture Ella is holding her head up!!!!!! This is a day I sometimes thought I may never see and its here. She has really came a long way over the past few months and I am so excited. She is doing so good at holding her head up, she is still learning how to balance it and of course she gets tired after awhile but she does GREAT, not to mention she loves being able to sit and look around. The doctors have said for the past two years not to get my hopes up with her progress and I have had days that being positive and having faith was really hard, but once again god has reminded me he is in control. We have had a very eventful month, not only did she start holding her head up but she is rolling over too!!! She is rolling over so well that she actually rolled right off the couch, it was a little bitter-sweet. I loved that she rolled over but I felt awful the she fell off the couch. I think I cried more than she did. I am sure this is just the beginning of many "normal" little bumps and bruises. Keep sending up the prayers! Until next time...

The past 6mths...

Ok, I know its been so long since I have updated Ella's blog... Life has been crazy as usual and I have been so busy. This year we have had a lot of changes in our lives. First of all as most of you know Clint and I got divorced, so that alone has took a toll on all of us, I got a new job (the first time I have worked since having Ella) and finally took the "leap" and enrolled Ella in the Henry Center. Things have been going good considering I am starting over... with three kids.

Ella has been doing great, she is getting so big and really looks like a little 2yr old. The Henry Center has been such a blessing to me and her, she loves it and is really benefiting from the therapy she gets there. She is trying so hard to sit up and is starting to hold her head up some too. She has become so much more vocal, of course her favorite word is "mom" but she will sometimes say Hi too. She is always laughing and playing and everything she gets her hands on goes in her mouth. She is leaning some basic sign and I think she sometimes tries to say mom in sign too. She will wave Bye-bye and has starting holding her bottle too. She has really come along way.

Health wise things have been going pretty good. I did have to rush her to the hospital at the end of March, for some reason she was having trouble breathing and I even had to pull over on the interstate when she turned gray. So after scaring me to death, we had a 3 night stay in the hospital and went home still not knowing what was really wrong. In June she had her first ambulance ride when she was sent from the doctors office with a touch of pneumonia. It was such a crazy time I was alone, so she rode in the ambulance all by herself, and I followed behind ... crying of course. When we got to childrens hospital they opened the doors to the back of the ambulance and there she was just looking around and smiling, it was so cute. The EMT said she was great and really liked the ride. She laughed and looked around the whole time. My little Ella... of course she would find joy out of something so scary, and she always gives me so much peace and strength.

I have some great pictures from her 2nd birthday that I am going to get posted soon and am really going to try to be better at keeping everyone up to date. Thanks to everyone for keeping Ella and our family in your prayers, I need it more and more everyday.

December

This month has been so much better the last. Ella is feeling so much better and all of the doctor visits have been great. She is almost up to 17lbs now...WOW!We also have some new pictures made with Tara from DIXIE PIXEL, they are wonderful as always.I will post a few for you to enjoy. Anyway just a little update, have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Crazy November

Here are a few pictures of Ella in the hospital.


Today I have finally found a little time to sit down and wright about our crazy month! This month has probably been one of the most trying months that I have had with Ella in awhile. On Sunday November 11 Ella woke up early that morning throwing up. At this point I was thinking it was just a virus and was trying to keep her hydrated and just keeping a close eye on her. After she threw up 2-3 times she began acting really different and the stuff she was trowing up was getting darker and darker. I Knew that something was not right because all she ate was her formula and that was definitely not formula she was throwing up. After a quick call to her doctor we were off to Children's Hospital. By the time I got her to the emergency room she was like a "limp noodle!" While we were in triage she was not responding and her blood pressure was really low. They sent us straight back and that's where the craziness started...

This is the time when I, like many other times, just thank God for carrying me through yet another tough situation. The doctor in the emergency room was great! She didn't play around and really took an aggressive approach with Ella. Someone
was working on Ella almost non-stop for the next 3 to 4 hours trying to find out what was making her so sick. Finally they did know she was throwing up blood but didn't know where it was coming from. They told me she was staying in the hospital but they was not sure if she would be in ICU or not. That was the time when I had a small breakdown... I thought I better get this over with now so I can stay strong for whatever is next.

At 9:00 that night we finally got put in a room. She was sill not very responsive but the IVs had helped and they had put a tube down her nose that was constantly sucking the blood from her stomach, so the throwing up had stopped.

On Monday morning she was put to sleep and a scope was ran. The findings were really sad to me. She had multiple erosion's in her stomach and esophagus and the feeding tube was causing an obstruction. While she was asleep they put a new feeding tube in that is smaller and hopefully will work better.Thank GOD!!! Nothing too serious!

By Monday afternoon things were still pretty much the same Ella had not really woke up and had still not ate. The GI doctor came in and told me she could go home...well for those of you that know me you know I was not about to let that happen! I told the Doc that she was not ready to go home that I really believed something else is wrong with her! Of course he just wrote it off and said well then she can stay tonight and we will let her go tomorrow. What in the world was this man thinking?

On Monday night Ella starting having breathing problems, she sounded like she had RSV or something like it. Still they wouldn't even let me see the house pediatrician until I had threaten to go over their heads. After that I had a consult set up for Tuesday morning!!! Finally someone was going to listen and thank God the did!

On Tuesday morning the house pediatrician came to see Ella. She was great, she knew right away that something else was wrong. She done a lot of tests and another chest X-Ray and it turned out that Ella did have a respiratory virus. She needed breathing treatments ,medicine and was even on oxygen at one point.Thank God for giving me a strong will and teaching me that my instincts are usually right.Finally on Friday we got to come home and I was so ready!!!

Ella is doing much better now. She is still on breathing treatments and some medicine but things are looking great. Her personality is really starting to shine, I can tell she feels so much better. Thank you for all the prayers and keep them coming.

Melissa

Update

As most of you know the big thing with Ella lately has been weight gain. We have been going back to Dr. Denton every couple of weeks to check her weight and she has not been making much progress. On Wednesday we went back after a month of trying some new things to fatten her up, we checked her weight and she had lost a few ounces. I was not really upset or even shocked because I knew she had not gained any weight. The doctor was very disappointed , he is at a loss. He is not afraid to admit when he no longer knows what to do for her. He is on the same page w/ me you can tell she is healthy and happy and changing everyday so we know there is no lack of nourishment. She just can't gain weight. Now we have to look for new things to do, so first of all we will be meeting with a new doctor at childrens...a Nutritionist, hopefully this doctor will be able to give me something I can do or give Ella that will add on the pounds. Then the next step will be feeding her with a IV pump through her Mic-key Button while she sleeps. I have thought a lot about this and have not wanted to put her on pump feedings when she was smaller, but now I am ready. I NEED SLEEP!!! LOL I think it will help her and me... hopefully I will be able to feed her more food during the day and formula at night. So please everyone pray! Pray for her, pray for me. I know it will work -it always does.

On a different note...

We are moving and I want to ask that you please remember Olivia and Carter in your prayers. This will be an big change for them and I just want them to be happy. We do have a house...still in Rockwood for the moment. I have not taken them to see it yet but it is truly a blessing from God. It is a beautiful 2 story house all newly redone
bedrooms downstairs and up for my Ella... Just perfect.

Change is on it way!!!

Today I was looking at Ellas blog ...reading over all the past entries I have posted and Some of them made me smile them some of them made me cry. WOW!!! What a year. I am just so thankful for all the prayers and support I have. Things in my life are changing everyday, Ella is growing so fast and that alone brings some many new challenges my way. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to stay sane without being heavily medicated...LOL!!! We all know who is my strength. There is a very popular poem called "Footprints" that really touches me. I have known the poem and have read it many times but have never truly understood it until going through this stuff with Ella. Now it is like my life story... I know there have been many times when God has carried me, many times when I didn't even have the strength to pray, but as always he was there picking me up ...over and over again. I know when I was pregnant with Ella I felt broken and my faith was the only thing that got me through. The times I couldn't pray but just call his name and sit in the quiet of his presence because he knew I was hurting...there was no need for words. At the time I didn't realize how much I was hurting or how broken I felt, until the day I had Ella. That day I felt like a new person but I also looked back at the last few months in amazement. Amazed at how that hurt had become such a part of my everyday life that I didn't even realize it was there until it was gone. God had just carried me right through it all.
God is Good!!!

Melissa