Ella is Six Months Old

With her favorite kitten Zip.

Today we are celebrating Ella turning 6 months old.

Ella weighs: 9lbs 12.5oz

Ella measures: 22 inches

Ella is an alert and active girl. Unless she is swaddled or has worn herself out, you can guarantee her legs and arms to be moving constantly. 

Milestones this month:

-Smiling! We continue to see more and more of them with each passing day.

Cheese!

-Lifts and holds head up during tummy time

-Off of oxygen!

Ella has:

-fallen in love with her hands and fingers
-figured out how to get her thumb in her mouth

-been working hard to to roll over

-taken her first out of town day trip: to Claremore

-met her cousin Emily... in person!  "Oh, Baby Ella!"

-enjoyed some time outside in the Tula

-spent some time showing off her skills for Great Grandma

-visited her neonatologist and spent some time visiting her most beloved NICU nurses

-started spending days with Grandma since Mommy has gone back to work

Ella loves: 

-wiggling! 

-staring at any ceiling fan

-listening to Mommy sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Ants Go Marching"
-bathtime swaddled in an Aden and Anais blanket

-afternoon naps in the swing
-Mommy snuggles
-nighttime chats with Daddy

-her girraffe paci "Gerald"
-her new paci friend "Lima" the lamb

-laying under her activity mat watching the butterflies light up along with the music

This month we had some big things happen! Ella did an overnight oxygen study. The pulmonologist (lung doctor) wanted to make sure she was maintaining her saturation levels overnight. It required an additional monitor attached via a wrap on her foot. Cords everywhere that night! Her levels stayed where they needed to and she has been off of oxygen for 3 weeks and counting. Unless she gets sick, she can continue to stay off of oxygen. 

Ella also visited the hospital for a swallow study. We did the study to make sure that there were not any abnormalities keeping her from eating like she should. She has acid reflux, and is on medicine for it, but we needed to make sure the formula would stay where it needed to after she swallowed it. We also needed to make sure that the formula was entering her stomach and not her airways. The room had a big X-ray machine. And a "big girl" chair for Ella to be put in. She looked so cute! It was an interesting thing to watch. They mixed water and barium in a bottle and gave it to her. As she swallowed, the video x-ray showed exactly how she was swallowing and where the liquid was going. It was a quick test and we were out of there, which was a good thing. She was starving since she was not able to eat 3 hours before. We did our first diaper change and bottle feed in the car while in the parking lot that day! We got a call a few days later with the results. Ella only had a minor aspiration, which meant one time the formula did enter her airway. They advised us to make sure she doesn't eat too fast and to keep her upright for 20-30 minutes after a feeding because of her reflux.

We turned in data for her apnea monitor earlier this week and we are waiting to hear back from the doctor.  She had one bradycardia in the duration of this session. If the results look good, Ella will officially be monitor free! 

"I'm half a year old!"

It is hard to believe our precious girl is six months old. We have been home for a little over two months, though it feels longer than that. We are all together right where we need to be, enjoying each step of this journey with our powerful micro-preemie!

Love the Little Things

Ella weighs: 8lbs 13.5oz
Ella measures: 21 and 1/4 inches

Late night feedings with Ella have become my favorite. The house is quiet. The pace of the day has slowed. And somehow the ever present exhaustion fades as I lift my precious baby out of her bassinet. Her nighttime lamp gently glows, highlighting her tiny features. I brush my finger across her cheek, waking her up enough to realize it is time for her bottle. I can't help but stare as she brings her hands together to rest on her belly. As I feed her, I start to breathe more deeply. My mind eases. My heart calms. My soul opens and reflection fills the space around me. In these quiet moments, I am filled with emotion as I reflect on our journey.

Five months ago, on this day exactly, Ella was 12 days old, 26 weeks gestational. She weighed 1lb and 2oz and was surviving on a jet ventilator giving her 300 breaths a minute. She was battling a blood infection. She was receiving antibiotics through a PICC line, which was a miracle in itself because a few of her fragile veins had been blown when trying to get it placed. She had already endured multiple transfusions, a chest tube placement, and a collapsed lung. After being discharged for the second time, I had been home for five days. I knew I had had a baby, but I definitely did not feel like a mom. My daughter was struggling to fight for her life because my body could not carry her to full term. I felt immense guilt and sadness. Another human being was suffering and I felt responsible.

Feeding her tonight, I continued to stare at Ella's hands. Her fingers, once too small to wrap around mine, were clasped together like they were meant to be.  Being born at 24 weeks, she hadn't had enough time to experience being curled up. She had to learn how to do this. To practice. In the NICU, she had to be positioned because she was too weak to do it on her own. Bringing her hands together was a milestone for her. Yet here, now in this moment, she does so effortlessly. She is peaceful. Her peace brings joy to my soul. I still have days where I mourn what could have been, but the majority of the guilt and sadness have lifted. Ella is strong and resilient. In the quiet moments of the night, as I hold her bottle, she reaches her fingers up to grasp mine. She reminds me that she is right where she is supposed to be. Ella is teaching me to love the little things.