The Littlest Dolly

Eye Doctor Visit #3

Marilyn took Ella to the eye doctor’s today for her 2-week follow-up visit. Marilyn told me that the doctor found no signs of ROP. Apparently, if Ella did have it in her one eye, it has cleared up or corrected itself or whatever. That is great news. The doctor did, however, want us to bring Ella back in 6-12 months for another checkup because preemies are prone to getting cross-eyes or extreme near- or far-sightedness…I forget which. Luckily, nothing too serious.

Upper GI

Ella had an outpatient appointment at the hospital today. She got an Upper GI done. The four of us went to the hospital and Ava and I waited outside of the room because of the x-ray exposure. Marilyn stayed with Ella. Ella had been fasting since 6am and then they finally let her drink a yummy bottle full of barium solution at like 9:30am. Marilyn was worried Ella wouldn't like it, but the nurse said that at this age they don't have tastebuds and that if they are hungry then they will eat it. That's interesting since Ella HATES her Zantac medicine…but what do I know? Luckily, Marilyn said Ella drank the solution the nurse was feeding her. Marilyn said the nurse had Ella on her side feeding her the solution as the doctor snapped pictures or x-rays or whatever. Marilyn said it was fascinating to watch. The doctor was apparently not able to tell whether Ella had reflux or not, but was just making sure that anatomically things were correct. He said everything looked good except that when she swallows the liquid first goes up her nose. He said he was surprised that formula doesn’t come out of her nose during her feedings. When Marilyn told me this I was surprised that he was surprised…wouldn’t liquid come out of any of our noses if we were trying to drink lying down on our sides?? In any case, I guess they were just the technicians doing the procedure…maybe the pediatrician will interpret the results for us at our next visit? In the meantime, we will continue giving Ella her Zantac that she hates in hopes that it is helping her. She just seems to be uncomfortable and/or in pain while she eats. She arches her back and neck way back and sometimes appears to choke/squeal on nothing at all. I guess it could be worse…I’ve heard horror stories of little ones projectile vomiting after every single feeding. I don’t think I could deal with that.

Back to Work

And so my Family Leave time has officially run out. Today, I am trying to mentally and physically prepare to head back to work tomorrow. I know it is not going to be easy. How am I going to get up in the middle of the night to help Marilyn with the baby and not be a zombie for work the next morning? In any case, it's kind of ironic that my leave is now over and yet the baby's original due date wasn't supposed to be until later this week!

Second Dose

This morning we all trekked over to the pediatrician's office again. Ava is still sick, so she and I waited for over an hour in the car while Marilyn took Ella in to get her second dose of Synagis. Synagis is a shot that she receives monthly to help prevent her from getting RSV. She will get another dose next month and then that will be all until RSV season starts back up later in the Fall.

Weight: 6 lbs. 9 oz.

Sick and Tired

I think from being run down and cooped up in our house, Ava and I are sick. We have colds. Elaine is starting to feel sick, too. Let’s just hope and pray that the scorching off of the skin on our hands with soap and water and Purell will keep Ella healthy. Knock on wood.

The Eye Doctors

Today, Ella had another outing. This time it was to the eye doctors. We sure don’t like taking her out with all this cold and sickness but we have no choice. I had to feed her in the waiting room. I was prepared to karate chop anyone who came even close. Fortunately, we just got glances and stares from the front desk. Two of the women who worked at the front desk kept smiling at Ella. At first I thought “yeah, I know she is so stinkin’ cute,” but then after feeling them staring and smiling the whole time, I started to feel a little like a show or something. Finally, the one woman asked how much she weighed and I told her proudly 6 lbs. I also told her that she was born at 2 lbs. 7 oz. and that she is big now. She turned to the other woman and they once again smiled. I guess they had a bet. It took awhile and then finally when the technician brought us back she said she was looking for our file which wasn’t there because this was our first visit. The tech put three doses of drops in Ella’s eyes. Ella is so good about everything. After a little wait, Dr. F. came in to look into her eyes. He made some corny small talk, tortured Ella’s eyes with a magnifying glass, his fingers and a light, and then told us to look at a picture of the human eyeball. He explained that the retina grows around the back of the whole eye and that Ella’s was not quite there yet. When I asked him about the level one ROP, he gave me this vague answer (there must be a class doctors take on how to confuse your patient (or patient’s parents) enough to keep them from being able to form another question). I even asked him twice because I obviously did not understand his answer. Both Elaine and I heard his answer. We are both not stupid and neither of us could understand his hocus pocus the second time around. So she has immature retinas and we are not sure about the level one ROP or if that is the level one ROP – we will research ourselves. He also wondered why she was back so soon, even thought Dr. Q. told us to get her checked again in 2 weeks. Needless to say, our next appointment is with another doctor closer to home in two weeks.

2 Months Old / Second Trip to the Doctors

Yesterday morning Ella gave us a little scare. She woke up screaming (as much as she does). She was red around the eyes and watering and there were gurgly noises coming from her nose. Clear mucus was coming out of her nose and mouth. We sat her up, cleared her nose with the bulb syringe, took her temp (which was ok) and called the Pediatrician. Nurse Practitioner W. said it was either the onset of a cold or reflux. Then it dawned on me that it was probably reflux. No matter how long we burp her or sit her up after her feedings, she has been irritated when we lay her down. Not only that, but she arches her back and gets irritated when we try to burp her. She is not eating quite as much as normal and she tends to stop after less than an ounce. I called the Pediatrician back today. We wanted to know what else we could do for her. We started burping her over our shoulders and after she eats we hold her upright for 45 minutes. After that, we put her in her bear chair. She loved the bear chair. It made her sleepy. It was good to see her sleep peacefully. NP W. said that they want to see her and get a weight check. So tonight, we went to see Dr. H. again. We were just telling her on Thursday that Ella was having no reflux and that everything was fine with her feedings and now look. Dr. H. talked to us, looked Ella over, and decided to prescribe Ella some Zantac. If that does not alleviate the reflux, she told us that we could give her Maalox. We hope this helps. The past couple of days she has been so tortured after she eats. The new burping method and the bear chair seemed to help a lot today. Dr. H. also informed us that her H/H blood check came back less then what she was (10), but she believed that this was a time when newborns typically drop. They may check it again in 3 months or at a year. As for the apnea monitor download, she has not received that yet and will call us when she gets it. That darn monitor, if it wasn’t attached to my daughter, I would throw it out the window. I must try to see the peace of mind it gives us when we are startled out of bed for the tenth time in 5 minutes at 3 in the morning while Ella sleeps and BREATHES in her bassinet. Anyway, Happy 2 Months on Earth, Ella!

Weight: 6 lbs. 1 oz. (with clothes on)

First Appointment With Pediatrician

This afternoon we had Ella’s first pediatrician appointment. Luckily, it was like 60 degrees outside today. Anyway, it was funny….as we sat in the waiting room, a girl about 5 years old walked by with her mother. She stopped and looked at Ella in her car seat and asked her mom if she was a baby doll. Her mom assured her that she was a real baby and not a doll. I can’t blame the kid…Ella is the size of Ava’s doll baby, Stella.

So anyway, they called our name and off we went. They made me take off all of Ella’s clothes down to her diaper so that she could be weighed. I couldn’t even believe what I had heard. I asked the nurse to repeat it. She said Ella weighed 5 lbs. 6 oz. and measured 18 ¼ inches long!That means that in the 9 days since we’ve been home, she has gained 15 oz. The pediatrician decided not to treat today as a newborn visit, but rather a 2-month-old visit since Ella will technically be 2 months old on Monday. That meant getting awful shots. I think that nurse poked Ella in the legs 4 separate times and then covered her little puncture wounds up with flashy silver band-aids. I think later removing those band-aids hurt her more than the shots did! Ella proved to us once again that she is a little trouper.

Weight: 5 lbs. 6 oz.
Height: 18.25 inches

A Visit From the Home Nurse

The Home Nurse came to see us today. Her name was HN F. (Home Nurse, NOT Head Nurse, by far). HN F. decided to weigh Ella right away. She weighed her and took her temp – she said that her temp was too low. I told her that I bathed her before the visit and HN F. told me that I shouldn’t have done that and that she should have told me not to beforehand. Whoops, she forgot. Ella weighed 4lbs 10.5 ounces. Woweee! HN F. then insisted on changing her diaper. I told her that I would do it, but she insisted. Ella made that diaper just for her. It was almost as if Ella was trying to make a statement about all this home nurse stuff. Then, HN F. told us to do what we wanted but our house was too cold. I guess 70 degrees is just too cold for some people! She then started her interrogation. She was impressed at how well Ella did in the NICU (“you must have taken good care of yourself while you were pregnant”) and how well she was doing at home (“she picked the right house”). Was she trying to butter me up after telling me that I bathed my daughter at the wrong time and my house is too cold!? I do remember thinking to myself as time went on in the NICU that I must have done something right. HN F. stayed for 2 hours and asked if she could come back. Um, what? She said she had plenty to talk to us about and that insurance covered it. OK, I guess you can (somebody help us). So, stay tuned for part 2 of this exciting story.

Weight: 4 lbs. 10.5 oz.

49 days old (36 weeks)

So today was the big day! We arrived at the NICU at around 11am for our monitor training. The monitor training guy (MTG) was quite amusing. He carried two things...an old suitcase from the 70's and what appeared to be the monitor. We got settled in the lounge area and then the training began. Apparently, in the suitcase was "Emily", the little manikin that we had to practice infant CPR on. The training was quite intense and my brain was on information overload alert. Half way through the training and all this talk about the baby turning blue and not being able to breathe and having to perform CPR, etc... I just lost it. I knew I would at some point, but this was not what I had imagined. I felt like the reality and gravity of the situation had just completely floored me. Watching that silly man get all serious all of a sudden and act like he was rescuing an infant that couldn't breathe put things into perspective or something for me. In any case, I held the full blown tears in and just managed to look quite upset. He asked me what was wrong. I said it was all just kinda scary. He made me feel better by telling me that knowledge was power. I knew he was right. Luckily I snapped out of it. Training wrapped up and then he told us extremely amusing stories. Before we parted though, he needed to ask us one final question...Jennifer Aniston...HOT or NOT? How funny! Without hesitation, Marilyn and I both looked at each other and said...HOT! He thought otherwise...apparently Angelina Jolie was more his cup of tea! Anyway, after our training session wrapped up, we went back to the nursery to visit Ella. With HN J.’s approval, MTG turned Ella’s existing monitor off and threw away her wire leads. He showed us how to hook her up to the new home monitor and then in a flash he was gone.

We had originally planned to go home after this, but last night HN H. told us that Dr. Q, the eye doctor, was planning on seeing Ella today at 4:30pm. Therefore, she said we could either wait and see him today or schedule an out-patient visit with him later in the week. After much discussion, we decided it best that we just hang around and get the eye doctor exam over with today instead of having to drag Ella out into the cold on Friday. Therefore, before heading out to buy the baby sling and have lunch, I fed Ella her lunch-time bottle. Then HN J. sat down with us and went over the last of the discharge paperwork. At 3:45pm the nurses began putting drops into Ella’s eyes to dilate them for her exam. The doctor showed up, complete with eye exam headgear on, and shined a bright light through what appeared to be a magnifying glass into Ella’s eyes. After a couple of minutes of this, he determined that Ella has Stage I ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) in her right eye. He said that the worst of ROP usually appears at around 36 weeks, so this should be as bad as it gets. He said it usually will go away, but he needs to see her again for another exam in 2 weeks.

After his visit we were free to go. I packed up all of our belongings, including the baby loot bag that HN J. packed up for us, and took them out to the car. I pulled the car around and Marilyn and HN J. came out with Ella in her carseat. We said our goodbyes and thanked HN J. for everything. It seemed fitting that she was there with us today, since she’s been there with us since the day Ella was admitted to the ICN. Luckily, the drive home was uneventful. We got home and shortly after, my mom arrived with Ava. Ava was so excited that Ella was finally home. She just wanted to hold her the whole time.

And so the “ICN journey/roller coaster ride” phase ends. I will not miss the daily drives to the hospital, nor the exorbitant parking prices. I will not miss having to find and rely on a babysitter for Ava every single day. I will not miss the daily stress of wondering if Ella is going to be okay and the guilt we felt when we had to leave her. The only thing I will miss, in fact, is a few of Ella’s nurses. I am convinced that when they were on duty, they took care of Ella as if she were their own. And what more could we have asked for from total strangers? They cared for her like we did. In fact, they kinda took care of us as well…educating us about technical medical stuff, offering support and continuity, and at just the right times, a little bit of much needed humor.

Ella arriving early was the biggest shock ever. It was completely unexpected and literally turned our lives upside down within a matter of 24 hours. Amazing how life can just change in an instant. Looking back though, the whole experience has matured us beyond our years. It was profound and left us stronger in many ways. It put us to the test and we withstood all that it threw our way. There were ups and there were downs, but fortunately there were many more ups than downs. We were all lucky. I could have lost two of my girls on December 20th, but instead, they were both strong…they are fighters! Marilyn is doing well and is totally off all of her blood pressure medications. And our little Ella had a “good course” as they call it in the NICU, with little complications and setbacks. She was born at exactly 29 weeks gestation and came home with us tonight at exactly 36 weeks gestation…she stayed in the NICU for 7 full weeks and came home with us a full 4 weeks before her due date. I think the experience gave us both new perspectives and outlooks on life and how precious it is. We now know what is important in life and what is not. Wish us luck as we venture into the “do we really have 2 kids in diapers?” phase.

Weight: 4 lbs. 7.3 oz.

48 days old (35 weeks, 6 days gestation)

During the day, I called the nurse to let her know that we wanted to voice our opinion about the monitor. She told us the doctor would call us. He called and Elaine answered. Basically, he had decided to send Ella home on the monitor. After all, she did have one real brady on her sleep test.

We could expect nothing less than an interesting evening when we visit our daughter while HN H. is on. First off, we gave Ella a bath and then weighed her. Then, we realized we had only one more clean outfit. I then fed Ella. While I fed Ella, HN H. filled up baby loot bags for us to take home for Ella and Ava. Ella drank about 60 cc’s with one good burp under her belt and then Ella spit up on me, the projectile kind of spit up. The kind of spittle that soaks her clothes, my clothes, and whatever else gets in its way. Not only did I feel stupid because I really did try burping her, but we felt even more stupid because we had no clean clothes for her to wear. (Wow, now I was feeling “great”). With Little Ella’s belly now settled, she was able to fall fast asleep. For the past couple of days, Ella has been wearing one of those pink and blue striped hospital hats. She has so reminded us of Ava when she was born. Too cute. We had asked HN H. for a picture with Ella. She declined. Fine, break Ella’s cute little heart! :(

Some of the other highlights of the night, besides Ella, were the sneaky peek into the secret binder of the nurses. We found out that all along Elaine and I have been graded on our understanding of things they were secretly teaching us. For example, we showed that we understood that we knew how to give an axillary temp, but did not demonstrate it. Therefore, we lost points and only got a 3 for not demonstrating it. We are overachievers and we wish someone (translation: HN H.) would've explained this to us so that we would've gotten all 4s. We could've studied up. Yesterday, HN S. ever so stategically asked us about the kinds of formula we used with Ava. She snuck in a tricky question by asking us how we would make concentrated formula and if we knew how use powder. Again, we lost points because we didn't demonstrate it. Lately, we have been asked "are we ready?" by every nurse and they usually say it in this strange way leading us to believe it is a test and we could possible give the wrong answer. Ready or not (We are ready), Ella is coming home tomorrow after we receive monitor training and Ella gets her eye test. Besides, we have to get out of there, the blog has leaked into the NICU which wasn't exactly what we had intended to happen. If you are reading this and you have been one of Ella's nurses, hope you were a good nurse. :)

Note: I have talked to HN H. since the night she “declined a picture with Ella.” She was really insulted reading this blog entry because she said she was just kidding. To her defense, I had to get the last “shot” in on the blog. I truly believe she was kidding. In the end, Ella has no picture with HN H. Because Ella’s eyes only see shadows and light she with never know what her crazy and fun head night nurse looks like.

47 days old (35 weeks, 5 days gestation)

Today, HN S. was on. A whole section of the monitor screen was missing and it confused us a little. Then, we realized that HN S. took off Ella’s pulse ox monitor because she passed the sleep test. Wow! She may not go home on a monitor. The doctor on the weekend decided to defer the decision to the team that is on Monday. So the verdict is still out ladies and gentlemen. Elaine and I discussed it and at first we were gonna go with whatever the ruling was on the monitor, then we wound up changing our minds. We decided to put our vote in tomorrow for a monitor. I think we would feel better about it. Because of her weight loss, she was staying an extra day at least anyway. Her weight loss was a very strange thing to Elaine and I. I did not expect that to happen. We have our own conspiracy theory about this. Anyway, Elaine fed her tonight 45 out of 60 cc’s. This made Elaine feel better about feeding her since Ella choked last time she fed her. At the end of the shift, we said goodbye to HN S. and thanked her for everything. HN S. has always been great with Ella and super nice to us. The one memory I will not forget is when HN S. encouraged us to hold Ella after the day before when a million alarms made us decide maybe it was best for us not to hold her. HN S.convinced us it was ok to hold Ella and we did. We were glad we did. Thanks, HN S.! We will miss HN S.'s happy spirit and her "Little Miss" will, too. HN S. informed us that depending on Ella's weight gain, she may go home later than Tuesday. In our minds, there was a 50% chance of going home on Monday, 50% on Tuesday. We are very determined and so is Ella.

At night, Nurse M. was on again. Ella is now 4 lbs. 7 oz. She gained! Yah!

Weight: 4 lbs. 7 oz. (at night)

46 days old (35 weeks, 4 days gestation)

Because of babysitting issues, Elaine stayed home with Ava today. I called HN S. before I left so that Elaine would have an update. HN S. informed me that Ella was doing well and that the blood transfusion increased her levels from 8 (borderline anemic enough to need a blood transfusion) to 13 which was a good thing. This being the case, the IV was removed from her arm. Also, HN S. started Ella’s ad lib feeding today which means they feed her when she wants it (instead of every 3 hours). While on the phone (at about 3:15pm), HN S. said she was about to feed Ella...she was ready to eat. I tried to get an estimate as to when she thinks Ella will go home. She gave me the standard noncommittal answer. Oh well, I tried. If Ella passes her sleep test tonight, there will be no monitor going home with her and we could go home as early as Sunday. If she has any apnea or bradies during the sleep test then she will go home on a monitor, Elaine and I need training, and this will delay her discharge to at least Monday. If she has any bradies and does not resolve them herself (in other words she needs stimulation), then she is not going home yet. I asked HN S. if she was working tomorrow and she told me yes.

When I got there, HN S. told me that Ella wound up drinking a whopping 60 cc’s at 3:15pm! That’s a whole 2 oz. What a big girl. She did not spit up either. This would probably push her next feeding a little. HN S. said that she would feed her after 6:30pm if she didn’t wake up before then. Ella was a snoozle bug. She was asleep the whole time except for an occasional peek at me and some squeaking when I changed her clothes. I took off the hospital t-shirt and put on her kitty cat outfit. So cute! I figured HN S. would like it because she liked her bug outfit. HN S. also said that she ordered some butt paste for Ella because she had a rash. (No, she didn’t actually call it that.) Poor baby! I asked HN S. if there was anything different that I should know about putting a preemie in a carseat. Same rules apply to a preemie as to a baby born full-term. She checked the notes to see if HN H. left any special instructions. Basically, the head rest will be enough. She passed the test with the car seat as is. She slept the whole time the car seat test was going on.

I called at night and Nurse M. was on. I don’t ever remember Ella having this nurse but I remember seeing her with other babies. She seems very nice. She told me that the sleep study was started at 11pm and would end at 11am. Then, a doctor would review it. It was going to be a while before we had the results. Also, Ella has continued with her ad lib feedings and is doing well. She is drinking between 45 cc’s and 60 cc’s (about 1 ½ to 2 ounces) every 3 to 4 hours. Good girl! Her weight was down though to 4 lbs. 4.4 ounces. We wondered what this could mean for her. The nurse assured me they still went by the week’s overall weight gain or loss.

Weight: 4 lbs. 4.4 oz. (at night)

45 days old (35 weeks, 3 days gestation)

Met Marilyn over at the hospital after work today. We arrived to see Ella in the midst of a full blood transfusion. HN J. told us that she thought that Ella had “turned the corner”…she seemed to have her pink color back, etc. and was disappointed that the bloodwork came back showing low levels of something. During rounds she discussed with the doctor whether or not to go ahead and give her the blood transfusion. After much deliberation they decided to go ahead and give her a full blood transfusion. When we got there, Ella was being infused with blood through an IV in her little arm. It was the same infusing machine that just weeks ago was giving her IV fluids. It was kinda creepy, but we knew it was for her own good. We were still able to hold her while the transfusion was going on. They expected it to take around 4 hours. – by Elaine

Ella also had her hospital picture taken today. Elaine and I were not there to see it happen, but HN J. was there to get Ella ready for it. We left her an outfit, instructions, and our order form. Boy, did Ella look adorable in her little knit outfit! What a sweetie! HN J. also made sure her feeding tube was out of her nose for the picture. In fact, HN J. decided to take it out altogether because Ella has been taking the bottle every feeding. So far, so good. It was so great to see her without a tube in her face. Not only that, but her face is really filling out. She is so beautiful. At the end of the day shift, it was time to go. This was maybe the last time we would see HN J. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for all she has done for Ella and us. We walked out the big doors of the NICU and headed towards the elevators. Elaine and I both looked at each other. We had a great day so far and we were really excited by the fact that we would be bringing Ella home with us, but at that moment we felt a little sad inside. We had to say goodbye to someone who has become a member of our family for the past six plus weeks. HN J. has been there for us since the day Ella was born. She has helped Ella, Elaine, and I work our way back up a few hills of this roller coaster ride and we will always be grateful.

When we came back at night, HN H. was on. According to HN H., she thinks Ella, based on her history, will probably need a monitor and that that is ok. This will mean that we will have to schedule training with the monitor people during the week and this will keep Ella in the hospital until, in her opinion, Tuesday. That means that we will see her on Monday night, her next shift. Tonight, I gave Ella a bath without a safety net. HN H. also “made” me get the water. I asked her if she would test it for me since there were no little ducky bath thermometers around and she declined. After Ella’s bath, we put her on the scale. 4lbs. 6.9 oz. Wowee! Then, we dressed her in a “hospital gown” which was really a hospital tee. Ella ran out of clean clothes so HN H. offered to get her some from the community bin. If they were out, she offered a “hospital gown” and reassured me, when I asked her about it, that it wasn’t like the gown I had in the hospital with the back sticking out. Although Ella is cute no matter what, I wouldn’t put her through that torture of the gown that I wore (it would be too big anyway). We used another “gown” (aka t-shirt) as her pants. She looked like she was wearing those pj’s with the flap in the back...you know the kind. It was actually HN H.’s idea. She’s so creative with hospital attire. Then, I held Ella. The baby across from us had his parents with him. They were behind screens for privacy. As I sit there with Ella in my arms, I hear a loud boom and a gust of wind on my back. I turn to find the father pulling the screen back off the floor and propping it back up. Good thing it was too far away to fall on my head. Not even ten minutes later the same thing happens. And then again. HN H. was on the prowl. She goes over there as, once again, the father tries propping the screen up and tells him that she’s taking the screen away, that it has already happened more than twice, and that she has parents on the otherside over there that she doesn’t want getting maimed. She didn’t use those words exactly, but you get what I mean. It’s now a safety issue or something like that she said. All the guy could do at that point was walk over to Elaine defeated and say, “I think I just got yelled at.” He was one of the people who was in the lounge meeting the other night so he recognized us. He came over and struck up a conversation with us about life in the NICU. Poor guy. HN H. is really a nice person...she’s just very protective and rightfully so. Elaine then held Ella. Next, it was time for Ella to eat. I fed her. She drank about 20 cc’s then came to a full halt. I tried to burp her, but nothing. She was having some alarms and HN H. said that she probably has a lot of gas – burp her more. Then, she told me to burp her harder and rub her back after some pats. Here I am, the Mom of a 20-month old being instructed on burping. I felt stupid, but at the same time, it was HN H. From day one with HN H., she has been telling us like it is. The first night we met her she told us that Ella puked all over herself. (Don’t you mean she had an emesis? hee hee) She has a great sense of humor and I like that because I am starting to “lose it” a little (by “losing it” I mean getting very silly). Tonight, she told Elaine and I that we were cute how we “compliment each other’s neurotic tendencies”. She said this after an alarm went off and Elaine was checking it and getting worried. I turned to Elaine and asked if we should take that as a compliment. Once again, it is HN H., who is just as neurotic as we are. Anyway, Ella finally did burpies. This may be the last time we see HN H. She has been very cool since the first night we met her and we felt better when she was on with Ella at night. HN H. was the first to let us know that we could kiss our child, and that is something we will never forget. She encouraged us to be Ella’s biggest advocates, and was not afraid to tell us the deal. She was also fun to be around. Ella, Elaine and I will definitely miss her a whole bunch. And if Ella is still not home by Monday night, HN H. is also psychic.

I set my alarm for 3:30am so that I could call the hospital to find out how Ella did on her car seat test. It has definitely been awhile since my sleep was disrupted right in the middle of the night like that. She passed. Ella is such the little overachiever!

Weight: 4 lbs. 6.9 oz. (at night)