Ella had a better day. With the ECMO machine turned back up to 160, her stats improved. This makes sense since the machine is doing more of the work.
 
We learned that they wanted to turn up the machine, so that she could have a break, but also so that they can change the circuit in the ECMO machine. We are nearing two weeks of Ella being on ECMO which leads to a great risk of blood clots in the machine. So, when they reach this point, they like to change out the machine and start fresh to minimize that risk as much as possible.
 
The latest news is that they will likely keep Ella on ECMO until next week. We don’t expect to see any drastic changes, like getting her off of ECMO, until next week.
 
Please continue to pray that Ella will gain strength throughout this week. Also, that her parents will hold tight to His promises during this challenging time!
 
Thanks again for all the posts – – all of you have no idea how much these help us!!!

 
Happy 2 weeks Ella! Look at the expression on that face…
 
Although Ella’s stats are okay, they are not great. The fluctuations have been a bit much over the past 2 days. Therefore, Dr. Kays decided to turn the ECMO machine back up to 160 this morning. He wants to give her body a bit of a break: her kidneys, lungs, liver, etc. As you might imagine, all the chemicals running through her little body can have some lovely side effects!
 
Normally, they try and keep these babies flat on their back before they have surgery to minimize the shifting of contents in their chest. Post-surgery is when they typically can place them in other positions. But in this case, Ella has a build up of fluid in her body, mostly evident in her back. So, they have propped her up more so she is resting on her left side and plan to prop her to the right hand side later today. To decrease the puffiness and fluids, they have increased her dosage of Lasix.
 
This morning has been an emotional one for Mom & Dad. Just part of the roller coaster ride experience. We just want our baby girl to be okay and it is such a tough thing to experience these raw emotions.
 
All of this is not in our control. The only thing we can do is cling tight to His promises. A supporter and prayer warrior that heard about our story emailed us recently with this verse: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
 
With this downturn on stats, this may not be Ella’s week for surgery. It seems that her body needs more time to strengthen. Please continue to pray for her body to heal and become strong…and pray that her parents can hold tight to the truth: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).