Ella slept well last night and woke up ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

All of us recognize the traditional icon of the day as the shamrock. I read today, “…And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.” I had no idea of the meaning behind the shamrock, but it certainly gives me more motivation to wear green and celebrate the day.

The first feed of the day did not go well – – she had a major meltdown requiring extra oxygen. The second and third feed of the day went much better. We tried the bottle again with the most being 20ccs at a time. Again, not a large amount but at least it was done with a normal amount of crying and fussing.

Also, we tried rice cereal twice today. She did SO much better this time. Even though she did not enjoy it and fussed each time, that is a normal baby response to me. But getting so worked up that she turns purple/blue and requires extra oxygen is a bit over the top. So, thankfully she did not have an episode over rice cereal today.

The weather was beautiful today so I pushed Ella for a walk. I enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine immensely. I think she enjoyed the change of scenery too. Eventually though, she became sweaty and bored. It lasted for about 20-25 minutes, which is the longest walk for Ella so far. Hopefully, we can increase that over the remaining days in Florida.

She had lots of fun with her bath today, but I think she likes cuddle time afterwards the best.

We never heard back from Dr. Kays on which oil to add to her nightly feeds. Kind of a bummer considering that we were really counting on that ingredient to help her gain weight. She has been taking her full 550ccs, so we are hopeful that we will still see some weight gain on her next weigh-in.

Also, we did not hear back about her blood work. We are going to make the assumption that no news is good news.

She has maintained on 400ccs of oxygen since last Thursday without an issue. That is very exciting. We still have a long way to go, but the fact that we made some progress feels good. It simply means that she is growing and getting stronger.

The more we care for Ella, the more we realize that she simply does not adapt to change well. It can be something fairly minor and she notices it. Until she has been exposed enough and realizes that it is not a negative experience, she is skeptical and can get upset very easily. So the moral of the story: introduce new things very slow and be patient. If she melts down, wait and try again another time. And keep at it.

Thank you for the continued prayer coverage. Trying to stand away and be objective, this past year has been rough for us on many levels. We have a beautiful daughter to be thankful for, and as such He has placed an enormous responsibility on our hands and trusted us to take care of her. We need the prayer support for her and her health. Along with that, we need lots of prayer to remain obedient and lean on Him for daily strength.

Psalm 105:4
Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.