Oct
14
     
Butterflies, Gators, and Bats, oh my!(Day 83)
Posted (Tina) in All Posts on October-14-2007


Wow, Ella is having a great day!

They have increased her feedings to 18ccs of Portagen per hour. She seems to be handling it fine. Each day they are weening her versed just a little bit, which is progress forward (this is her sedative medicine).

Urine output was high the last 24 hours at 343. Yet, her chest fluid output was so low yesterday – – only a total of 5.5ccs!!! We are hoping that this is a good sign. They have not taken another chest x-ray but expect that she will have one tomorrow. So far today, she has output 3ccs out of her chest tubes. We’re so hopeful that the fluid issue might be reducing slowly but surely.

Nurse Kelly is taking care of her. She went ahead and flipped Ella on her right side, which normally causes issues for her. Yet, Ella has not had any extra sedative or pain meds besides her drips since Friday afternoon. So, she is tolerating her right side today with saturations at 100/100. Plus, her last blood gas was excellent, pH=7.45, cO2=49, pO2=118.

As you can see below, we had quite the adventure yesterday with Uncle Rick and Cousin Megan. First, we went to the Florida Museum of Natural History and they were having a festival called Butterfly Fest, to celebrate butterflies. Megan made a butterfly flag and learned how to make an oragami crane. Then, we walked inside the museum to look at all the exhibits. The highlight was the Butterfly Rainforest. It was amazing to walk around a temperature controlled environment with hundreds of different butterflies. They were gorgeous!

After a nice dinner, we went hunting for alligators. We heard that they hang out at Lake Alice in the middle of the University of Florida. First, we walked up to one area and sure enough, a small gator was approaching us. We spent quite a bit of time there and then heard of another area to maybe find some others. On the way further down the road, we noticed a huge crowd gathered on the opposite side of the street. It was an agriculture area on the campus. At dusk time, within a few minutes, tons of bats flew out of this house! It was surreal…

From there, we went back across the street to Lake Alice. We saw some large, oversized turtles in the water. And after about 15 minutes, a much larger gator came to the edge of the land. I couldn’t believe that we had the opportunity to witness alligators so up close! Thus the title: “Butterflies, Gators, and Bats, oh my!”

Uncle Rick and Cousin Megan are leaving today, but we had a great time!


Roxie (Adreinne's friend) on October 14th, 2007 at 11:33 am #

PRAISE GOD FOR ELLA’S WONDERFUL STATS!!! She is lookin good!! And Ella’s first family reunion. “Cousin Time” has always been important in our family. I’m so happy for you guys as you get to know your little girl and get to share her with so many but especially family! Love to you all, Roxie

Laura Blackwell on October 14th, 2007 at 11:36 am #

Ella has grown so much since we were internet introduced. She’s just beautiful!! Glad you have been able to share Ella with family. Looks like you guys were having fun too. HOORAY for GOD!

Char Snyder Jordan on October 14th, 2007 at 12:38 pm #

Go Gator Girl! GO! We are praying for you and your wonderful family. We think you look great. Good to see Rick’s family too. You are great. Keep up the wonderful progress. Love and Kisses to Tina and Josh too. LOL Char and Jim

Loren L. on October 14th, 2007 at 1:43 pm #

AWWW they are so cute curled up like that… It’s nice to see families come together during these tough times. Megan has a beautiful smile. We’re still praying hard for little Ella to clear out her fluid and let that lung grow.

Williamsburg on October 14th, 2007 at 3:31 pm #

I still think there’s nothing cuter than babies sleeping with their little buns up in the air – so glad Ella’s insides are doing so well processing real food – those good pees and poops are important signs! She should be getting kick-backs from FL tourism for her future college fund =) How fun to see you all having such a good time – wish we could be there, too, but we’re with you as always in spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for great days. XOXOXO

Joel Snyder on October 14th, 2007 at 4:13 pm #

Ella, Keep up the good stats and fluid reduction. It sure is nice to see your cousin Megan having fun with the Turtles,Butterflies,Bats and Gators. Uncle Rick looks like he is having fun too. I will check on you later. Love, Grandpa!!!!!!!

Clay, Julie, and Jordan on October 14th, 2007 at 5:11 pm #

Ella is looking really good! It is so exciting to see that she is doing so much better! Im sure you guys have enjoyed your company. We are praying every day for Ella’s continued progress.

Love,
The Brantleys

Jim and Lisa on October 14th, 2007 at 5:54 pm #

We are so touched everyday by your postings…Sometimes it seems so easy to take for granted all of the blessings we have..but man, your Ella makes us appreciate every morning that we wake up and have the luxury of “complaining” to have to spend 12 hours at a gymnastics meet yesterday with our daughters. Ella, I’m sure will give you those “painful” yet “wonderful” hours on a hard bleacher bench one day- only to watch her maybe compete for 5 minutes! She is so beautiful and I love reading about and praying for you every day. God is indeed good! What blessings he’s showering your family with…all of the progress and love and support around the world! I think you should send her USC picture to the school newspaper! that is hillarious.

All is well in Aurora..know you are in our prayers!

tammy on October 14th, 2007 at 6:00 pm #

Thank you for sharing your family and beautiful pictures with us. The butterflies are awsome. Ella looks wonderful….all curled up in her purple booties. As grandma I am so touched by these pictures, and am in awe every day of our Lord’s kindness and mercy! (The bear must love USC too)!!

Melissa on October 14th, 2007 at 8:04 pm #

gotta love computers… I just got finished posting a reply and then got a computer error.
Thank you so much for being so faithful with all of your posts. I’m sure you’ve run into computer issues and that is probably the least of your concern right now.
Praise God!!
Ella looks awesome and I’m so glad to hear that she actually is doing great!!
You all are so faithful and keep following, trusting and putting one foot in front of the other.
I have great news for you…
Once you get to bring Ella home we have a butterfly pavillion here in Colorado. You can take Ella to see the butterflies.
There will be so many things that you can discover and explore with Ella.
I can’t wait to share in it with you.
Stay strong and for now enjoy the smooth sailing.
Love, Melissa

Dawn Franck on October 14th, 2007 at 8:17 pm #

Oh my gosh, she looks so cute! Look at all of that hair : ) I’m so glad to hear she is doing so well. Sounds like a fun time with Rick and Megan and I’m sure it was great for them to meet baby Ella. Take care, Dawn

Angie on October 14th, 2007 at 9:06 pm #

Aww – She looks awesome! How wonderful some of your family came to visit. Loved the pictures, looks like you guys had a great time! 🙂 Still prayin’ for the baby steps to continue. Hugs & Kisses to Ella. ~Nurse Angie

Eusey Family on October 14th, 2007 at 10:58 pm #

Sounds like you guys had fun! So happy to hear that Sweet Ella is doing well. I can’t wait to hear all about her from Rick and Meg. I know they landed, but haven’t arrived yet.

Hugs,

RSMRCR

Tammy on October 15th, 2007 at 1:49 am #

Correction to 10/14/07 post:
I wrote “as grandma” and need to correct to “as A grandma I am so touched by these pictures…..”. My sincere apologies to Ella’s grandma! God Bless

Joan and Steve Odell on October 15th, 2007 at 8:28 am #

Oh my —– such incredible blessings continue to flow – family, heavy diapers, etc. She just gets more beautiful and those eyes!!!!! love the picture above – Just so you know – our prayers and love continue in depth for this precious West family. We would so love to see the three of you when we come to Denver – Praying for your safe return home for CHristmas – what a wonderful time to ‘go home’. love and hugs – STeve and JOan

Fran Jarrett on October 15th, 2007 at 8:44 am #

It is so great to hear that Ella is doing so well! I love to see little ones with their knees tucked up and their bums in the air! So precious!
Enjoyed the pictures of your day with the “Butterflies, Gators, and Bats, Oh My!” You all look like you had a wonderfull day and thank you for sharing. Tina, you and Megan made some awesome butterflies!

Heidi Ham on October 15th, 2007 at 8:54 am #

Way to go Ella! Keep up the good fight. It sounds like your body is healing – so So SO glad to hear 🙂

Michelle Herman on October 15th, 2007 at 11:06 am #

It is so great to see you all get out and have a little bit of fun! Glad to see that Ella is progressing so nicely! thanks so much for sharing such beautiful pictures!

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