Whew…what busy a day. My work schedule was jam packed and in between I had to take Tina to the airport, and then, oh yeah, go see the cutest Bun ever!

Ella’s had quite a bit of activity in the last 24 hours, so she’s even more worn out than usual. She had a blood transfusion yesterday, an MRI today…ahh, you know what I really think is wearing her out though? These days, she has to sneak all the way across the NICU to see her friend Par without anyone seeing her. I thought the bottom of her socks looked a bit dirty…hmmm.

Overall though, Ella had a so so day.

She wasn’t real excited about having the MRI done and for this to be affective, they need her to keep still. Nurse Marla tried everything to keep her calm, short of crawling into the MRI machine with her. If it was actually OK for Marla to do this, I know she would not have hesitated =). For this reason, they gave Ella a small dose of fentanyl to calm her down. After this, she was nice and relaxed.

Dr. Kays ordered the MRI, not because there is anything wrong with Ella, but instead to proactively check for any other potential brain issues before she’s discharged. We don’t have any results yet, but look forward to hearing what the radiologist has to say.

When I went to see Ella tonight, she was awake, but she looked a bit tuckered out. Her breathing appeared to be a little labored as well, and her saturation wasn’t as good as I’ve seen in previous days (95-98%).

I spent some time, holding, rocking, and singing to her. She started to settle down but couldn’t quite get comfortable. I laid her down in bed, and noticed that her G-Tube button looked a little inflamed. The nurse said that it needed to be cleaned, so she took a damp cloth and did just that.

Our girl wasn’t too excited about this process. I think the skin around this area has broken down a bit, due to small amounts of stomach acid, which make it sensitive. Even part of her scar seemed a bit more inflamed from it. It doesn’t look like infection, and the nurse practitioner and attending doctor are aware of it.

After her belly was cleaned up, I suggested an idea another nurse planted in my head about putting Vaseline around the button. Ella’s nurse was thinking the same thing. After applying the ointment, Ella requested to be held again.

I finally was able to get her in a comfortable position and she went out! Totally fell asleep. The nurse then removed her feeding tube, and closed off her button. Ella barely noticed.

I held her for awhile, then figured it was safe to put her back in bed. I was able to lay her down, she woke up for a second, and fell right back to sleep. She looked very comfortable, and her numbers did too. I then looked comfortable myself (heh).

I then said my goodbyes and headed home to the apartment. While driving back I started thinking about our journey. I can’t even begin to process all that we’ve been though. There’s part of me that doesn’t believe we’re even here. Another part of me feels like time has flown by so quick, and yet another part feels like it hasn’t gone fast enough!

It’s amazing to look at this miracle girl and ponder all that she’s been through. We are so blessed to be Ella’s parents, and we praise God for giving us the privilege of loving this wonderful girl.