Ella was uncomfortable for most of the night and we were hanging out together. At 12:30am, I gave her some Tylenol because she felt warm. As the night progressed, her fever got worse and she became fussier. Instead of trying to fight against the inevitable, we went out to the living room area at 1:30am. We were up most of the night and into the morning.

At 6am, she had a temperature rectally at 100.9, but this was after I had already been administering Tylenol a couple of times, so she was probably warmer than that initially. Also, she had a melt down requiring a boost in oxygen. After that, I think she was so exhausted from the restless night, that she finally fell asleep at 6:30am and slept for an hour. I slept on the couch near her travel crib and that was the only true stretch of sleep last night. I savored every minute.

Grandma Eusey left today and Grandma West joined us. So fun for Ella to have time with both of her grandmas!

When we went to the doctor, we had to stop by the lab and get blood drawn. Hopefully, we will hear the results in the next day or so. That process is always traumatic for Ella, but she did pretty well. She was upset, but it made it better that they were quick and efficient in drawing her blood.

We weighed in Ella, but unfortunately, she lost weight. She was 11 lbs, 4 ounces. If you think about it, we have had feeding issues for awhile now. I think it is because we have not even been able to get all the 550ccs into her little body each day.

The good news is that we are making progress with her feeds. We have gone through another day where we were able to meet the goal of getting Ella to eat 550ccs. The past 2 days have been successful – – this is the first time since the latter part of January, so we feel it is a great accomplishment. We are hoping that we can meet the goal of getting 550ccs in her each day and that it will help her put on weight for next week’s appointment.

Ella had more granulation tissue around her g-tube, so Dr. Kays had to burn it off. Always fun to watch! I’m hoping that this decreases over time.

My favorite part of the appointment was watching Dr. Kays trying to get Ella to look and him and flash a smile. She wouldn’t give him one. Also, he asked me, “How many days has it been since you were in the hospital?” I replied, “Oh, I don’t know…” Immediately, he raised his hands and waved them in the air, “Yeeeaaahhhh! We’re making progress!”.

Back in the NICU, whenever we would see Dr. Kays at bedside, we would remind him of how many days it had been since we started the journey, especially as it continued and continued. So when he asked me how many days it had been since we left the hospital and I didn’t know off hand, he counted that as great progress. He reminded me that albeit slow, we have made progress. “I mean, look, we are not in the hospital”. I told him that I appreciated his perspective, for reminding me that we have made great progress.

After the doctor appointment, we were able to see Jordan Brantley. She looks so amazing. When we were weighing in together, she tipped the scales at 17 lbs. She is not on oxygen and looks happy and alert. You would never know that she ever had a rough beginning in the NICU. And it was so great to see Julie and Mary Lou Brantley. They have been a source of support over these months and although the visit was brief, it was so nice to see familiar faces.

Dr. Kays is right…we have made progress. Just scrolling to the top of this blog and looking at Ella’s photo in the upper left hand side is a clear reminder of the progress that we have made over the months.

We’re so thankful that we have the Bun in our lives. We just love her so much and look forward to future days where she will be feel better more of the time than not.

Psalm 69:30