Ella has maintained through the day – stats are stable.  We will not know if she has an infection for another 48 hours or so.  We hope that she has been able to fight off infection, but only time will tell. 
 
In addition, she is maintaining her stats…but when we talked to Dr. Kays this evening, he wants to see more than stable stats.  He wants to see her blood gas levels continuing to increase.  Improved blood gas levels mean that her body is getting stronger and doing even more work, which means a better chance of stability once she is off of ECMO.  Her blood gas levels have increased since she initially was put on ECMO, but have remained somewhat stable over the past couple of days.  Please pray that her blood gas levels will increase substantially.   
 
The other challenge: ECMO has been good for Ella.  It has given her body a chance to recover in a way that would not have been possible without it.  But, it is not good to leave babies on ECMO for too long.  Dr. Kays stated that reducing the flow on the ECMO machine is a positive sign, but along with that, there also comes an increase in the risk of blood clots forming in the machine.  This is one of the greatest risks with ECMO – – blood clots – – they can cause brain damage.  So far, Ella has not had any brain damage, but we want to continue to be vigilant with prayer that the ECMO machine will not have any failures.
 
At this point, Dr. Kays wants to perform her upcoming surgery off of ECMO, which means that we need to be patient for Ella’s condition to improve even further.  Please pray for her strength – – that her lungs would get stronger and that her stats overall would not just remain stable, but drastically improve.  If they can improve over the next few days, it would be a reasonable assumption that she would have her surgery performed within the next week.
 
And thanks for the prayers for Evan – – he was moved to the 2 level NICU today, which is a good sign. Although he is still having liver problems, they decided to step him down a level. Please pray for the strength of his Mom and Dad, as they have some tough decisions to make regarding the next best steps for his health.
 
Today was a rough day emotionally.  Thanks for the continued support and prayers.  It is hard to see Ella hooked to all these machines and not know what the outcome will be for her.  We know and trust in our hearts that God is in control and that He knows best.  But that does not take away the emotion of seeing this sweet baby hooked up to all these machines.  And it does not take away this immense desire to hold and comfort her!  As each day passes, we are growing more and more connected with Ella.  She is burrowing deeper and deeper into our hearts – – we just love her so much!  Please continue to pray for all three of us – – all of us need strength right now. 
 
As we were driving home this evening and the weight of everything from the day was on our hearts, the car was silent. Yet, God spoke words of comfort to our spirits while we were waiting at a signal.  Seconds later, we broke the silence and started sharing what God had placed on each of our hearts.  At that moment, we realized that God had given the same words of comfort to both of us!  We do not see that as a coincidence…that was great confirmation that He is in control at all times, even when our emotions get the best of us.
 
Finally, thanks and praise to God for Dr. Kays – – for his passion and talent with these babies.  It is so amazing to watch him at work.  We know that we came to the right place to have this baby and that no matter what happens, God is in control and it’s going to be okay.