Praises for Joella!

We have so many things to praise God for! First and foremost, our little girl is making leaps and bounds in her improvement. We went to the hospital to visit her last night and they have completely taken her off the morphine. They still give her a little shot of it right before they change her dressings, but she no longer gets a continual dose throughout the day. This makes her much more alert and last night she was awake and acting like a wriggly baby.

Ella has a hearty appetite and is able to digest 18 cc’s an hour through her feeding tube. This was the goal, so on Monday they plan to start trying her on a special bottle called the Haberman feeder. Apparently this has a very soft nipple that will have the least impact on her gums and lips. We just pray that she doesn’t have too many blisters develop through using this bottle.

Ella is maintaining her own body temperature, which is wonderful! And she is fully breathing on her own with no assistance. They do have some humidity running into her incubator just to keep her airways moist.

We are also very thankful that Ella has a great group of nurses working on her. They talk to her and play with her, which makes Mama very happy. They even put little toys in her incubator for her to look at. They put this plastic aquarium thing in her incubator and she loves it! She will stare at all the moving frogs and monkeys, completely encompassed in them.

Ella loves hearing our voices and responds when we talk. My mom (GiGi – Grandma Gale) was singing “Jesus Loves me” to her and Ella couldn’t take her eyes off GiGi. She loved the music. Whenever her Daddy talks to her she always turns her head and stares at him. Of course Joe completely melts when he looks into those big blue eyes.

In all of our ultrasound pictures Ella would be sucking on her fingers. Well, last night she was trying so hard to suck on her fingers, but she couldn’t because they were all wrapped in gauze. She would try for a little bit, then let out a cry out of sheer frustration. Poor girl! As a former thumb sucker I understand her frustration. They can’t give her a pacifier because it could create blisters, but the poor girl is trying everything she can to suck her thumb.

On a personal note, I (Katie) got my staples out yesterday morning, so that makes me much more comfortable! I feel like a new person!

Joe and I are remaining realistic about the future. We have a very long road ahead of us and there will definitely be times of struggle, but for now we are so thankful to have a baby that is defying the Dr.’s original thoughts. We were talking to her primary Dr. the other day and thanked him for his work. He said, “I haven’t done anything. She’s doing all of this on her own.” We know that it is the prayers of all of you that have gotten her this far, and we are eternally grateful for that. The abundance of love that has been shown to Joe and I is so overwhelming! There is no way we can ever express our gratitude. Thank you all so much!

Some prayer requests for this weekend:
1) Joe went to the hospital and assisted in her dressing changes this morning. He wanted to go and get a “lay of the land” before I did, that way he could prepare me for what is in store. Her most affected areas which need the most care are her little legs (her left one in particular). Visually, it looks really sore and hurting, but the nurses expressed that the wounds are healing much better than prior. Also, her left calf muscle is undeveloped and needs to be stimulated to grow. Possibly, over time, the muscle will come back, but we don’t know how that is going to affect things in the future. Please pray for continual healing for Ella’s legs! Her hands look terrific, yet please pray for them as well.
2) Please pray that she won’t get too many blisters in her mouth from the bottle feeding.
3) Joe and I have a “family meeting” with the primary Dr. and the Dermatologist on Monday. Hopefully this will give us an insight into the next biopsy and how much longer she will need to stay in the hospital. Please pray that Joe and I ask the right questions and that this meeting goes well.