The Men (and Women) in Ellie's Life

If you are ever looking for Artie, Mimi or Oppa, please check around Ellie's little finger. It is quite possible that you will find the three of them hanging around there. The night before Ellie's surgery, Oppa slept with Ellie on his check in the recliner in E's room. I'm surprised that Ellie recognized her crib after Mimi and Oppa went home! And, do you think that spoiling occurs only at our house? Noooooo, even when we are in Huntsville, Ellie gets spoiled rotten! When we walk into Mimi and Oppa's house, Ellie is snatched from our arms. We don't get her back until we head back home. It is a rare moment that Ellie does not have Mimi or Oppa right near her. I have never seen my parents fight, but they will re-enact an episode of Jerry Springer when it comes to whose turn it is to hold her! :)

And, please don't get me started about Daddy. Ellie as much coughs in her crib, and Artie runs to check on her. Mind you, this is the same man who is deaf in one ear and "can't hear me" when I ask him to take out the trash. BUT, Daddy rushes to Ellie if she even THINKS she might be the slightest bit unhappy. Yep, before she cries.

As for me, I'm as cold as ice and NEVER pull her on the couch to get some lovin'! ;)

Another Day, Another Surgery

On Aug. 8th, Ellie had her second hemangioma surgery. This time, Mimi and Oppa were here to experience it. Once again, we had to starve Ellie from midnight until 9am (surgery time). As you can imagine, this did not phase our "I don't want to eat" baby. The doctor said this surgery would be much easier, since he didn't have to cut her tongue this time. And, he was right! The surgery, from start to finish, took about 30 mintues. As the nurses wheeled Ellie into the recovery room, the doctor came in and said that he thinks this will be the last surgery! Whooo hooo!!!! Of course, Artie said it was because the doctor's new Jag was paid off. But, as I type this two weeks after the surgery, I really feel he was right! There is no cure for the hemangioma, so she'll have it on her face until she's about 4 (according to what the doctor said), but hopefully the laser treatment/cortisone injection will stun the cells into not growing. We use to call it her "strawberry" because it was so red and raised. But, now it's just a little discolored and more flat. In fact, from a distance, you can't even tell anything was wrong!

OK---back to the surgery day. The nurses told us not to wake Ellie up, because she would be fussy. They encouraged us to just let her wake up on her own from the sleeping gas. Well, as the nurse was giving us this order, I looked over and there was Ellie. Wide awake! No kicking and screaming this time!!! It was almost like she was waking up from a nap. Right after we picked her off the gurney and they unhooked her from all the machines, we had to give her a bit of Pedialyte to make sure she was a-ok; she downed it! So, about 15 minutes later, we got the green light to go home where Mimi and Oppa were waiting patiently.

If I haven't mentioned it before, Mimi and Oppa are SO good for Ellie (and us). When we got home, they cuddled and kissed her, so Mommy could sleep (and Daddy could mow the lawn---ha ha!).

The rest of the weekend was spent spoiling Ellie (scroll up and read the part about Mimi and Oppa being in town) and relaxing.

Happy 4th of July and Beyond!

One of my favorite holidays is Independence Day. Obviously, a holiday celebrated by grilling out and swimming is a-ok in my book. But, this was Ellie's first time with fireworks! So, I was REALLY looking forward to the Fourth this year. Unfortunately, she really didn't look to the sky with awe and amazement. She actually fell asleep on Neighbor Judy's shoulder!

But, this was a remarkable weekend, because we started putting a little cereal in Ellie's bottles. Yes, it's a SMALL milestone, but Ellie really took to it. Has it helped her NOT spit up all the time? Hmmm, not so much, but it HAS helped her increase her intake. She was at about 25 oz on a good day. But, now, we are at about 30 oz.

Artie takes Ellie to the GI for a weigh in every two weeks (stupid lack of weight gain). Since we've added cereal into her bottles, she gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks! Whooo hoooo!!!!

In July, we also took Ellie to the pediatrician. At the beginning of the month, she was at 26.6 inches long. Unfortunately, she has Artie's LONG torso and short legs. Poor kiddo! She was at the 59th percentile in weight at the beginning of the month and is now (July 26th) at the 75th percentile. Thanks, rice cereal!

Another visit we had in July was to the plastic surgeon. Unfortunately, we need to go in for another surgery on Ellie's hemangioma on 8/8/08. We're hoping that this surgery will be very successful. They will probably use a stronger laser to attack the hemangioma. Naturally, we are afraid that it will burn the skin, so please keep your fingers crossed. We'll keep you posted on it.

Sweet Home Chicago!

Don't you love it when things work out? My national conference for work was in Chicago during the last week in June. Soooo, that meant that Ellie was getting to meet the Chicago family for the first time. It also meant that Ellie was going to take her first trip on an airplane. Unfortunately, it meant that I was going to fly alone with Ellie. Hmmmm. When I booked my ticket, Delta didn't really give any instructions on how to fly with a 4 month old. If you know me, you know that I like to have everything all planned out and don't like it when I don't know what the master plan is for a situation. I think I obsessed about this 2 hour flight non-stop for MONTHS. Seriously, I had dreams where I left Ellie somewhere at the airport or plane and had to go to "Baby Lost and Found" (evidently lots of mothers also left their babies somewhere) to find Ellie. But, I couldn't recognize her! (Yes, I remember this episode of Friends that was based on roughly the same situation). In fact, the night before the flight, I was sick just thinking about flying with Ellie! The day of the flight (after tearfully saying goodbye to daddy), we checked in and had the most helpful folks at TSA get us through security (no, I'm not kidding). As I was checking in, the nicest passengers offered to help carry my diaper bag. . . fold down the stroller, etc. I had a very helpful gentleman seated next to me that enjoyed talking to Ellie. But, you will be very impressed to know that Ellie was an angel on the entire flight! So tears or screaming. She slept the entire flight!

Ellie LOVED getting to meet her Nana and Papa, aunts and uncles, and cousins! Mimi and Oppa were there to take care of Ellie while I was at my conference. Was Ellie spoiled by all the attention? Um, yeah!!! But, she had a great time. I felt bad for her when we got back, since she didn't have tons of people to watch her every move---ha ha ha!

The flight back home went just as great as the flight to Chicago! I sat next to a colleague of mine, so I was able to actually breathe and enjoy flying with Ellie. Thanks, Anna!!!!

When we got back home, Daddy missed Ellie MORE than words can say. While we were gone, Daddy cleaned house, did major yard work, cleaned the carpets, and did laundry. Hmmmm, maybe Ellie and I should go on MORE trips!

Surgery Update

We survived Ellie's first surgery. Like I said before, we were pretty nervous about the whole starvation before surgery part of the day. The doctor said she could have formula until midnight, breast milk until 1:45am and Pedialyte until 3:35am. Nothing after that, though. Well, Artie was able to get 7 ounce down her at 10pm (go Daddy!). We gave her a bath and fed her formula at 11:30 (another 2 ounces---go Daddy, again!). At 1:15, Artie woke Ellie up and gave her 1.5 ounces of my milk. We decided not to wake her up for the Pedialyte, since she had never had it before. So, Artie went to bed. I told him I would stay with Ellie, in case she needed anything. Well. . . at 3:30am, Ellie starts screaming like we have never fed the child. Sooooo. . . I whip up a bottle of Pedialyte. Hindsight being 20/20, we probably should have exposed her to this product before. Ellie didn't know what to do with this substance in her mouth! It dripped out of her mouth as she continued to scream for a real meal. I was watching the clock begging her to take some of the Pedialyte and stopped promptly at 3:45. Then, I stuck her paci in her mouth and rocked her to sleep. Did I get to go back to sleep? Um, no! I had to get ready, since we had to leave the house at 5am.

We got to the hospital at 6am (after a stop at McDonalds!) and signed our life away on a million pieces of paper. Finally, they took us back to the pre-op area, which was a glass walled small room with a privacy curtain around the room. The nurse let Ellie pick out a toy to play with to remind her of her visit. Ummmm, not much there for a 3 month old. So, we picked out a sandbox kit, for us to bring to the beach with us. The anesthesiologist came in to do some pre-op stuff. After hearing that Ellie has acid reflux and spits up all the time, the doctor said that he might put her under via an IV and not the gas. As you probably figured, I was most concerned about her being under. But, the doctor assured us that she'd be fine. Ellie's plastic surgeon came in to check on her. He broke the news to us that we will probably need more surgery after this one, due to the location and size. That was not what we wanted to hear. After every doctor/nurse/PA in the hospital came by to see Ellie, the OR nurse came in to pick her up and carry her to the OR at 7:45am. Then, we were led to the post-op room. At 8:15am, the doctor came in to tell us the surgery went well. The frenulum has a Z cut with two stitches and looked like it would heal nicely. The hemangioma was bruised, due to the lasers and would be swollen for the next few days/week. They injected the hemangioma with steroids (Ellie should be able to now play professional baseball---ha ha!). The doctor said that we need to meet him in his office in 4-6 weeks to discuss "the next step", but if the hemangioma started growing, we needed to schedule another surgery ASAP. He mentioned possibly doing another surgery in 4 weeks. When Artie was feeding Ellie in the post-op room, we noticed she was bleeding on the outside corner of her eye. Evidently, the cornea cover to protect her eyes from the laser must have scratched the inner lid of her eye. But, this evening, that had healed.

The nurses came in to do our discharge instructions. She needs an oral antibiotic 4 times a day. We also have a gel to rub on the hemangioma. Due to the pain, she is on tylenol with codeine. It took us a while to get her to calm down in the post op room. So, I sung "You Are My Sunshine" about 30 times until she calmed down enough for us to put her in her car seat. She slept the entire way home and for about an hour afterwards. We have struggled all day to get her to eat. We are now at the point where are putting her milk/formula in an eyedropper. It appears that she can suck on her paci, but she doesn't seem to want to suck on her bottle. Artie just gave her my milk in a bottle, which she took (but not without a fight).

Right now, she is asleep (I guess codeine will do that to a girl!) We hope that she will be able to sleep off some of the pain of her frenulum and will feel better (and hungry) afterwards!

Thanks for all of your well wishes. We sure felt comforted today! Thanks for reading!

Ellie's Surgery

On Monday, June 9th, we go in for Ellie's surgery. She is having a hemangioma next to her eye lasered and her tongue clipped. A hemangioma can be translated into "bloody tumor". It is most common in premature babies, girls and Caucasians. We went to a pediatric opthomologist who recommend treatment, since it can put pressure on her optic nerve/eyeball and nasal passage. Want to hear something interesting? The doctor recommended we see "the best plastic surgeon in Atlanta, but it's hard to get on his calendar." It turns out that the occupational therapist we saw a couple of days earlier to help figure out why Ellie wasn't eating had already made an appointment with this very doctor! Yay!!!

For the hemangioma, there are two lasers. One will work on the blood blister-y looking thing on the outside of her skin. The second laser will work to reduce the capilary congestion under the skin. The lasers will also help stun the cells to tell them to stop growing. Hemangiomas have life cycles, so we don't know if we'll have to have the laser treatment again. Hopefully, this will treat it and life will be good! A biology professor I work with had her son treated for the same thing, so it was helpful to see pictures and hear about hemangiomas from someone who actually paid attention in biology class! :)

For the tongue tie, the surgeon is going to do a "Z" cut on her frenlum (the dohicky that you see when you lift your tongue up to the roof of your mouth). The "Z" cut is supposed to prevent it from growing back. We are praying that this will help kick Ellie's feeding into high gear.

Artie and I are a bit nervous about the surgery, since the doctor has to put her under for it. The main reason he is putting her under is because he has to use lasers. And, really? I can't blame him. Ellie is really wiggly these days! :)

People ask if Ellie can feel the hemangioma. We don't think she can; she doesn't appear to be in any pain. She has learned what her hands are and will rub her little face with them. Every time she rubs her "strawberry", I cringe. But, she never fusses about it.

We have to be at Children's Hospital at 6am on Monday. If you have met me for more than 20 minutes, you know I am not a morning person. The surgery doesn't start until 7:45. We can't give Ellie formula after midnight the night before. Then, she can have breast milk until 1:45 and Pedalyte until 3:45 am. So, THAT part shouldn't be hard. And Ellie, like her mom, is a VERY good sleeper.

So, I ask you to pray/think about Ellie on Monday. I will post pictures and update this on Monday afternoon (hopefully)! The doctor said she'll be under for about 10 minutes for the entire procedure. We should be home a couple of hours later.

Happy Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, we went to Huntsville for some R&R. We are so lucky that when we go to Huntsville, Mimi and Oppa watch Ellie, so we can get a complete night's sleep. It's wonderful!!!!
While we were there, we decided to give Ellie her first pool experience. She loves being in the bath, so we were wondering how she would enjoy the pool. I was hoping she would be a water baby, and she was!
Before I give the details, let me just tell you how cute she was!!!! Mimi bought Ellie a white and brown tiger striped bathing suit at Baby Gap, when she was in town for Mother's Day. She was the perfect accessory for Mommy's brown suit! :)
We slowly entered the water, making sure we didn't appear nervous. Mommy and Daddy cuddled with Ellie in the water; Oppa gave Ellie her first dunk underwater! I think Daddy was more nervous than Ellie! :) When Ellie resurfaced, she had a confused look on her face and let out a little cry. But, after getting cuddled by Oppa, she was just fine. Check out our Picasa site for a million pictures of Ellie's pool experience.