Six Weeks Old

Wow! I can't believe it's been six weeks already! I'm trying to soak up every minute of it and not wish away any of the 'stages.' Therefore, I think we are doing a good job of spoiling her with lots of cuddling. I just can't seem to get enough of holding her!!

I am doing much better with the night sleeping. Ella will actually sleep at least one block of 4 hours in a row and then another 3 hours or so most nights. And then I have taken every one's advice and sleeping whenever I can - day and night! Todd has taken over basically all household chores (in and out) as Ella is not liking when we put her down. But after not being to hold her all the time for the first 30 days - I definitely don't mind it now!!!

We went to the hematology clinic on Thursday and her blood work came back good. Only her red blood was down a little bit (making her anemic) - but nothing Dr. Ambrusko was overly concerned about. And her bilirubin is at a plateau right now but she doesn't seem as jaundice.

Unfortunately, with the 'advisement' from the doctors to stay away from children it gave me total anxiety when I had to go to the clinic for the appointment and was surrounded by kids and icky parents. Thankfully my mom came with me so I could wait with Ella outside until she was called.

We have also had another appointment to Dr. Cavalieri, Ella's pediatrician, and he said other than her liver being enlarged (which appears to be functioning) she looks and sounds good! We are still working on weight gain, but she is eating and pooping so much more and more consistently now that we're home!

Now that I have been able to start calling and e-mailing again, I have had people ask me for clarification as to what was wrong with Ella. So with help from my brother's great friend, Tom, here it goes. The easiest way to explain it is that the blood disorder part presented itself like leukemia and those cells tend to clog up the veins and arteries. Since the liver is basically a huge filter that runs all the blood through it, it can get clogged and damaged. In addition, unlike adults where blood cells are only produced in bone marrow, children produce blood cells in bone marrow, the liver, and the spleen. Therefore, the liver was probably affected by the extraordinary production of yucky blood cells since so many were produced. Therefore, Ella actually received a small dose of chemotherapy as her treatment (so small that she did not have any side affects) which was like giving her an oil change since yucky oil (Ella's blood) gets thick and can clog up the engine (Ella's liver). Fortunately, as of the bone marrow biopsy that was done before she left the NICU, her bone marrow appears to be making all good blood cells - yea! Now we just need to keep it this way!!!!

I still cannot express to you the gratitude we have for all the support we have received and continue to receive! I mean it when I say we could not have gotten through this without knowing how much we are loved and supported!