Home Sweet Home

Miss Ellie turned a corner on Wednesday at noon when they pulled her arterial line and catheter. She crashed and slept the whole afternoon and evening.  It also meant when night time came she decided it was time to be awake. 

Thursday morning they came to take out Ellie's pacing wires and her chest tube.  

It was not fun watching our sweet girl go through having all these lines come out and at the same time we know it only meant we were that much closer to being line free and going home. 

The minute that chest tube was out her little feet were in the air for about 30 minutes straight.  The nurses couldn't believe the flexibility of our little girl. She had started to redeem herself among the doctors and nurses on the 5th floor.  She had turned from the "Agitated Empress" into the "Sweet Little Princess."  One of the doctors came by and said he couldn't believe she had settled in.  He had thought they were going to have their hands full the whole time with our spicy little princess. 

On Thursday Ellie had a special visitor, Aunty Di. Diana and I met through our blogs and followed each other to China a couple times and home again.  Our families had the privilege to meet this summer.  Diana introduced me to sweet Ivy Joy, and Ivy opened my heart to the heart babies in China.  She has been a huge support on our journey to Ellie and I couldn't wait for her to meet our sweet girl in person. 

I love the way Ellie is looking at Diana here, pure sweetness!  Diana and I have also been in a couple photography classes together.  She took these sweet pictures of Ellie.

  Ellie had fun playing with some Hello Kitty sticker's Emme, Diana's daughter picked out for "Baby Ellie!"

Seriously is she not the sweetest little thing... silly faces and all! 

We were sad to see Diana go but so thankful she made the trip to meet our sweet girl! 

In the afternoon Ellie sat up for the first time since surgery.  She was a little shaky but had fun playing with her toys.  We still didn't get even a crack of a smile though. 

Nurse Amy was back and very excited to see how much better her little "Ellie belly" was doing.  We stand in awe as we see God's hand in the smallest of details in Ellie's life.  God hand picked this special nurse for Ellie as she told us she usually works nights but just happen to work days this weeks.  She was the one who got to pick all of Ellie's nurses and so Miss Ellie got the best of the best. She also knew the consistency for Ellie was important so Ellie had very consistent nurses that we all came to love. By the end Ellie would even let them touch her and do their exams without her crying, a huge improvement from the beginning of the week. 

We felt so blessed that Ellie had such amazing care and was loved on in an amazing way.  Her night nurse said she just may have to go to China to bring home a little Asian princess for herself.

Miss Ellie has been pretty serious and it has take quite a bit to get a smile out of her. 

Amy decided we should take the princess around the 5th floor in the chariot.  Ellie started jabbering away and the smiles came out.  

Every time I tried to take a picture of our sweet girl she pulled out her serious, grumpy face. I can't wait to see this little girl's smile return to her face. 

On Thursday as the doctors were doing evening rounds there was a buzz about possibly going home on Friday.  We could hardly believe that we could be scooping our little girl up and walking out the door in less than 24 hours.

Friday we had a busy morning of x-rays, lines being pulled, EKG, blood draws and the an Echo.  When all was said and done and reviewed we received the news that Ellie's little heart is functioning great.  It has a little remodeling to do and pressures need to level out but she is on meds to help that happen.  It is amazing that we walked into the hospital on Tuesday morning with Ellie's broken little heart and just 3 days later we are walking out with a little girl with a healthy heart, to God be the glory! 

As we got in the car and began to drive away the tears fell again.  I know Eric and I would say this was one of the hardest weeks of our life.  A week that was physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally draining.  A week that the prayers of many carried us.  A week that stretched us spiritually as we helplessly handed our little girl into the hands of the one who created her.  A week that we continued to see God's hands over the tiniest of details in our daughter's life.  A week that we once again felt honored that God would pick us to be this little girl's mom and dad.  

Ellie did great on our drive home.  We stopped mid trip for a little break but when we pulled in the garage and Eric opened her door there was a big smile.  She knew she was home! 

This smile says it all! Guess who is happy to be home! There were four other little people waiting with open arms and lots of kisses ready to love on their little sister.

If you have not read about little Ivy Joy you need to head over to her mom's blog!  Block out a couple hours and take some kleenex's and start back in February.  God will blow your socks off with what he has done in and through this little girl! She will always hold a special place in our hearts! She will always be part of Ellie's story.  She has touched our family in a very special way! Continue to lift this little girl and her family up in prayer!