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! 

A Little Heart Made New

I know this update is long overdue and people have emailed and messaged checking in and saying they are praying.  Thank you for lifting us and our sweet girl up.  The last 24 hours have been a bit of a wild ride. 

Our day began bright and early Tuesday morning as we walked into the hospital at 5:45am Tuesday morning.  We were feeling ready to put this behind us but at the same time our hearts were heavy with what was to come.  We knew it would be a long day of waiting.  

Miss Ellie was a trooper being woke up at 5:30 and given her bath with her special soap. Then we were escorted to her Pre-Op room and she got all gowned up. 

At 7:30 it was time to say goodbye to my precious girl.  I kissed her goodbye and as I watched her walk away in her daddy's arms tears began to fall.  I prayed through tears and I laid her in the hands of the one who created her, knowing there are no better arms to be in.  Thanking him for giving me the honor of being this precious little girls mom.   Eric was able to stay with her until she fell asleep.  

At 9:03 we got word that surgery had started and 2 1/2 hours later we were escorted down to meet with the surgeon.  He successfully patched her hole but also found a surprise out pouching that needed to be fixed as well.  She arrived in the ICU around 12:45 and we finally were able to see her about 2:15. As we walked into her room tears fell again, she looked so tiny in that little bed with all her tubes.  

It was a huge relief to see our sweet girl and kiss those cheeks.  

It was of course hard to see her with all her lines but she actually looked better than we expected.  She wasn't too swollen and looked like our sweet little princess! 

 For most of the afternoon they tried to keep her sedated since she was still intubated with a breathing tube.  She showed her little spicy side early as she tried to wake up and was ganging and biting on the tube.  She burned through quite a bit of sedation meds as they tried to keep her asleep.  

Dad was checking out all her new lines and her precious new beauty mark.  

While she was in surgery we met her nurse and once again felt like God continues to write this little girl's story.  Call it a coincidence, we call it a God thing and a huge blessing that Ellie's day nurse was adopted from Korea with her twin when she was 6 months old.  We saw instantly the love she had for our little girl.  We continue to stand in awe of how God is in all the details of this sweet little girl's life.

It was a huge blessing to hold our little princess again! 

At 4:15 they were able to remove the breathing tubes and had her come out of sedation.  Most of the evening was spent trying to manage her pain as she was pretty agitated.  She would go for an hour or so with no issues and then thrash around and cry for an hour or so.  It is such a helpless feeling to watch your child and really feel like you can do anything for them.  We spent a lot of time just trying to talk to her, rub her little head, snuggle in close and try what ever we could to get her to calm down.

At about 11 last night Eric and I had the biggest scare of our life.  Eric was giving Ellie a bottle and she stopped breathing and her eyes rolled back.  He quickly yelled, "somebody help me!" The nurse took one look at her and sounded the alarm. Before we knew 10 -12 people flew into her room with the code cart.  We were pushed out of her little glass room only to stand by with tears streaming down our faces and panic in our hearts.  It was by far the scariest thing we have every experienced.  The medical team went into "Go Mode" and did what they do and quickly got her stabilized. They began running tests and everything came back normal.  They think she potentially choked a little and didn't want to aspirate so held her breath. It could have also been she just struggled with the suck, swallow, breathe as she was coming out of sedation.  At any rate we were very thankful it wasn't heart related and that they were able to stabilize her quickly.  They sedated her and kept her calm for the rest of the night.  We feel so blessed by the care Ellie is getting and the way they are taking care of our sweet girl.   

This morning Ellie was in her true form, very agitated. My friend Diana said she would gladly pass on her daughter, Emme's title as the "Agitated Empress!" Ellie now has a name that proceeds her on the 5th floor among the doctors and nurses.  She is definitely leaving her mark. She is also wrapping herself around quite a few people's fingers on the 5th floor even in her spicy form. Eric and I are pretty sure we may be in for a rude awaking when this little is up and running at full strength. 

Today around noon they came in and took out her arterial line in her groin and her catheter. She has been a different girl and has pretty much crashed the whole afternoon.  Her poor little mind and body needed a break.  They have kept her in the ICU and will continue to take it a day at a time.  

Thank you for all your words of encouragement, messages, comments, phone calls, texts and emails. They have been a huge blessing to us. Most of all thank you for covering us in prayer.  We have felt them.  

We are praising God that Ellie's broken little heart has been made new.  A mighty physical and emotional healing is taking place in this precious little girl. To Him be the glory! 

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

Surgery At 9 AM

This morning as we were making our way to Rochester the sun was rising.  It was beautiful.

Two of my friends shared these truths with me! I am so thankful for his promises that we can cling to! 

From the rising of the sun to it's setting, let the name of the Lord be praised. 

His mercies are new every morning, great is his faithfulness. 

We arrived and began Ellie's pre op appointments with a couple blood draws.  It didn't take her too long and her little lip came out. 

In no time those big crocodile tears were streaming down her little face.  I am so thankful for Eric and how he steps in for all these procedures.  I would have been a train wreck today if I was holding her down. I had enough tears standing on the side lines. 

After her procedures we made our way to the heart floor to meet with her cardiologist.  Every thing looked great and she is ready for surgery tomorrow. We also met with the surgeon and went through everything step by step for tomorrow. 

We checked in to our hotel and Ellie took a little snooze.  We then headed out for dinner.  Emotions hit as Eric and I sat at dinner.  It is hard to put into words what we are feeling.  We have a huge peace knowing God has our little girl in the palm of his hands.  At the same time reality hit tonight as we look to tomorrow and what our little girl will walk through in the coming days. It is hard to believe that this little girl has only been with us for a litter 60 days.  She has found her way into the depths of our hearts.

Tonight is Ellie's last night with her broken little heart in her body.  Tomorrow she will be given a fully functioning heart. 

 Please lift Ellie up tomorrow.  We head over the the hospital at 5:45 am.  We will say goodbye to her around 7 or 7:30.  Her surgery will start at 9:00 am and will be 3-4 hours long.  We will then have to wait another long 90 - 120 minutes until we can see her.  Thanks in advance for standing in the gap for our sweet girl.  We know there is an army of prayer warriors storming the gates tomorrow on Ellie's behalf. 

Today We Begin The Journey To Fix Ellie's Heart

The day has come to begin our journey to fix our little Ellie's heart.  We stand in awe of God's timing of moving our paperwork so quickly so we could get our her home for this surgery her little body needs. Our little girl has endured a lot her first year of life.  One thing we know is she is a little fighter.  She came to us not able to hold her head up, sit up, roll over, had no idea she had legs, couldn't use her hands or pick up a toy, was skin and bones and would cry and pull away when we would touch her.  She has shown us how resilient her little spirit is, she has shown us that love can heal. She is a little fighter. 

Today this little girl ....

 sits up like a pro ...

 loves to roll around on the floor ...

does a nose dive from sitting to get on her tummy ...

started to army crawl ...

can pick toys up and even hold them for awhile.  Sometimes her feet even get in there to help...

found her legs for the first time this week without us helping her ...

has been exploring the house this week and made it to the tile for the first time and found a wall to touch ... so many new things to experience and feel when you become mobile ...

has turned the corner in her security and loves to be by her siblings now ... 

Max can still be a bit much for her but she sure does watch him ...

is content on the floor even if we walk away from her ...

watches everything we do ....

loves to be held and has us all wrapped around her little finger. 

  She has a big week coming up, one we wish she didn't have to endure and yet we have no doubt that God has her in the palm of his hands.  She is our little fighter and we know she will fight through this too! 

As I was sharing with a friend yesterday about how overwhelmed I was with people messaging and emailing that they were praying for Ellie,  people that I didn't even know, she said, "what a privilege that God would choose you to be Ellie's mommy. That you get to sit beside her, comfort her and love on her in the days ahead." Amen, we feel so blessed that God would entrust this sweet little girl to us, that we get a front row to seat to all that God has for her. 

We have a peace knowing the same God that parted the Red Sea, parted the waters to our little girl.  That same God and all his power will be with our little Ellie in the days to come.  He will be in the operating room and will be by our side as our little girl's body recovers from surgery. 

Thank you for joining us on this journey.  Thank you for standing in the gap for our little girl! We begin her pre op appointments today at 11:10 and we will find out the exact time of surgery.  We will try to update tomorrow. 

For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Surgery Is Set

On December 19 at about 7:00 pm Eric looked at the forecast and decided that we should hit the road for Rochester, Minnesota.  He was afraid the interstates would shut down in the morning and we wouldn't get to Ellie's appointments with her new cardiologist.  I called a our neighbor to cover until our sitter could come, packed bags, made a list for the the sitter for the morning and we jumped on the road.  

The snow started five minutes into our drive and continued the entire trip.  The snow was coming straight at us and the majority of the time we couldn't see the lines on the road. A trip that should have taken 3.25 hours took us over 5.  I can't believe I didn't pull my camera out to capture some of the crazy winter weather. We were never so excited to see our hotel as we rolled into the parking lot close to 3 am.  Ellie was  rock star on our trip and we tucked her in at 3:00 am and she settled right in.  At 6 am my alarm went off to give her a bottle.  It would be the last bottle she could have until after her sedated echo.  She only took 2 ounces and was ready to go back to sleep. 

We woke up Thursday morning with much of the morning to kill before Ellie's echo at 12:30.  Around noon we made our way through the underground tunnels to the waiting room for Ellie's echo and to meet her new cardiologist.  There was a buzz of people in the tunnels and you couldn't help but wonder why people were on the campus.  So many people with a variety of stories behind their smiles and hellos.  

We made our way to the front desk and checked Ellie in.  She was a trooper the whole morning.  We thought we would be driving so thought "no bottle" would be easy.  Little did we know that we would be watching the clock tick instead.  

Ellie stole hearts in the waiting room and we shared about our journey to her with a sweet grandma that asked question after question. 

 I think this is one of my absolute favorite pictures of Ellie and her daddy to date. This picture is worth a thousand words.  She has wrapped herself around her daddy's heart and this picture is proof.  

The staff was so amazing as we began our journey back to the room where they would do Ellie's echo.  Her nurse fell in love with her and felt awful that every time she came close to Ellie she would scream hysterically.  Her new cardiologist came in and we could hardly talk over Ellie's hysterical cry.  She decided to get her sedated and then we would visit. 

The process to get her sedated was awful.  She fought it tooth and nail.  By syringe 2 and 3 of meds she had figured out how to spit it out and would was crying so hysterically that she was choking.  I was never so thankful that she was in her daddy's arms as we both had tears in our eyes as we watched her struggle through this.  In time the meds kicked in and she fell asleep in her daddy's arms. 

Eric and I sat back and watched all the machines around us.  They were monitoring all her stats and trying to decipher what was going on in the echo was nearly impossible. 

They took all the pictures they needed and then Dr. Cabalka, her cardiologist came in.  I had received Dr. Cabalka's name from my friend Diana.  She had a friend who had adopted a little girl from China with a severe heart condition and they had just been to see her and had amazing things to see about her.  I can't even begin to tell you the peace we had when we met Dr. Cabalka. She had been amazing on the phone but in person she was a true gift on this journey of Ellie's heart.  She spent so much time with us talking about Ellie's heart and explaining things in ways we could understand.  But more than her being Ellie's cardiologist she wanted to know about Ellie, her past, her orphanage, her family.  She is a Christian and has been to China and a variety of other countries on medical missions.  She understands adoption and wants Ellie to feel loved and secure before we walk the road of surgery. As she spent time with us and we shared Ellie's story you could see the tears in her eyes, the compassion that she had for our little girl. She saw her as more than her patient, she saw her as our precious little girl.  

We heard very similar terms out of her mouth that we had heard weeks before at Ellie's first cardiologist visit.  There were a couple things that we didn't realize though.  Ellie's heart is working 2.5 times harder than a normal heart.  The hole is causing the left side to be enlarged and it is the size of a small adult heart.  The hole is allowing blood to flow directly to her lungs so if she gets any type of respiratory infection she could go downhill fast.  She isn't in heart failure so surgery isn't an emergency but it needs to be done sooner than later especially with all the potential winter germs floating around. 

After we finished our consult with Ellie's cardiologist we tried to wake our sleepy little girl.  She stretched and those little feet went in the air. 

In no time we saw those precious little eyes pop open.  She was pretty excited to see her bottle.  After Ellie ate we made our way over to the hospital to meet with Ellie's surgeon, Dr Burkhart.  We heard many of the same things come out of the surgeon's mouth as he explained what was happening with Ellie's heart.  He then began to share what her surgery would look like.  In one breath he said this was a very straight forward surgery in the heart world. In the heart world it is considered a minor, non complex surgery to which we are grateful. In another breath he told us he would be putting Ellie on bypass, stopping her heart, cutting into her heart and then sewing a patch over her hole.  So while comforting that Ellie's heart condition is not complex when you hear your daughter's heart will be stopped on the operating table your stomach can't help but knot up.  Some of his last words to us were "I have 3 kids and I will treat her just like my own!"

Eric and I continue to sit back and see God's fingerprints all over our little girl.  There is no question in our minds why he handpicked her for our family.  He showed up in a big way as he moved her paperwork through the system and knew she needed to be out of the orphanage and into our arms.  And now we see the even bigger picture that she needs her little heart fixed.  We continue to see his fingerprints on blessing us with an amazing cardiologist and surgeon that we feel more than comfortable placing our Ellie in their hands in the days to come.  God has shown us that he has and will provide everything we need.  He has provided so many people like you to stand in the gap for us and we know we have many standing behind us covering Ellie in prayer. 

Surgery is right around the corner.  It is set for January 8.  We will be heading to Rochester on January 7 for Ellie's preliminary work up. We won't know her surgery time until Monday after the schedule is set.  Please pray for Ellie's little body and heart this week. Pray for her health and that we can all stay healthy for the next 7 days.

We are so thankful that we can rest in Him and His faithfulness.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

He will cover you with his feathers, 
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 
Psalm 91:4