The Mitchells: February 2006

Friday, February 17, 2006

We passed!!

Today was our glucose test to see if gestational diabetes was going to be a problem...NOPE!! Even with ALL the dessert I've been eating lately it doesn't look to have effected us. (Thanks to Stephanie Poage's amazing dessert last night I was REALLY afraid of our results today!).

So, we passed...we are on our 28th week now and counting down. 12 weeks to go...can you believe it!?!? She's crazy kicking every day (and night). The nursery hasn't gotten much done, but I promise to update you on it soon.

Here's what's going on with Ella:
How your baby's growing: By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open her eyes — which now sport lashes — and she'll turn her head toward a continuous, bright light from the outside. Her fat layers are beginning to form, too, as she gets ready for life outside the womb.

Also, I'm adding a picture of what she looks like right now...can you belive how BIG she is!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Valentine's Day

Joe took me out to a nice dinner at a place called 2900 and then we went to a movie "Firewall" (PS...not that great of a movie).

It was a wonderful night...thought I'd show you pics of the belly and the happy parents!!

3RD TRIMESTER!!!!

Friday, February 10, 2006

3 months and 4 days left!!

I haven't posted this month. Went to the doctor a week ago today and everything is going and growing perfectly. The baby kicks like it's trying out for a new gymnastics routine!! You can pretty much watch my belly for a few minutes and actually see her moving around in there...really weird and amazing.

So, here's what's going on with her right now:

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air.

Ella's Story

Elizabeth "Ella" Hope Mitchell was born on May 10, 2006 at 3:45pm...by 5am the following morning the whole world turned upside down. The doctors came in to inform us that while Ella had been resting in the Newborn Nursery, she began to have irregular breathing and seizures. It was touch and go for the next 3 days. We were told several times that she probably would not make it alive through the ordeal. She had contracted Group Beta Strep which had resulted in meningitis. Due to the seizures and the infection we had no idea what the long-term effects would be. After Ella spent a long and trying month in the NICU we came home to see where the effects of her illness had left us all.

A few months later, almost a year, we had an official long-term diagnosis...Ella has Cerebral Palsy. She is a happy and loving child. She struggles with physical delays, cognitive delays and all sorts of things that have come and go.

2-eye surgeries to correct lazy eye
3-EEG's to check for siezures
5-MRI/MRV/MRA to check actual brain damage
3-CT scans for brain stuff
1-G-button/feeding tube surgically put in (and then Ella removed herself)
10 (approx)-Swallow Studies
1-Scoliosis Study
2-Kidney Reflux tests
2-Upper GI tests
1-24 hr reflux test
8-hearing tests
countless UTI tests
seemingly a million developmental tests
a hand splint
bath chair
adaptive stroller/wheelchair
stander
gait trainer
AFO's

ha, not to mention all of the therapist...currently: OT 2X/week, PT 3X/week (2 land, 1 horse), ST 3X/week (2 oral motor, 1 speech), develomental 1X/week, vision 2x/month, and we are about to start ACCDAT camp.

As of 4/8/2009.