We got to hold her...

I thought I would send some pictures of us holding her last night. God has been so good to us!!

Updates:

• Ella got her IV line to her belly taken out at 3pm yesterday and Dabney (the nurse) called to let me know it came out with no bleeding and her new IV line into her hand went in with only one prick. She has a splint back on her right hand where the IV is, but only so she doesn't pull it out since she's gotten more active.
• She starting to make more noises, but still no real crying or even loud grunting...but we are getting there. Funny how you WANT them to cry until they do!!
• We got blood culture results back and it's been 5 days with no growth so her blood seems to be clear...we have another spinal tap (lumbar puncture) probably on Thursday to check her CSF (Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear bodily fluid that occupies the subarachnoid space in the brain (the space between the skull and the cerebral cortex—more specifically, between the arachnoid and pia layers of the meninges). It acts as a "cushion" or buffer for the cortex. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_Spinal_Fluid) which is where the disease has been hanging out.
• When they did Ella's MRI last week they found an enlarged blood vessel right smack dab in the middle of her brain. This has nothing to do with the infection, and we wouldn't have found it unless she ever had an MRI. However, the neurosurgeon would like to do an angiogram (AN-jee-o-gram): An x-ray of blood vessels; the person receives an injection of dye to outline the vessels on the x-ray.http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&start=0&oi=define&q=http://www.spineuniverse.com/community/cancerdictionary.html). We won't know more about this or need to make decisions till a few months after her current infection has cleared and we'll keep you up to date on findings.

Current Prayer Requests:

• That Ella starts regulating her own temperature.
• She start to grow and put on "good" weight, not water weight.
• Learn to suck/swollow/breathe...HUGE before she can go home...got a call from the nurse this morning and she is starting to hold a pacifier in her mouth correctly, but we are still a long way from being discharged.
• Patience and Understanding...I, personally, am getting so frustrated and ready to bring her home and just get on with our lives on a normal basis (although "normal" will even be different)...just pray that I am still and listen to God...He's been so faithful to us, prayer that I can be as faithful to Him.