The Mitchells: Waiting on Maddie Byers

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Waiting on Maddie Byers

Our good friends, Kent and Sarah Byers, are on bedrest (well, Sarah is) waiting for Maddie Byers to appear. We decided to go by and see if we could help with anything, or just be good company. We were VERY impressed at what a good job Kent is doing at keeping their house clean, getting ready for Maddie, and decorating for Christmas (he did the WHOLE tree by HIMSELF!!!!). Here are some shots of Kent, Ella, and Sarah (with Maddie in belly).

We can't WAIT for Maddie to get here!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: We wish we could have been there that day to see you and visit with Ella, Mom and Dad. We miss seeing you and pray and think of you often. I have Ella's picture on the piano and say a prayer for her each time I go by it. Sounds like you are busy and have a lot of appointments each week. Keep on trusting God through this trial. He will either deliver you from it, deliver you through it, or deliver you out of it. We love you all--Rick and Susan; 8:34 AM

Post a Comment

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.