The Mitchells: Oh, Happy Day!!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Oh, Happy Day!!

Well, we found out gender of Baby #2....it's a....BOY!! It's also Joe's 31st birthday today so we are having a great day of celebrating the two guys in my life!!

Ella couldn't be more thrilled...she's not big on showing emotion, but we know that she's super excited about having a brother to chew on and roll over.

Thanks for your prayers!

13 comments:

Debbie said...: CONGRATULATIONS!; 11:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Congratulations Andrea, Joe and Ella! I am so happy for you all! Ella will be a wonderful big sister and you guys are already wonderful parents! Congrats again =); 12:25 PM
The Farells said...: Drew is so excited! :) Congratulations and we can't wait to meet your little guy! Give the big sister a hug for us.; 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: i know you would have been happy with either but how special to have one of each! little boys are SO much fun! congrats!! gram margrave; 2:43 PM
redbyrd said...: yeah! so excited for you guys to have one of each! you will love having a boy too, they are amazing@!; 6:41 PM
Annie and Jeremy said...: Congrats!!!!!!!!! That is SOOOO exciting!!! I'll definitely be praying for you guys, and hope you are having a BLAST, anticipating the next few months!!!; 10:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Congrats - boys are so fun!; 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: And shame on me.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE!!!; 1:12 PM
ThomasFamily4 said...: Oh, that is so exciting! One of each. Happy Birthday Joe! Aren't God's blessings ever surpassing our wildest dreams.; 5:28 PM
Maggie said...: YEAH!!! I told Ella that I would put a good word in for her with the "big guy upstairs" and order her a little sister, but a little brother is just as exciting!!! Marc said to tell you congrats as well!; 8:16 PM
Katy said...: That's wonderful news! Little brothers are the BEST! And a Happy Birthday to Joe too!; 3:50 PM
Hurtado Family said...: CONGRATULATIONS!!!; 5:10 PM
AW said...: I eralize this is a little late, but CONGRATULATIONS!!! Yay for boys - they are SO much fun! I'm speaking from my vast experience of being a mother for a total of 18 days. LOL! ;-); 10:03 PM

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.