Welcome Home Ella

All dressed up and ready to go home

Saying bye to Nurse Florence and waiting for Daddy to come pick us up

Daddy putting me in the carseat

Taking everything in on the ride home

After 76 days in the NICU Ella is finally home!! We left the hospital this past Saturday and cried tears of joy the whole way home. It was such an overwhelming feeling to finally be bringing our sweet girl home. We are so thankful to have her and to not have to leave her anymore. She had quite the home coming! Our sweet friends and family lined our driveway with balloons and signs and were cheering as we pulled up to the house. More tears then too. :) They waited out in the wind and cold for over an hour to welcome us home. Amazing! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support system and we couldn't do this without our friends and family. Thank you to all of you for everything you have done and are doing for us. We love you so much!




It has been so fun having Ella here with us. Eva just adores her already and Ella seems to feel the same about her. Eva loves giving her hugs and kisses and Ella just smiles back at her. It is so sweet! Eva loves to help burp her and give her a passy too. She is such a good big sister. Ella loves the attention and loves being held. We think she got a little spoiled by all the attention she got from her nurses. Thank you NICU nurses for taking care of our girl!



So what is life like at the Carder house? A little crazy but good. There is not a lot of sleeping happening right now so we are very tired. It is a big adjustment for all of us but we know that with time we will get into a routine and things will get a little easier. We are really working hard on Ella's feedings. It is slow going so I feel like all we are doing is feeding. We offer her a bottle every time and whatever she doesn't finish we put through her G-button and because she still doesn't do well with the bottle it is quite an ordeal each time. She has taken several full feedings since she has been home. Yea Ella! Her bottle feedings are still inconsistent but better than what they have been in weeks so we are trying to be thankful for the small steps she is making. However, we still have a ways to go and it is still a struggle for her so please continue to pray that they improve. We are trying to be patient and not get discouraged when she really fights it so please pray for patience and perseverance for us as we work on getting her to eat better.

The other news is that we have an appointment with Scottish Rite on December 9 to evaluate Ella's shoulder. As I mentioned in a previous post the MRI she had at Cook's last week showed that she has an abnormal scapula (shoulder blade) and there appears to be no clavicle (collar bone). There will be more evaluation done on the
9th and hopefully then we will know more. We are so glad to have gotten an appointment so quickly and we're thankful to be getting things moving on this. It will probably still be several months before any kind of surgery but it will be good to have more information. Please continue to pray for this as well as we are anticipating an extensive surgery and recovery.

That is about all the news we have. We are just trying to enjoy our time as a family of four and rest when we can. Thank goodness for grandparents! We would not survive without them. Here are some pictures of Ella leaving the hospital and her home coming. More pictures to come! Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. Keep praying, we love you, The Carders


Ella and CC

Ella and Dee

Ella with Mimi and Pawpaw

Home at last