Update on Ella

First off we want to thank all of you for your prayers for Ella. God has answered every one of them today. Praise God! We are so thankful and we felt at peace today and completely covered in prayer. It was a hard day but was definitely much better than anticipated. Ella's surgery only took about 4 1/2 hours. Amazing! They came and got her around 7 this morning and we went down with her to surgery holding. We sat and talked while the nurses and doctors went over last minute things and then around 8 am it was time to say bye for the morning. I was dreading this moment and definitely had a minor meltdown with lots of tears. :( They started surgery around 8:30 and by 1:30 we were already in recovery. What a shock! We and the doctors were all prepared that this would be a very long surgery but everything went beautifully with no complications. Thank you Lord! The surgery team was so well prepared and a few things that they thought would be major issues turned out not to be. They definitely had an amazing team planning and said that once they got in there there were no surprises and things just progressed smoothly. Again, another answer to prayer.

They said Ella did so well and they are all extremely pleased with the outcome. Her arm is in a soft wrapping and sling which she will wear for another 3-4 weeks. She is on a morphine drip and a small amount of oxygen and more than likely will continue with this through the night. She has woken up several times but is for the most part asleep, a little fussy but seems comfortable. Hopefully tonight will go well. We're just taking one day at a time so we're not sure how long our hospital stay will be yet. Please keep praying for a smooth recovery. We will probably start feedings tomorrow depending on how she's doing so please be in prayer about this as well.

We are praising God for His faithfulness. I think we are still in shock that this day has come and gone now. It has been anticipated since the day Ella was born so it's been a long time coming. We feel so blessed and even though we still have a long road ahead, this is one major hurdle that we have overcome and for that we are so thankful. So overwhelming. Thank you for ALL of your support, phone calls, texts, and comments today. It has been so encouraging to us and has helped hold us up during a difficult time. We love all of you and are overwhelmed by your love. Keep praying for Ella, your prayers are being answered. Sorry this might be a little vague, my head is spinning and I can't think through all the details from today but just wanted to give some sort of update. Love to all!

Sweet Ella right before surgery

Seeing her for the first time in recovery

Ella and Cc (Rick's Dad)

Ann and I

Precious cousin Adie (This was the first time we have gotten to meet our new neice Adie! She and Ella are going to be BFF)

Dee and Aunt Amy (Rick's mom and sister)

Mimi and Pawpaw (my parents)

Aunt Ann and Uncle Derran

Sweet Eva checking on Ella