Successful Surgery

Ella is out of surgery and it was very successful. The Dr. said that they were able to get all of the sac inside and just had to use a small quarter-size patch of synthetic skin to cover everything (which I think Rick said that real skin will eventually cover). Praise the Lord for a smooth surgery! The Dr. said he was pleased with everything. Thank you for your prayers. Amy is doing well with her recovery too. Ella will be on a ventilator for the next couple of days at least, so please continue to pray for her healing and recovery. God is so good and all of our prayers are being answered on Ella's behalf. We'll have more details from the Dr. on what is to follow and will keep you updated as we learn more.

Surgery Update

Ella will have surgery at 8:00 in the morning, Tuesday, September 2, which we just found out a little bit ago. I will keep you posted as I have information. Amy did get to hold Ella tonight and see her, so that was a special time. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Ella and Amy had good days today and the doctors have given them both good reports. Big Sister Eva and Rick are taking great care of their family. I will update more tomorrow as soon as I know anything. At this point they don't know where the surgery will be or any other details. Please pray for their peace, for their surgeon Dr. Black and his team, for a successful surgery, and for sweet little Ella's strength and healing tomorrow.

Ella's Early Arrival

Ella Hope Carder was born last night around 7:30 p.m. She weighed in at 4 lbs. 3 oz and is absolutely beautiful. She has gotten good reports from her doctors so far and Amy is doing well.

Now for the details. It was pretty scary yesterday when Amy called and said that they were going to the hospital to get checked because she was having terrible headaches. She started having them early Saturday morning and when it continued to get worse the Dr. told her to go ahead and come in. Once they got to the hospital they monitored her blood pressure and it was extremely high. They decided under the circumstances to go ahead and do the c-section. It all happened so fast and now Ella is here and healthy. Her daddy even got to hold her last night! So we are all thankful that both mom and baby are doing well.

Please continue to pray for Amy as she recovers from a rough day yesterday and as the doctors continue to monitor Ella and determine when her surgery will be. It could be as early as today. We will keep you posted.

Update on Ella

We are on the countdown to Ella's arrival! The c-section is officially set for Monday, Sept. 8th at noon. We had our weekly appt. with Dr. Tabor this past friday and it went very well. Ella's heart continues to look and sound strong and there is no sign of stress. Every week we go he listens to her heart, watches for movement and checks my fluid levels so it is always an answer to prayer each week when he says we are good for another week. We go back this Friday so we'll see how Miss Ella is doing this week.

So far there have not been any major changes with Ella's health or details regarding her surgery. We do not know when her surgery will take place until she is here and Dr. Black, her surgeon, can look at the omphalocele and determine what the course of action will be. We have been told to be prepared for surgery to take place within the first two days after delivery. However, this is not really new news but last week Dr. Tabor told us that we need to also be prepared that they may not be able to do surgery right away. The omphalocele(sack holding her liver, small intestines and part of her stomach) is measuring larger than average and because of this it might be too large to attempt surgery within those first days. If this is the case surgery would be postponed until Ella's abdomen grows more. How long that wait would be, I have no idea. I don't know much about all of what is involved but other procedures would take place until they feel she is ready for surgery to close everything up. They have given us a lot of hope but have also said that this is going to be a complicated process because of the size of the omphalocele and because her liver is out. This is scary to hear but we are focusing on the positives and we are so thankful that her heart is strong and that the omphalocele is the only complication.

We are excited to meet little Ella and can't wait to see her sweet face and get to know her but we also have a lot of mixed emotions about the road ahead. As the time for her to arrive gets closer it is getting harder emotionally. I am feeling very fragile and at times I'm not sure if I can handle this. Every day is different and has it's ups and downs and I know that is okay, but it hurts to know that something is wrong with Ella. I have to surrender it many times a day to the Lord and every day He continues to give me strength and joy. He is so faithful and it amazes me that the God who created the universe also cares about me and what I am going through and continues to show himself in little and big ways to me everyday. He is so good.

We feel so overwhelmed by all the love, support and prayers that everyone continues to give us daily. We are so blessed by all of you. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we anticipate Ella's arrival and all that is to come.

Eva's 1st "Official" Haircut & A Look Back in Hair

We have been saying we need to get Eva's hair cut for a LONG time now so last week we finally took her to Cool Cuts to get it shaped up. I'm calling it her first "official" haircut because I did cut it myself a year ago right before her first birthday because she had a mullet. I mean, who wants a mullet in their 1st Birthday pictures? I wasn't in denial about the fact that she had a mullet I think I was just doing the first-time mom thing and not wanting to cut her hair. I would just tuck her little mullet under and hope no one noticed, but let's be honest, a mullet is a mullet and you can't hide it. Here is a tip for all moms whether you want to hear it or not, take it or leave it, if your child has a mullet or comb-over...cut it! You will be so glad you did and you won't regret cutting their precious hair. The comb-over could be a totally different discussion. You know what I'm talking about, the 5 strands of long hair on the top of the head that are the only ones growing. Yeah, it's about as bad as the mullet.

Anyway, so we took Eva and got her hair trimmed and she did so well. I think she loved sitting in the little car and getting pampered. Can't you tell she is totally loving it by her huge smile?




In honor of the first haircut I thought I would add some of my favorite hair pictures from the past 2 years.


The Mullet...I know, Amazing.


Donald Trump?

Wow!

Rough day?

Sweatbands are always a good look


I promise I really do brush her hair

I saved the best for last. This is my all-time favorite hair picture and I really don't know what to say about it other than that it is INCREDIBLE!!



With this kind of hair we are in for a lifetime of good hair pictures. Can't wait!

Week 33

We had our weekly appointment with Dr. Tabor yesterday and it went very well. They put a monitor on me for about 20 minutes to listen to Ella's heart and watch for contractions and how active she is. Her heart sounded great and she was VERY active so that was good news. I think she is going to be a handful! :) She has been a very active baby throughout this pregnancy which I love because it just reassures me that she is okay. Dr. Tabor seemed pleased with what he saw so it was another good appointment. We go back this coming Wednesday so please continue praying for Ella and her health. We are so thankful for the continued encouragement and prayers that all of you give us. We are very blessed!

Update

We had an appointment with Dr. Tabor, our specialist on Monday. It was a good appointment so we are very thankful for that. He said that Ella's heart is continuing to look strong and there doesn't seem to be any stress at this point. She is continuing to grow like she should be as well so that is reassuring. He also is measuring her abdomen and the size of the sack holding the organs every time we go to monitor their growth in relation to one another. At this point the abdomen is measuring larger than the sack which is an answer to prayer. This is important as far as surgery goes and getting the organs back inside her abdomen. The organs inside the sack are still the liver, part of the stomach and part of the small intestine, so there is no change there. I am 31 weeks so we will start seeing Dr. Tabor weekly now until delivery to continue to monitor Ella's heart, growth and the growth of the abdomen and omphalocele. C-section is still set for September 8th unless other complications arise.

We are so thankful to have had an uneventful appointment and to hear that Ella is continuing to grow like she should be. As time is flying by and September is getting closer I find myself getting more anxious. Overall, I feel very hopeful about everything but I definitely have my days when I don't know if I can do this. The Lord has been so faithful to us and I sit in amazement every day when I think of all He has done for me. Even though I know everything will be okay because I have the Lord, I am still scared. I am not scared without hope or peace but just scared of the unknown. I want my baby to be okay and it's hard to know what okay means. I find comfort a lot in Psalm 91. I love the whole passage but I really love verse 14 and 15 where it says "Because he loves me, says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." I love that! Sometimes when I pray the only thing I can get out is His name and I know He hears me and knows my heart even when all I can do is whisper His name. So comforting. As I look back on how far we've come I see so many ways He has answered my prayers. The fact that this is the only problem for Ella is a direct answer to prayer and something I am so thankful for. As hard as it is I feel that the Lord has rescued me and continues to deliver me through everyday.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouragement. It really is such a blessing to our family. Please continue to pray for these specific things:
- Ella's heart- that it continues to be strong and that there are no complications
- That the omphalocele is the only defect and there are no other complications
- That her abdomen coninues to grow and that the organs will all fit back in at surgery without any stress
- For our doctors, Dr. Robbins (OB), Dr. Tabor (Specialist) and Dr. Black (Surgeon)
-For peace and comfort for our family

I thought I might add on just a brief history of what all has gone on with this preganancy just to help answer some questions. Not that I mind when people ask about it but I just thought it would be helpful to have a little background. So, here is a shortened version. We found out at 12 weeks that there was something wrong with the baby when Dr. Robbins, my OB saw what she called a large abdominal wall defect during our sonogram. She explained that it looked like some of the baby's organs were in a sack outside the abdomen and that the baby would need surgery following delivery to put the organs back in. She referred us to Dr. Tabor, our specialist, that same day to confirm the problem. He confirmed that it was an omphalocele and told us that there was a 50% chance this was the only problem and there was a 50% chance there could be chromosome abnormalities and other defects as well. This meant that we could be looking at Trisomy 13, 18 and Downs Syndrome being the more life threatening syndromes if there was a chromosome abnormality. The only way we would know for sure if there was a chromosome problem too would be to do an amniocentesis so we had an amnio done at 15 weeks. This would be important in order to know how to really help the baby once she was here. The amnio came back showing there was no chromosome abnormalities which was a HUGE answer to prayer and it just gave us a new sense of hope. This problem is medically unrelated to what happened with Eva and there is no known cause. I did not have a c-section with Eva but will with Ella due to the fact that the omphalocele is moderate to large in size and could possibly rupture during a vaginal delivery.

So, from there we have continued to meet with our doctors and we met with a surgeon to discuss options for surgery. Like I have said before it's hard to say what they will do as far as surgery. Surgery will take place within the first two days after delivery to put the organs back in her abdomen. We don't know if that will be the only surgery or not. Depending on how it goes and how well everything fits back inside her abdomen will determine whether more surgeries will be needed. We are looking at a hospital stay of at least a month. Hopefully that will help explain a little more about what has happened and what we have ahead of us. Again, thank you all for joining in prayer for our family. We are so blessed by all of you!

Okay, so next post I'll try to lighten the mood and share some funny Eva stories and pictures so check back soon!