Growing like crazy!

Ellie was 1 week old in this pic - and her hair is strawberry blonde

We were excited last week when (at 8 days old) Ellie was already up to her birth weight of 6 pounds, 8 ounces.  We were thrilled when we checked her in for her cardiology appointment on Monday and she weighed 6 pounds, 9.6 ounces.  Grow baby, grow!  Ellie got her first EKG on Monday and everything looked as expected.  Her oxygen saturation was 91%.  Dr. Abdurrahman (her name is actually Lubabatu Abdurrahman... we either call her Dr. Abdurrahman or Dr. Luby) said that Ellie was looking great.  She doesn't need any medication right now, but they'll reevaluate her every two weeks and adjust recommendations for us as needed.  Dr. Abdurrahman reminded me that things will get worse as time goes on, but for now, Ellie's growing and functioning beautifully!  Ellie has what Dr. Abdurrahman called the "garden variety A-V canal defect"... can I tell you how wonderful it was to hear that the defect was the "normal" kind when so much feels so far from normal to us?  Ha!  Weird how simple things like that are comforting, right?  Dr. Luby had to cuddle on Ellie a bit, which was too adorable.

Ellie's 1st EKG - the leads were only the size of my pinky nail

Dr. Luby was giving Ellie squishies - they both loved it!

After this appointment, I picked up the boys and headed up to Wapak to get adjustments for us all.  We hadn't been in for adjustments since Ellie was born and I knew that I was desperate for one.  Our boys were doing alright, but Ellie surely needed an adjustment after delivery (which has to be one of the most traumatic things for your head and spine, right?).  We felt fabulous as we left Dr. Josh's office.  They took some pictures for us to remember Ellie's first adjustment.

Ellie's 1st adjustment - the boys are old pros now

After this, we went to Tracy & Josh's house to celebrate Jared's birthday.  For those of you who don't know our family well, Jared was born on September 15, 2004.  He was here with us for less than six months.  When I think about Jared and think about Tracy and Josh as parents, it puts all of this into perspective.  While we have hard days and we have days when things seem unfair (mostly when I think of Ellie's future), nothing, NOTHING we experience will ever come close to what they've gone through.  Every year we get together on Jared's birthday and send balloons to heaven for him.  He would have been 10 years old on Monday.  It's scary how fast time slips away.  Gosh!

Today (Wednesday), Ellie had her 2 week appointment and got to meet Dr. Weber.  Ellie weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces at her appointment today - holy moly!  She's gaining weight very well.  We also found out that her initial blood tests showed that her thyroid is functioning normally.  Celebrations!  Hypothyroidism is relatively common in kiddos with Down syndrome.  We don't have to test again until Ellie is a year old.  Today, her oxygen saturation was 93% - fantastic!  We also have referrals for the Down syndrome clinic that is at Dayton Children's and they're pushing to get her the Synagis shot (which prevents RSV).  This is a monthly shot that she'd get during RSV season - still waiting to see if she gets approved for those.  Tonight, I'm just sitting here looking at how stinkin' adorable our little bug is all wrapped in a swaddler.  Ugh - heart overflowing :).  Thank you so much for reading along today.

Ellie is much stronger now than she was 2 weeks ago.  She has more head control and is really able to move her limbs around... which is why she now has scratches on her face.  Poor girl used her long, pretty nails on her face.  You can still see that strawberry blonde in those eyebrows, huh?