Baby Brother

Our newest bundle of joy has arrived and big sister is very happy about it. Ella thinks that A.J. (Aaron Craig Jeson II) is the greatest thing ever and takes every opportunity to touch him and be close to him. Little brother was 6 pounds 7 ounces when he was born on November 12th and now weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces, soon he will be little big brother. : )

Life in the Jeson house is a little crazy now and sleep is something that I remember fondly but don't get much of but this season will pass. Here is our princess Ella preparing for cold weather and all the cousins together at thanksgiving. The picture shows how big our boy and girl are getting. : )

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took our 13 pound bundle of energy to the pumpkin patch and got some great pictures which I had to share with you all. I have been reminded lately (I think it is the time of year which takes me back) of how far God has brought Ella and our family.

Aaron had to get a new cell phone, because Ella chewed on his old one and it died, and he sent me some pictures to save that he had taken the first two days Ella was in the NICU. She was so tiny and sick and now she is crawling all over the house getting into everything she can get her hands on...thank you God for bringing us this far.

I have also been thinking about my time in the hospital after she was born because I will be there again in a couple of weeks with little brother, and I have been thinking about how different the experience will be for everyone. Having two kids in the house is going to be lots of work, but having healthy children is priceless. My doctor has been bragging on me because I am following all of her recommendations and don't complain when I have to see her twice a week. I told her I would rather see her every day than spend 5 months in the NICU beside my child's bed.

Thank you Jesus for a healthy family.

12 Pounds 8 ounces

Well, I am finally posting Ella's birthday pictures as promised, sorry it has taken so long to post them. We had a birthday party for her and Aaron, who turned 30 the day after Ella turned 1 and everyone celebrated the bday peeps. Our big girl is now 12 pounds 8 ounces and continueing to thrive, she is now crawling (well sometimes scooting, but getting around very well) and sitting by herself. Needless to say she is now a hand full, quite a personality. (but we knew that before she turned one).

Next month Ella will be getting a little brother, and I am sure he will probably be her little-big brother. I have no doubt that she will remind him that she is boss (since day one she has been a fighter), even though he will be bigger than her. Because of what we learned in the NICU with Ella, I am taking it much easier with this preganancy and also have taken medicine to help control my blood pressure and such. Our little man, Aaron Craig Jeson II will be born in November and at times we will probably be asked if we have twins... because at Ella's size AJ (what we will call him) will undoubtedly outweigh her within a couple of weeks. Keep our family in your prayers we will soon suffer from sleep deprivation : )

Birthday Girl

Our girl Ella turns 1 year old this week...we can hardly believe it. She is doing amazingly well is very, very, active (loves jumping and dancing) and is now sitting up by herself. She is very close to crawling and gets frustrated that she can't get to her toys when she wants to.

She has come so far, and the NICU is becoming a distant memory. Ella weighs a big 11 pounds 8 ounces now (sorry to all the hospital folks, don't know what that is in grams...hahahaha) and is a big heap of personality.

I will make sure to update the blog after Ella's Birthday and put up her one year old pictures.

10 Pounds 11 Ounces

Ella is now 10 pounds 11 ounces and growing by leaps and bounds every day. As the pictures show she is quite a personality now (of course, we always knew that even at one pound in an incubator) and keeps us on our toes. She can roll over now but is not quite sitting up by herself ....almost. She wants to stand up all the time and is very strong, which surprises everyone because of her size. Our big girl will actually turn 1 year old in September which seems unreal to us and our time in the NICU seems so long ago.

Everyday when I hold Ella in my arms I thank God for the miracle He gave us.

Big Girl

Our big girl is now 9 pounds 12 ounces (we go back for a check-up next week and hopefully she will be 10 pounds) and ready to get into everything. Her favorite thing now is grabbing glasses, pulling hair, and checking out jewelry. We went to visit her cousins in Oklahoma and they enjoyed entertaining her and taught her to grab Ben's glasses.

On Sunday, I sang a solo at our church and they showed pictures of Ella in the background. I don't think there were any dry eyes in the house especially after Aaron walked her onto the stage at the end of the song. Our miracle girl is a testimony to the power of prayer.

Success

Ella's surgery went off without a hitch! Praise the Lord! The anesthesialogist was amazed that she didn't have any major problems, in fact he asked me a number of times if she had any heart conditions or such. Our little miracle tends to scare new doctors because of her size and things she has gone through, but she always surprises them.

They did find a piece of the broviac IV still in her chest and it was surrounded by "goo" (I'm quoting the surgeon) which meant it was working on another infection. Once again, she surprised them with the fact that she had no fever or other symptoms of infection - She is a MIRACLE!! She is once again thriving at home and if I could figure out how to get her to take a nap in her bed during the day, life would be perfect. Thank you for all the prayers and kind words.

More pictures to come.

8 Pounds 12 ounces

Our Ella is now 8 pounds 12 ounces and continuing to thrive at home. We went to visit San Antonio 2 weeks ago, because Ella had a sore on her broviac site that needed to be lanced and the surgeon thought that there might be a cuff left and this is causing the infection and sores. We go back to see the surgeon this week and they will do surgery to see if something is still there.

Our girl is a wonder and is always laughing and looking at the world. Everyone is surprised at how aware she is since she is sooo small. She loves standing up and has started reaching for things - sunglasses beware : )

Pray for her surgery.

7 Pounds 12 ounces

Our big girl is now 7 pounds 12 ounces...Aaron lost the bet, : ) he was hoping for 10 pounds (we are close!). Ella has a lot of personality now and every day we see more smiles and hear her stories...she loves to talk, but if you know me then you understand the apple didn't fall far from the tree...hahaha. The pics are just an example of her personality...first piano lesson with gram, and falling asleep with her penquin under her arm.

We are looking forward to taking her out into the world and meeting all the people who have held her up in prayer the past 7 months. September 17th (Ella's birthday) seems so long ago, when you look at how far she has come in that time.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to the Capers family who lost their dear mom & wife, Gayla. She was a follower of our blog and left many uplifting, encouraging words during our time at the NICU. She was an amazing woman who will be missed. Love to all the family from Ella, Christy, and Aaron

Happy Easter

Here are some pics of our big girl on her first Easter. She is very aware of things around her now and loves to look at her toys. She didn't get to go to church on Easter, because she is still living in a bubble, but Mom and Dad watched the service via computer.

We go see one of her doctors this week so I should have an updated weight (we're placing bets on what it might be). Overall, she is doing great...eating well and growing like a weed...: ) in fact, she has graduated from preemie clothes into newborn and won't stay there long...yipee!!

Reading

Aaron has started reading to Ella and she loves it, but at this point it's all about the tone of voice and not the content, as you can see from the engineering magazine. (we're starting her early...hehehe)

Everything is great, our big girl is growing (don't have an updated weight because we haven't seen the doc since the last time - which is a good thing) and showing off her personality. Our goal for the last two weeks is to get her to take naps in her bed instead of someone's arms because unfortunately, the NICU creates some bad habits. When it got to the point in the hospital where we could hold her whenever we wanted we just held her all the time and now we are retraining. I am not complaining because she is healthy and home, so all the other stuff is just that stuff and will be taken care of in time.

Our time in the NICU is starting to become a memory instead of thoughts fresh in my mind and I have to make an effort to remember all the things that happen while we were there. I admit that I didn't think this day would come when the NICU days would fade.

Ella seems to be adjusting well to being at home, but I am looking forward to taking her out and about. We are still keeping her housebound just to be on the safe side because of flu and RSV season. Once school is over and it is warmer outside we plan on carting her around and showing her the world, but until then she is still our little girl in a house bubble. : )

More Pics

Our cousins from Houston came to visit and one of them takes photos so we got her to take some pics of us and our diva - so you guys can enjoy. If you want to see some of her other pictures here is the website www.chaptersphotodesign.com ...enjoy.

Everyday gets a little easier and I can now look back on our time in San Antonio with good memories. Shout outs to all our friends from the NICU - hope you are all doing well.

Tired of small

The only time we take Ella out, is for her doctor's visits and without fail someone will notice how small she is and feel the need to make a comment about her size, and ask how old she is. This is a loaded question for me...if I tell them the truth, which is 6 months, they are going to ask what is wrong with her, because have you ever seen a 6 month old that is only 6 pounds. So, instead I tell them she is 2 months(her adjusted age - from her due date of Christmas day) which is still a stretch, because she is still smaller than most full term babies.

This was a comment that I detested while she was in the hopital but I have to admit that now I dislike it even more. : )

6 pounds 11 ounces

We went to see Ella's endocrinologist this week and they weighed her at their office and she weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces, which scared me because that would mean that she only gained 1 ounce in a week. So, we went to her pediatrician the next day and weighed her on the scale that we have used since she came home from the hospital and it said she gained 5 ounces....yipee!! Just one more reason for me to not enjoy driving all the way to SA to see her specialists. This visit they seemed to focus on her growth chart more than her blood sugar...I think it is because she is healed...Thank you Jesus!!

I had spring break this week and it was nice to stay at home with the big girl instead of rushing around midmorning and jumping in the car for school. But, I can't believe how soon school will be over : ) Overall, our princess is doing great and we are starting to learn her signals...and cries...

6 Pounds 6 ounces

Our big girl is now a whopping 6 pounds 6 ounces and I couldn't be happier! We are doing well at home adjusting to less sleep, not enough time in the day to get things done, playing catch-up at work after being gone for five months, and enjoying every minute of our time at home.

Ella is doing great with her development and is right on schedule for a two month old, almost 3 months. She keeps trying to roll over and any day now I think it will happen. She loves to talk, especially to her favorite toy, a bug. : )

Enjoy the new pics of our big girl!

5 Pounds 14 ounces

Our princess is now a whopping 5 pounds 14 ounces...6 pounds here we come! Her preemie clothes are now snug and I can't wait to graduate up to newborn...sounds a little funny since technically Ella is 5 months old but not yet 6 pounds. : )

Her blood sugar is regulating itself so well that we have stopped the cornstarch and it is still good. We were able to stop one of the medications we give her and I am hoping to start reducing the other one as well....I think it will make a diffference when we don't have to give her sooo much medicine.

Life at home is amazing but hectic...there is never enough time to do everything you need to get done especially when the little girl only takes a 15 minute nap because of dogs barking or phones ringing...oh well...a clean house won't help cure world hunger or solve America's financial crisis.

Pics

Here are some pictures of our big girl that now weighs 5 pounds 12 ounces. Yipee!!

I am hoping that we will be able to stop some of the meds this week since she is doing so great with her glucose levels. Overall, our big girl is doing great.

Updates

Our big girl is now a whopping 5 pounds 10 ounces and doing great. We had a scare last week because her blood sugar was high (in the 90's and 100's but is normal for everyone else), and the last time this happened it was because she had an infection. After a blood test ruled out infection we realized that her body was starting to regulate itself and a visit to the endocrinologist gave good news. He lowered the amount of cornstarch that we give her and if this continues then we will remove it all together. The DNA test that we were waiting for to confirm that her blood sugar problem was the glucose storage in her body came back normal so now they are thinking that it was due to her pancreas being soooo small and her body not making enough glucose, but now she is bigger and able to produce more. Of course, prayer and miracles helped as well.

Right now we are dealing with a touch of bronchitis that the doctor noticed in a visit because she wasn't eating as well as she should. Any mom can tell you that their baby acts a certain way and when they act differently it sends red flags and with Ella I have to watch carefully so we don't end up back in the hospital. She is on breathing treatments now and is back to her regular eating habits...which is very good.

I am sooo ready to be able to take her off all the meds that she is on because I believe that they are affecting her sleeping and that she will thrive even more when I don't have to dose her with 4 or 5 meds. Overall, the Jeson's are adjusting to life at home, but our princess needs extra attention so we don't get much done and since our priority is her then it all works out in the end.

New pics

Here are some pictures of our big girl who now weighs 5 pounds 4 ounces. We are enjoying our time at home and everyday we learn more about what Ella likes or dislikes : ) and we adjust...

We are going back to San Antonio this week to see a couple of specialists for follow-up with the baby girl and if we have time we are going to stop by the NICU and show off our big girl.

Regular baby

Now that the infection is cleared up and all the antibiotics are done our girl is starting to act like a regular baby...small, but regular. She has decided that it is ok to sleep at night, and her parents are thrilled : ) Also, her sugar levels have started to rise which is a great thing...at first it scared me because that is what happened when she had an infection, but our pediatrician(whom we think is just the greatest) did a blood test and it came back great so now we are wondering if her body is repairing itself. (prayer has a way of changing things) The blood test that was done when we left the hospital came back this week and her glucose storage came back normal, so we are back to the drawing board as to the cause. We should be going back to San Antonio soon to see her specialists, and perhaps then they will have another option for us.

I have gone back to teaching and it's great. My students seemed pleased to see me and I am pleased to be back to my life...I do miss the little girl when I am at school, but I only have 3 classes so I'm not gone very long. My mom is an angel and comes to the house every day and watches the babe, and we can't thank her enough...Ella thinks she is great already. We are house bound to a certain extent because of the baby girls immune system, but we are HOME and that is what matters.

Home again...home again...

Our baby girl now weighs 5 pounds 1 ounce and is home again...and this time here to stay. The oral antibiotics are doing well except for the diaper rash, which is unfortunately par for the course.

We are adjusting to a house full of baby stuff, not enough time for all the things that need to be done, sleep deprivation, and more joy than we can contain. Life as we know it will never be normal again, but when I think about what we have been through in the past 5 months I am amazed and awed at God's mercy and the miracle of Ella.

Right now keeping Ella healthy is our number one priority. We will also be taking frequent trips back to San Antonio to visit the numerous specialists that were involved in her case. Pray for infection to stay away and for our little princess to continue to gain weight.