Monday February 11, 2013

As I write this I can barely contain myself and I want to get to the punch line right away, but first things first. We made it through the snow storm largely intact. We want to think grandma abuela for being such a trooper and riding out the storm with Ella in the hospital all weekend. Rachel had an opportunity to check in with the baby twice during the weekend but today was the first time I got to put my eyes on her in three days. You really can't understand how gorgeous this little girl is by looking at the pictures and videos alone. I know I'm being completely biased, but my goodness Ariella is such a beautiful girl, God bless her. I must've stared at her for at least 15 minutes before I did anything else; it was so good to see her again today. We made some pretty good strides in learning more of her treatment procedures and schedule; mom even got in on the act tonight and administered the baby's chest PT and used the inexsufflator (cough assist) machine. Together we were able to get through the entire respiratory treatment and get her on her ventilator comfortable and sleeping. As good as her night was, family it was nothing compared to what she did earlier in the evening.

Our little miracle, our warrior princess, baby Ella, fed from a bottle on her own. In spite of all the different challenges this little miracle has to face she continues to do the unexplainable. Her mom has never given up on the idea that Ariella will eat from her mouth and one of the things we have continued to ask the doctors about is can we go back to trying to get her to practice on a bottle. Well on a whim Rachel decided tonight to try and give her a bottle. Very slowly and very cautiously my amazing wife gave our daughter some milk through a bottle, what we did not expect is that halfway through the bottle feed Ariella would take the bottle out of her mother's hand and began to suck from it all on her own. That's right you didn't miss read anything, this little girl who hasn't had anything through her mouth and more than four months sucked from a bottle tonight. She didn't drink a whole lot and she didn't drink for very long but SHE DID DRINK! What's more she wanted the bottle. Now this will be hard for most of you reading this to understand, but through the power of this blog I can help to paint a picture for you. For months we would try to prod and cajole and push Ella to try and drink through her mouth. At one point in time she actually seemed to develop an aversion where she didn't want anything to do with the bottle. We had received advice some different individuals to not push her too hard because eating should be enjoyable and not work and so we stopped trying for a while. And than the surgery, which led to this hospitalization. We had no expectation, no thought, Rachel just decided, you know what God, why not try a bottle tonight let's see what you will do. And did He ever show up. Our prayer has always been that Ella would be able to have dinner together with the family and look at what is happening. Its not just about the fact that she drank a little bit from the bottle tonight, its that she wanted to drink from the bottle. I think what God is teaching us and Ella through this second chance at life is that it doesn't matter how bad we as her parents or family want her to do something, it has to come from within herself. God has His plans for her and when she is ready together they will do what He has already seen her do in Heaven. In the mean time those of us that love her have to do what her Uncle/Godfather Troy has been trying to get me to do from the very beginning - "keep praying and believing and living in faith" and be patient while God and Ariella do what they do to. I praise Jesus for the amazing work being in done in our baby's life. She is a wonder. Thank you God. Keep praying folks, It Works.