First off, thank you to everyone for your phone calls, emails, and overall well wishes. We are truly blessed to have such support.

We want to give everyone an update on Ella’s condition because of the rapidly changing news, and I don’t mean for this to scare anyone. We and the doctors are very optimistic, and despite some challenges, she’s doing really well now. Also,  Brittany was able to come home today and is getting around just fine.

Ella was born with Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome which was caught early, although it wasn’t immediately apparent how severe the condition was. The quick explanation of this is that she was born with a deficiency of a substance referred to as Surfactant. This substance occurs naturally in the lungs of healthy babies and allows the alvioli of the lungs to expand more easily which allows for easy breathing. Because Ella didn’t have this, she was short of breath constantly (breathing 140-160 times a minute) which stressed other parts of her lungs over her first 36 hours of life. This caused a rupture in her lungs which introduced air into her chest cavity making it even more difficult to breathe.

Ella was switched this morning from an oxygen enriched environment to a nasal oxygen tube and then to a respiratory tube in her trachea this afternoon. This helped her breathe a little better although she was still breathing hard.

Ella’s doctor was on the case when we arrived to see her this afternoon. He quickly put a tube in through an artery at her belly button which rests in her Aorta for the purpose of being able to monitor her blood metrics, and another that rests further below which will allow for electrolytes and other fluids. He then gave her a natural Surfactant administered through her breathing tube which almost immediately opened up her lungs and allowed for easier breathing. After monitoring her for about an hour, the Doctor decided to extract the air from her chest cavity which he did using a syringe. He extracted 20cc of air which was confirmed by an X-Ray a few minutes later.

The last we saw, her rate of breathing was nearly half of what it was before and she was needing less oxygen than before (Which are both great). We are extremely grateful for the expertise of the staff that helped our sweet baby. We’ll be spending a lot of time with  her in the hospital which may extend over the next week or more.

  (Lunch time, around noon, with oxygen and feeding tube.)

  (Tonight, about 9:30, after the different procedures. Her cheeks are red from reacting to the tape used, but she was resting comfortably.)