This email is originating in the Parent's Room next to the Nursery in the hospital. Mom is taking a break from sleep and nursing to start the chronical of Miss Ellis' VERY ADVENTUROUS first week of life. I think the easiest thing to do is to cut and paste the emails that were sent out, so here goes:
On September 18 Ryan wrote:
Ellis Lane Campoamor was born today, 18 September, at 515pm. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19 in long. Shannon did fantastic. We were admitted at 3pm, got to the room at 330 and Ellis popped out after 1 push at 515pm. Ellis and Shannon are both doing great and Shannon is planning on Crossfitting in the morning Ellis was fashionably late and held out 5 days past her due date! Such a tease.
Thanks for all your thoughts and continued prayers.
Ryan, Shannon, Leyton and Ellis Campoamor
Very early in the morning on September 20, Shannon wrote:
As you can see, Ellis is now working on her tan. Her billirubin is elevated, which is totally expected, so the light will help. You can also see her heart rate and respiratory rate monitor's, and the splint on her arm is for her IV. She is getting Dextrose to keep her fed and hydrated, as well as antibiotics because an infection is the most likely cause of her breathing problem. Because she is working so hard so breathe, they stopped her nursing because that is also really hard work -especially trying to coordinate it with breathing fast. So I am pumping until she can nurse again, which will hopefully be today sometime. I will be discharged today, but may be able to stay as a boarder. We are hopeful that Ellis will be clear to go home sometime tomorrow, but they haven't given us much information on that yet. It largely depends on her culture labs that will not be complete until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.Ryan and I are trying to get some sleep and spend as much time as possible with Ellis. We really appreciate the prayers and we will keep you posted. Leyton and Grammy are doing well at home. Playing lots of princesses!
Love you!
Shannon and Ryan
Also on September 20, Ryan wrote:
Ellis is still getting better. The XRays that they took this morning possibly found signs of pneumonia or still maybe just an infection. They still want to take more x rays and see what develops. They are waiting for the x rays and the culture results before officially start her again on her antibiotics. They gave her the "broad spectrum" meds yesterday which is good because they are already in her body fighting whatever she has. Once they get an idea of the results they will start her on specific antibiotics.
The good news is that Shannon can breast feed her now. She is still doing excellent in every other test and all her vital signs are perfect. Her first feeding went very well. She latched right on and ate really good. We were worried she would struggle with figuring out what to do but she was a pro. The bad news is that best case scenario is she'll be here a minimum of 7 days for the meds and observation. And then worse-worse case scenario is meningitis. We are hoping that is not the case. The staff here is great and have taken great care of us. We are probably being discharged today and headed home for a bit here and there.
Love you all and we continue to ask for your prayers.
On September 21, Ryan wrote:
Hello, Friends and Family. Today was a great day for little Miss Ellis. The night was long with all the trips to and from the hospital, but well worth every second. When we went in at 6am this morning, they had completely removed her IV fluids only leaving her port. They said she was eating well enough to take her off the Dextrose. They did have to switch hands on her IV so they had to stick her again - but, thankfully they got it on the first time. I guess when you are well hydrated, finding a vein isa piece of cake. Her eating is really improving too. Due to the light therapy they've been giving her (for jaundice), she has to wear "sunglasses" to keep the bright lights out of her eyes. So, when it is time to eat they get removed and she is able to look around. She loves to just sit up and look at all the lights and movements. She also uses that time to pass gas! This little rascal it one gassy kid. She loves to pass gas and poop/pee on mom and dad. Once she is content, she usually nurses well, which sometimes takes 45 min to an hour. They also took her lung X-rays again in the morning and the results were awesome. There is no more fluid in her lungs! She still has to take her antibiotics until Wednesday, but because she is doing so well, they are kicking her out of the NICU. She was transferred this evening to the newborn nursery upstairs, with makes us so so happy. She also is getting a "tron" blanket to get her more exposure to the light therapy. Her buillyruibin (sp?) levels came up a bit so they wanted to get her on the glowing blanket - which also means no more space glasses. We are going to continue to go back every few hours to feed her and hang out with her throughout the upcoming nights. We are counting down the days until Wednesday to bring this little blessing home. They are still very pleased with her progression and said she is doing really well.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. God is good!
Love you all,
Ryan, Shannon, Leyton and Ellis
Also on the 20th, Ryan wrote:
We were discharged at 5pm this afternoon. We stayed for one more feeding at 6, which went well but not as good as the first, before we went home it was pretty dang hard packing up the car without a baby to take home. Hopefully we can experience that first hand next week. We went home to hang out with LC before she went to sleep. We tucked her in and quickly exited to head back to the hospital for Ellis' 9 pm feeding. This one wet very well. We also heard her burp louder then anyone one of us has ever burped, combined. It even blew Shannon's hair back. The nurses have decreased her dextrose drip and said if she has 2 more good feedings like this evening, they will take her off the fluids and just keep her IV only in for the antibiotics. Thats one less hose for baby Ellis. They are also anticipating her buillyribbon levels to be low enough tomorrow to take her off the heat lamps which means we will get to hold he as long as we want. Right now they are restricting us to 20 min every three hours of her off the lamps, which equates to her feeding times with mom. Her 24 hour blood cultures all came back great with nothing popping up. She is sked to get another x ray in the morning and if it isn't looking any better they are going to give her a spinal tap to draw spinal fluid to check for meningitis. We are praying for a good x ray tomorrow. As of now, if everything remains the same, we are on track to get her out on Wednesday due to the seven full days of anti biotics.
We are crashing at a friends house, who lives a few blocks from the hospital, to ease the travel time to and from the hospital. We are going to go back at 3am, and 6 am for feedings and then head home to see LC. We miss her terribly but she is having a ball with Grammy. In fact she cried when Grammy left to walk the dog right after we got home.
Thanks for the continued prayers. Love you all.
Ryan, Shannon, Leyton, and Ellis Campoamor
On September 22, Ryan wrote:
Ellis continues to do well. Her buillyribbon levels were on their way down so they took her off her Tron table. She is still having great bowel movements and continues to eat well. That also meant we were able to hold her all day long. Boy, was that a treat! We fought all day over who got to hold her next. A lactation consultant also swung by this afternoon to refresh Shannon with some tips and techniques and from then on breast feeding went well. Ellis has also moved up to plushier digs at the newborn nursery. We now have our own "pod" which is more private with a lot more space. Her vitals are still rock solid, she is gaining weight, and she is still getting her daily doses of antibiotics. They are still telling us that we can bust out of here on Wednesday.
We are still making trips up here every 3 hours to feed and hang out. It has been great seeing her get better. Snuggling with her is the best.
We both are astonished on how much LC and Ellis looked alike as babies. We pulled up some newborn photos of LC and they are practically identical. I'm in for a load of trouble when these girls of mine get older. Next week I will start stockpiling my gun and ammunition collection.
Thank you all again for the prayers. God is great!
Love,
rgc
On September 23, Shannon wrote:
Miss Ellis continues to do awesome. All her tests and labs are normal, breast feeding is going great, and she is almost back up to her birth weight. She spends most of the day snuggled up to either Mom or Dad, which is a great treat. She will give her nurses the occasional hard time, but only with typical newborn tricks. Ryan and I are in a good groove. Leyton is competely spoiled rotten and will be her own challenge when the dust settles. So now we just continue to wait until Wednesday. We are doing all our discharge stuff now so as soon as she gets her last dose of antibiotics, we are out the door.
Tired, happy, and completely blessed!
On September 25, Shannon wrote:
This is hopefully the last Ellis update. Tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for since January when we found out we were pregnant. All our boxes are checked here at the hospital, Ellis just needs her meds around noon tomorrow and then we are home sweet home. To finally have my girls under the same roof will be such a relief. We have made every effort for at least one of us to get home to be with Leyton as much as possible, but still, it has been a hard week for her too.
Ellis is back to birth weight, aided by her 3 ounce per day weight gains! I slept at the hospital last night and I will again tonight, to feed her whenever she wants, which is every two to three and a half hours.
Okay, don't worry if you don't hear from us. It just means we are all home and happy and too busy to email. Thanks again for all the kind words and prayers!
Love Ryan, Shannon, Leyton, and Ellis
On September 26, Shannon wrote:
Okay, so one more good update before we head home. Ellis is currently taking her carseat test. She has to sit in the carseat for an hour without her oxygen saturation and heart rate dropping. She is half way done and so far passing. She also has to have a hearing test and finish off her meds. Unfortunately her IV is no longer working, so the nurse will either start a new one or just give her two shots. She will assess her veins and decide which method will be the least painful for Ellis. So a few last minute hoops to jump through and we get to take her home. The nurses took pity on me last night and found a hospital bed down the hall for me to sleep in. And Ellis only woke up once to nurse and then went directly back to sleep. So we all had a great night. Looking forward to many more!
Ryan, Shannon, Leyton, and Ellis
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