Welcome Home Ellie!

After only one stop to nurse Ellie and change her diaper, Jeremiah and I arrived home from Stanford! My wonderful parents surprised us by coming up for Ellie's arrival. They cleaned our home, went grocery shopping for us, cleaned our laundry, helped with dinner, and helped get us ALL settled in! They even bought "Welcome Home" balloons! Another memory that we will will never forget!

Happiest Grandparents in the whole wide world!

Nana Debby got to finally hold Ellie in her arms in our comfortable home - so so different from the environment of the NICU.

Ellie finally got to go into her swing that I'd been telling her about since she was born!
I even tried out one of the baby carriers we have. This one's perfect for infants. I'm ready to be a mom! And, I am proud to say that my pre-maternity sweater fit me perfectly! Did I really gain 35 pounds during pregnancy? Thank goodness for the blog or I wouldn't believe it!

Sandy got to meet Ellie! She licked her ALL OVER!

Even Clara made an effort to say hello... she's slowly getting over her jealousy!

These next two of my mom are from the moment we arrived home - look how happy she is!

Pastor Lon and Sue from PortNaz Church surprised us that evening by bringing over this incredibly delicious cake - that Sue made!

This picture is of a special card we received at the NICU desk one day from Aunt Aadra and Uncle Marc. We didn't know that people could send her messages, but somehow they found out! We were so blessed by this gesture!

Getting Ready To Leave Stanford!

The excitement on Saturday morning February 4th will always be remembered by us. After 2 weeks, Jeremiah and I finally got to take our baby girl home! All the memories we had waited to make with Ellie were finally happening! This blog post shows the getting ready process - when we realized that her discharge date was a reality - from the preparations to discharge to the actual moment when we got to step outside the hospital with Ellie - in her carseat that we'd had readily installed into our car over a month before this date... The smiles in the picture above were glued onto our faces from the moment we woke up that morning...

I finally got to feel what it was like to carry Ellie's carseat with Ellie in it!!! It wasn't too bad - but I used both hands, just for safe keeping!

Ellie actually got to wear the coming home outfit that I had picked out for her so long ago! If you scroll down on the blog, you can see the picture I took of just the outfit... before Ellie was born :)

The above and following pictures were taken the day before Ellie's discharge. The lady in the middle is Dr. Miyake, the doctor responsible for bringing Ellie to Stanford! And the lady beside her is Roberta, one of Ellie's amazing NICU nurses! We had just dressed up Ellie into an outfit - the first time she wore clothes!

Again - see the happiness in our faces?! This is the first time we got a picture all together with Ellie in clothes! :)

All NICU cardio patients must pass a car seat test prior to leaving the NICU. She literally had to sit in her car seat for 2 hours before leaving the hospital to make sure that all of her vitals stayed good. Thankfully, Ellie passed! But that was so hard! She was sort of left like an abandoned child! This picture was taken when she was first put into her car seat. I couldn't believe how tiny she was in it!

Daddy gets to hold his daughter!

And this picture is a favorite of mine. It was taken on the day of discharge - and not only is it taken in front of Ellie's bedside at the NICU, but it is also a picture of me holding Ellie for the very first time (since our arrival at Stanford) without wires attached to her. I had no more tears to shed after two weeks of tears, but I was truly weeping from the inside during this moment... I will never ever forget it!