Today....

While I am writing this I am thinking about the lyrics of one of my favorite songs. A song I often sing out loud when I am having fun on the water. It's a "Smashing Pumpkins"-song called "Today". And it's the beginning of the song that keeps going through my mind.

"Today is the greatest day I've ever known...."

This morning started great. We got the news that Ella had fully recovered and is in perfect health. An emotional moment. Two days after her birth, it felt like she was born twice. This time we could take her with us. No more tubes, electrodes and monitors. And right now, she is sleeping quietly in the room with us.

It's a great day for two other reasons as well. It's my father's 65th birthday. So he, my mother, my brother and his whole family came over here to see Ella. The other reason is our anniversary. It's 15 years to the day that Ana and I had our first date. Like I said: "Today is the greatest day I've ever known...."


Her last bottle at the Intensive Care....

She sleeps well, in all kinds of positions....

She likes her mom, she can't stop looking at her. In that she's just like me ;-)

Like I said, she can sleep in any position....

Ella....

27th july 2010, 03h47

After a difficult delivery Ella arrived in this world. We thought we had had the hard part, but things turned out different.

Where babies normally start crying almost right away, Ella had a difficult start. She had quite a bit of thick saliva in her longs which made breathing hard. The extra oxygen she needed because of that seemed to be able to enter her lungs, but not exit. As a result her left lung collapsed and she could not breath on her own. So instead of holding her in our arms we were taking her to the intensive care. So the first photos taken of her were with an x-ray machine, definitely not what we had hoped. But good news came quick. It was a collapsed lung and it wasn't dangerous.

After a few hours of treatment she was already breathing by herself and slowly the tubes where coming out one by one. Except for the collapsed lung she was in perfect condition. Hopefully tomorrow she will be off intensive care and we can take her.

Not nice to see your baby with all these tubes, but she was doing very well. Trying to take the tubes out and actually succeeding :-)


She was closely monitored. The big 98 was the most impartant thing. The oxygen levels in her blood.


A proud mom.....


So sweet....


Her first bottle...


She likes to sleep, in all kinds of positions :-)


Her comfy bed....



Her new buddy, or should I say bunny..... Hello Ella! Hello bunny!