Last year when I would visit Ellie at Cincinnati Children’s I would hold her in my arms and sing “You’ll be home for Christmas” to her. I knew Everett couldn’t be home for Christmas, but I desperately wanted all my girls home with me. So that was our theme song. I made sure to sing it around the doctors and nurses so they knew the plan 🙂 Thankfully, everyone agreed with me and we took Ellie home on December 23rd, 2013.
Even though she was born with Spina Bifida, we always thought Ellie would be the first one home. Shortly after birth she was breathing without any support, she was the first to start eating, the first to move to an open crib. When babies are in an isolette all you can do is open the small arm doors and reach in to touch them. We weren’t allowed to take them out of the isolettes on our own- there were too many wires to deal with. I remember the first time I took her out of the crib without any nurse assistance and cradled her in my arms. It was awesome! I felt so FREE 🙂
With Ellie, we knew two days ahead that we would be bringing her home on the 23rd. I was able to pick out her homecoming outfit and feel prepared to bring home baby #3. We knew it would be a whole new ballgame with three babies. We were outnumbered. My mom already planned to come and live with us for 6 weeks whenever we let her know it was time. Matt and I decided that Ellie’s homecoming should mark the beginning of Nana’s stay.
Ellie’s slowness coming home had nothing to do with her Spina Bifida. She just took her good ol’ time mastering bottle feeding. She came home with a feeding tube. There was no other reason for her to be in the NICU and they were tired of my singing, so they let us have her 🙂 Within a week the feeding tube was no longer needed. She just wanted to be fed by family, especially Nana.
We had some education to complete before we could bring Ellie home. We each had to put in her feeding tube by ourselves one more time and learn how to use her car bed. Because of the cyst on her back, Ellie was not allowed to use a traditional car seat. She came home from the hospital in what looked like a small plastic box with a straight jacket attached. I was so happy when she was finally able to ride in a regular car seat 9 months later after having surgery to remove the cyst on her back.
It was hard leaving Everett at the hospital. He and Ellie had been roommates since the beginning and he even followed her down to Cincinnati Childrens where they occupied one of the few private rooms together. We let them lay together for a bit and you could tell they weren’t sure about being apart. It broke my heart that he would be in the hospital by himself for Christmas. And I knew with 3 preemie babies and a 2 year old at home it wouldn’t be as easy to come and visit him.
We said our goodbyes to Everett and bundled Ellie up in a blanket for the trip down to the car. There was no snowstorm looming 🙂 and we made the hour and 15 minute drive with no hiccups. She slept the whole way and I sat in the back seat and watched her.
Adjusting to 3 babies at home was hard. My mother, Matt, and I were pretty much the walking dead for the first month. The babies each took about 30-40 minutes to eat a bottle. So when one person had the night shift, you would finish feeding all three, sleep for 40 minutes, and repeat. It was brutal. There was a lot of binge watching Downton Abbey to keep us going! That theme music will always remind me of that first month. We had a team of volunteers that would come and help during the day and a few who even braved the night shift as well! They helped clean, do laundry, feed babies, and play with Kate. We had people bringing meals too (thank the Lord!). I could barely take care of the little people in my house let alone cook a decent meal for myself. We had lots of help, but it was still overwhelming!
We finally got in a groove, though, and life was crazy, but predictable and manageable. Thankfully bringing Everett home a month and a half later didn’t disrupt things too much. We had learned to manage the circus and we were just thrilled to have him home!
Nowadays, Ellie is such a joy. She has the biggest smile. It’s almost Grinch-y because it takes over her whole face. She is my conundrum. Very soft spirited, but load of voice 🙂 She has a squeal that will make your ears bleed. But she will go off by herself and play quietly when the others are paling around together. She needs her space. The girl does not like it when you invade her bubble (which doesn’t work so well when you are a quadruplet). She’s learning to cope and the others are learning to stay away. But, when she is with her siblings she loves to interact with them. So far she’s a sociable introvert 🙂
She is a picky eater and she doesn’t like to get messy. When we did the cake smash photoshoot for their birthday she was hardly messy. We had to force her hand in the icing 🙂 It cracks me up. The other 3 will be filthy and she is daintily eating with nothing out of place.
Ellie has faced her fair share of challenges in her first year home. She had a major surgery to remove the cyst on her back and repair the tethering of her spinal cord. Doctors and nurses warned us that there could be regression physically after the surgery and she was back to normal before we left the hospital. She is pulling to stand on her own and cruising around furniture. Today she stood on her own (with her butt leaning against our rainbow climbing toy) and clapped both hands. That takes so much balance and she did great! There is still a chance that she may need braces to learn to walk correctly, but so far so good. She’s battled UTI’s and constipation due to her condition as well. But, so far, Ellie has mastered every goal they have put in front of her. Even with her Spina Bifida, she is right where she should be developmentally. Makes me cry just typing that. In the beginning we didn’t know if she would be able to walk at all and now she is making strides to do just that and at the same rate as other children. She’s a rock star.
Ellie is a beauty. She has striking blue eyes and a full head of lovely hair (that also makes for some kick butt bed head!). Her cheeks are so very kissable. “The Bean” is social and loves to giggle and play with faces. She says Momma, Dada, and Uh-Oh. Someday she’ll be a singer (we know she can project and hit the high notes already!) and a friend to many. She makes my heart smile with her silly grin. Can’t wait to see where God takes this mighty little woman.
Love you Ellie Bean!
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