It's been four days since Ellie had her trach placed and we have watched her turn into a whole new baby. She has been looking around with her big, beautiful eyes and taking in her surroundings like it is the first time she's really been able to enjoy the world around her. It's amazing what you can do when you are not completely focused on breathing 24/7. All of the nurses comment on how interactive she is with us, which definitely was not the case before. She lights up whenever she sees us and is constantly smiling at us now. Scott even got her first laugh out of her today. Sadly, with the trach she is not able to make any noise with her voice so it was a silent laugher unless you count the gurgly sound coming out of her trach, but we could definitely tell she was laughing. One night when she was awake and content we facetimed with the kiddos at home and it was amazing to see how she responded to them even through the ipad. Watching her begin to thrive makes all the sacrifice this will require completely worth it. I am already missing her little raspy voice and hope she will be able to use a speaking valve sometime in the future so we can hear her talk, laugh, and even cry again. A huge thanks to Whitney and Brandon for coming to visit and capturing some of these very precious moments with Ellie.
Ellie's has one more surgery on Saturday to place a g-tube (a permanent feeding tube that goes through her abdomen into her stomach) and then all we have to do is finish our trach training next week she should be ready to go home.
