Photos of Our New Niece Evelyn Victoria Ely

These are photos of our new niece Evelyn Victoria Ely who was born 11 weeks early at 2 lb 10 oz. She is now off the respirator and is breathing on her own. Keep Kevin, Sarah, Olivia, and Evelyn in your prayers as these next few weeks will be critical needless to say. Here is an email from Kevin today with some additional details:

I have a couple of picture of our surprise, early new addition, Evelyn Victoria. Sarah was 29 1/2 weeks pregnant yesterday and the due date wasn't supposed to be until June 12. We were surprised yesterday when we found out that Sarah's water broke around 11:45am. After being directed by her doctor to check into the labor and delivery unit at our hospital, we were quickly working with the high risk pregnancy doctors. It was confirmed that in fact, her water did break and it was likely the baby was going to be delivered very soon. At the doctors recommendation, they encouraged us to transfer to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL where they have specialists in high risk deliveries and infant care.

Around 7pm, Sarah was taken away in an ambulance and I met her at the hospital. At 10:20pm, we welcomed Evelyn. It was a very quick delivery for Sarah and there were 11 doctors and nurses surrounding the situation. Some of you know the other details which included dad passing out, having to get stitches in the ER and missing the delivery by 2 minutes.

Evelyn seems to be doing well at this point. She is actually off of the respirator as of late this morning (about 12 hours after birth). She is now able to breath on her own with her tiny little lungs. This afternoon, they mentioned that her white blood cell count is low and they have put her on some antibiotics for that. This will be monitored closely.

The situation is difficult for many reasons, but primarily because we can't hold her and are not able to have any control over her situation. Fortunately, she is under some of the best care we could possibly get. We've been told to expect her to need to stay in the hospital for almost 11 weeks (up until the original due date). The hospital is a 55 minute drive from our house, and that obviously is difficult as well.

Please keep little Evelyn in your prayers and we will keep everyone informed on her progress.
Best wishes,
Kevin

Another March Video of Gavin

Gavin was having a very happy dream!

March Videos of Gavin

Playing in his new Rainforest Jumper

March Photos of Gavin

Here are some photos of Gavin during the month of March. He is currently about 16 pounds and 26" long.

This is Gavin's new chair (he's not potty trained quite yet).

Taking a snooze.

Ready to watch some basketball with his daddy.

Gavin with Daddy

Gavin Lucas Ely

Ryan and I received the best Christmas present of all last year, our son, Gavin Lucas Ely. He was born December 2, 2008 and we are incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful baby!

Before I talk about Gavin, I do feel the need to talk a little bit about the miscarriage we had before him. When Ryan and I decided we wanted to start a family, we became pregnant right away in December 2007. It was the same time that my brother, Jon, and sister-in-law, Julie, were also expecting. Julie, was pregnant with our niece, Hannah, and having numerous complications with her pregnancy. We decided to keep quiet about our news until we had the first ultrasound and saw the heartbeat. Julie ended up delivering Hannah 10 weeks early on January 21, 2008. We were all excited yet incredibly worried about our little niece who was now in the NIC Unit and just trying to survive. I really struggled at this time watching my brother and sister-in-law going through this difficult time and knowing we would soon have our own news to announce. It was an especially hard time because I didn't want to steal their spotlight in any way.

A week after Hannah was born, I had my first ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. We knew I would soon have a miscarriage. We decided to tell only our parents at that time and deal with everything on our own. I had a harder time with it than I let anyone know. It helped me get through every day that I heard Hannah was improving in the hospital. Our parents were also incredibly helpful with their prayers and just being there for us to talk to during this time. I know everything happens for a reason and I feel this experience has taught us that there are no guarantees in this precious life and God does have a plan for each of us but it might not be the same plan we see for ourselves. Thankfully, Hannah was released from the hospital after several weeks and is a thriving one year old whom we love dearly.

The next month after we had the miscarriage, we found out we were pregnant again. This time we told our parents right away and waited to tell everyone else until after we heard the heartbeat. There was a heartbeat! We told the rest of our family and although everyone was sad to hear about the miscarriage the first time, they were thrilled to hear that we were pregnant again.

I decided to paint a mural in the nursery which took quite a bit longer than I thought it would. I am no Picasso, that's for sure! I had a rough pregnancy from a 5 week battle with extreme morning sickness to being on bed rest for 4 weeks towards the end. At 7:05 pm on December 2, 2008 Gavin was born and changed our lives completely. He weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and is now a hefty 14 lbs. Below are some pictures to show how much he has grown and changed over the past 3 months. Enjoy!