It really is amazing what happens when you can bring together a rested, fed, and non-stuck (read: went poop) baby with a camera, decent lighting, and a moment of parental energy. Pressing the shutter button on the camera way more than in the film days resulted in a series of photos that does really capture Elia at her finest. Enjoy!

How different the third baptism was: Ezra’s was done in a church. Liam’s was done in a hospital. Elia’s was done at home. And each felt just right.

Surrounded by a lot of family, and embraced by the festive holiday season, Elia was baptized in the warmth of the living room of our house. Her Papa was able to lead the event, and as he has done for all three of our children, he was able to tie Elia to faith with a beautiful family-inclusive service. Everyone in attendance had a role in the proceedings, and by doing that, it felt that Elia was somehow also differently welcomed into the family as well.

The cherry on the evening was that Elia was able to wear the baptismal gown that has seen it’s journey in the family last through four generations and a hundred years. Worn by her Great-Grandmother and just about everyone since (including both Ezra and Liam), having the gown present is a wonderful way to bring along those that couldn’t be with us. As with any good celebration, food and games followed, creating a really nice down-home remainder of the night.

And just like her two brothers before her, Elia now begins a journey in religion that has many destinations and a very unknown road to follow. She will go in the footsteps of Ezra and Liam and be part of two religions as she grows up, embracing the best that each has to offer.

Very much like Ezra, Elia has an absolute unrelenting affinity for facing out, sitting up, and seeing what is going on in the world around. Occasionally, this disturbs her (like in a busy restaurant) but for the most part it’s her position of choice. She hates – and I mean hates – being on her belly (not even to sleep on us), so any attempt to even start the roll-over process is going to prove to be a long way away. However, she has channeled the energy normally reserved for the rolling over activities into strengthening her neck for her upright adventures. While we still place our hands in a position to support her head should she flop, the actual needs to catch her are becoming quite infrequent. She has taken ownership of the center of the couch (where if we are not careful, she will zoom in on the TV across the room), and has started to earn herself some Bumbo time. She seems to really enjoy the accomplishment of sitting by herself – for five minutes or so – before telling us that she is in need of some human contact again.

Whew. That was a long day. Surgery complete.

I have come to realize that when we – as adults – have a medical procedure done that requires fasting, it’s a pretty simple proposition…just stop eating, and voila! Doctors are happy and we are only slightly grumpy. It turns out that the previously mentioned equation isn’t quite so simple with infants. Since Elia was going to experience general anesthesia, they required that she not have anything in her stomach for four hours prior to the scheduled procedure. The surgery was scheduled at 9am, we had to be at the hospital at 7am, we had to leave the house at 6am, and she had to feed at 5am. Oh, and that meant that we had to position the feeding schedule to hit the goal of 5am well into the previous day so as not to go too far or too close between those feedings overnight. And all of that works out if the hospital is on time – which they weren’t, by 45 minutes. Honestly, Elia did surprisingly well and the delay was potentially at least partially our fault: unlike when you are counting spacing between regular feedings, where you start the clock at the beginning of the feeding cycle; this time they meant that we were to start the clock at the end of the feeding cycle (which was never properly relayed to us), and while they never came out and said that it was delayed because of this, there was a mention of this being a problem, which would account for 30 of the 45 minute delay.

Anyhow, weeks of anticipation, and tons of anxiety culminated when the Anesthesiologist calmly took Elia and disappeared down the hallway. The procedure was scheduled to be 60 minutes long, and as anyone who as ever waited for a surgery to be completed, it seemed to take a month for that time to pass…and every single minute that the anticipated length grew, our heartbeat mirrored in increased repetition. The reality of the situation was that the procedure went almost exactly on time, the lead Doctor was very calm and reassuring, the Anesthesiologist was outstanding, the Nurses were cool, and the Support Staff was amazing. It was only us that felt the worry and the time drag.

Elia’s Surgeon came out and met us in the waiting room to inform us that everything went exactly as expected and planned. He was able to make a small incision into her belly button, inflate her bladder, identify the remnant, tie it off at the bladder, remove the extra piece, and put her back together with steri-strips instead of stitches. The Anesthesiologist followed right at the 65/70 minute mark to tell us that Elia was already awake in the recovery area and was doing really well. We were then escorted back to be reunited, only to find her being loved and held by the nursing staff. I’m telling you – Children’s Colorado is freaking amazing.

The entire experience at the hospital – from check in to discharge – was just shy of six hours. Elia did really well, and spent most of the afternoon sleeping off the morning and the pain medication. From this point forward, there is only a follow up visit to ensure that the incision is healing appropriately…that’s it. This is something that once taken care of, will not be an issue in any way for her in the future.

And finally, finally, viral infections, respiratory illness, possible hip dysplasia, ultrasounds, and belly issues are behind us. Now, we get to focus on everything else that life gets to throw her way, and not on any lingering medical issues. It’s the first time in her life that this is the reality, and it is pretty freeing.

rocking an actual hospital gown

waiting, waiting, waiting

post surgery