The Goodwins

Bonnie woke around 5:30 to a lot of bleeding. We went immediately to the hospital. Justice’s heart is still strong. The bleeding slowed a bit and the ultrasound shows that the placenta is fine. Bonnie is in a bit of pain and just got an IV.

A C section may be necessary.

Ella is with us watching VeggieTales but Mrs Barb should be here shortly to entertain her.

Please keep Bonnie and Justice in your prayers.

Our little angel is in bed sleeping.¹
She was definitely happy to be home.  She’s still not completely happy, but her loving personality still comes through more and more.

She had a nice nap and was in good spirits when I got home from work around 6:00.  Bonnie was able to get to her Bible Study in time and Ella and I had a chance to play and play and play.

She played the piano, and didn’t let her dolly leave her side, or her dad.  She colored and drew, even though she was very, very tired.

There are a few more pictures up at ellagoodwin.com.   Bonnie is home now and we need to give Ella some more medicine so I’ll end this here.  God Bless and thanks for your continued prayers.

1. Hopefully she’ll stay down [↩]

Yes, we’re home.

Had an OK night last night.  A lot of fussing and crying from Ella before she finally went down, but slept soundly after finally going down.  In fact she was actually happy to go down when we put her down for the last time.

She woke up around 6 AM reasonably happy, but turned angry fairly quickly.  We gave her medicine, drink and food and she calmed down. We then got all the sheets, towels, etc washed so we could check out per the Ronald McDonald House requirements, got our car out of the hospital’s parking ramp, loaded up, checked out and finally got on the road around 9:30 CDT and headed for St. Joe.

We stopped at a McDonald’s drive through on the way and Ella gobbled down six chicken nuggets while on the road.  This is a great sign as she has never eaten more than four before.

We got home around 12:45 EDT, changed out Ella’s bandages,¹ gave her a present for being such a big girl,² replaced the tube connected to her drainage tube, and got her and her mommy off to a nap.

I got showered³ and made it into work around 2:00.

I think we’re over the hump.  Her drainage tube might be able to come out as early as Friday, but at least by Monday so we won’t need to due the daily head bandage changes after that!

We’ll see Dr. Bauer at least once more in Chicago to remove her sutures and possible go in before that⁴ to let him check her out.

I’ve got to cut this short now, but I’ll try to get a more detailed update⁵ up later tonight.

God Bless

1. She hates when we mess with her head bandages and expressed that emotion like a consummate professional today [↩]
2. A Little People farm set [↩]
3. I’m sure my colleagues will thank me for that as I was a bit ripe [↩]
4. Probably next week [↩]
5. And maybe pictures too? [↩]

Our Little Ella woke up screaming.  It seemed like she had a nightmare.  We snuggled for 30 mins or so and she’s now fast asleep.

She’s now back fast asleep.  Hopefully it will last a while.  Of course I just had to take a picture or two of her.

I made the executive decision that a nightmare wake up didn’t count as actually waking up so I didn’t call Bonnie.  So please keep me in your prayer when she finds out.

We still are waiting to decide if we are leaving or not tonight, but leaning toward staying in Chicago.

Well, Ella is finally asleep.  She’s actually down in the bed without one of us hold her.  This give Bonnie a chance to head back to the Ronald McDonald House for a well deserved nap.  I’m sitting next to our sleeping beauty, who still is making those “after crying” sobs.  Hopefully she’ll stay down and Bonnie can get some sleep as the only way I could get her to leave is to promise to call her as soon as Ella wakes up.

Every time I talk about exercise and getting “back in shape” my mom sighs and says “I wish you’d dance again.” And while that always sounded like fun, who really wants to pay for classes unless it’s leading somewhere. So Kirk and I finally caved in and joined the YMCA, and they actually have an adult jazz class that isn’t filled with college students and teenagers! So I signed up, and even got a new pair of dance sneakers as my jazz shoes were falling apart (and out of style after 17 years!) I’m really enjoying the movement of the class and my brain picks up on the steps as easily as I ever did, however, when I look in the mirror I have to wonder who that chunky, old(ish) woman is looking back at me. What happened to the girl who could eat anything and never gain a pound… darn my changing metabolism. I have to say my reflection yearns for the days when fitness came naturally and my diet consisted mainly of Mountain Dew (not diet) and a bag of barbeque chips as my roommate Lori and I road tripped to anywhere.

Kirk has been after me since he created this web site (well since high school really!) to do some blogging and keep the outside world informed about our life… and I always wondered why I would want to fill everyone (and anyone who did a simple Google search) in on my thoughts, let alone our day to day life! But I’ve been reading blogs from some of my friends, and remembering how much I used to love to write in journals when I was a teenager, so I thought I’d give this new blogging craze a try. Of course now I face the idea that everyone could read what I write rather than writing solely for myself so it’ll be interesting to me to see if I keep this up or if it’s a brief fancy.

So, since I’m not exactly sure how I want to proceed I think today I will simply say that life has been good to us so far in 2008 (aside from the winter cold which is still running through our house). We took a much needed and relaxing vacation to Hawaii to visit friends, and Ella proved herself to be an amazing traveler and happily went where ever mom and dad went.

We are approaching Ella’s 2nd birthday on April 9th and we are amazed at how fast she is growing up! Our lives have all changed so much in the last 2 years and I am eagerly waiting to see what comes next. April will also bring surgery for Miss Ella… Kirk and I have decide to remove the giant nevus (hairy mole) from her scalp. While we don’t like the idea of putting Ella (and ourselves) through this process, the thoughts of cancer / melanoma are too hard to ignore. So, our beautiful little girl will look a little funny for a few months, but I’m sure her amazing attitude and smiles will carry us all through!.

Well, that’s all for today… I wonder when I’ll write again.

B.

This is the blog for the Goodwin Family (Kirk, Bonnie and Ella).

History

Kirk Goodwin and Bonnie (Sprague) dated their senior year at Ames Senior High School and, after a short 16 year “break”, they rekindled their relationship over Memorial Day weekend in 2003. Bonnie, living in Denver at the time, received an offer, that apparently had a nice ring to it, to return to Iowa. Leaving many close friends, Bonnie returned to Ames, Iowa and three weeks later Kirk and Bonnie were married on May 29th, 2004 in Newton, Iowa.

They lived in Newton, home of Kirk’s employer Maytag Corporation, and made plans to building on their farmland to make room for their new addition.

On a beautiful Palm Sunday morning, April 9th, 2006, their beautiful daughter, Ella Louise Goodwin, entered the world. While during Bonnie’s pregnancy they were told the chances of Ella having Down syndrome was 1 in 50,000, they find Ella much more special than that.

Meanwhile, Kirk’s employer Maytag was acquired by Whirlpool Corporation and Kirk received an offer, including all the time they needed to complete all of the medical tests required for Ella, to work with Whirlpool’s patent group.

On September 15, 2006, (Kirk’s 38th Birthday) the Goodwin family started a new life in Saint Joseph, MI.

This site will help chronicle their new life.