Ellen had an appointment at the cardiologist today... she is 50th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight - those are the highest percentiles she's been so far in her life:)

Her 02 saturation was 100% and her heart rate was about 110 after she was calm for a little bit and her blood pressure was 100/70, so everything looks good. She had a chest x-ray that the doc said looked great and since she looks so good and is growing so well and has no signs of any problems (which would most likely have shown up by now - seven-plus months post-op) Dr. Han said she didn't need to have an echo done, and we are to go back in December for a one-year post-op checkup where she will have an echo, then we'll bring her to Dr. Han once every year or two for the rest of her childhood... and Dr. Han assured us that Ellen's heart should grow around the patch and she should be functionally normal - it's amazing. No drugs, no restrictions... there's barely even a scar. Ellen won't remember or be affected by any of this - it's just mom that still needs to recover:)

Rod and I are working through our issues (we went to a counseling session today and it solved ALL our problems - just kidding:) We both thought it was good) and hope to have another baby in the next couple of years...

We plan to have a book made of this website for Ellen (caringbridge offers it) - so if you have anything you want to add to the guestbook, please do so...

We want to thank everyone SO much for the love and support you've given our family:)

Rod, Ann Marie, and Ellen Youngdahl