Kenzie's 1 Month Check-up (Fri 1/23/09)

Kenzie has been home for 2 weeks now and is doing great. She sleeps well, eats very good and is very laid back. Of course, I can't say the same for Mommy and Daddy. I think we forgot what it was like to get up every 2 1/2 - 4 hours a night! I know that "this too shall pass," though I feel like I am losing my mind due to lack of sleep in the meantime!!! But looking at Kenzie makes it all worth it and I know all too well how fast they grow up, so I am trying not to complain and just deal with it. It doesn't help, either, that I just want to stare at her all day long instead of getting some much needed rest. =)

We went to the doctor today. If you remember from my last post, the doctor wanted her to gain 1 ounce a day to show that she was healthy and doing well, which would have been 11 ounces. Well, when the nurse put her on the scale today, I almost passed out...she gained 1 pound and 11 ounces, for a total of 8 lbs. 12 oz. She also grew 1/2" and is now up to 20". He said that we really couldn't ask for better than that! We are so happy that she is doing so well. I was pretty sure that she was going through a growing spell last week because she seemed hungrier than usual, but I had no idea just how much she was growing!!!

He does want to have another echo cardiogram done when she is between 3 and 6 months, to ensure that the pulmonary hypertension has truly resolved itself and we will also have to do more hearing screening tests to monitor that her hearing is progressing due to the ventilators and medications that she was on while she was in the hospital, but he is very pleased with her progress so far. I am not too worried about her hearing because she turns her head towards voices and will get startled at a sudden noise, but will feel much better when the screening results come back. We also discovered that she has an umbilical hernia, which causes her belly button to stick out. Dr. Ramirez said that this is caused by a small hole in the abdominal wall and that 99% of these resolve themselves without any surgery. In fact, a surgeon won't even talk about correcting it until she is 4-5 years old. He also said that these types of hernias do not cause pain or discomfort, so, we will just wait and hope that it will correct itself. He did say that his mother would want him to tell us to tape a quarter over her belly button to help keep it down, but I think that I will just let mother nature do her thing!!! =)

All in all, we are so very pleased with her progress and it is hard to believe how far she has come in such a short period of time.

The first doctor visit (Mon 1/12/09)

We took Kenzie to her follow-up visit with the pediatrician Monday morning. This was the first time he had actually seen her, but it certainly was not the first time that he had heard about her! He said that she looked perfectly normal, but that any long term effects of the medications or machines that she was on, like hearing loss or vision problems, would take longer to determine. He did detect a heart murmur, but at this point they are treating it as a flow murmur and not a structural one. That basically means that he is not that worried about it as long as she continues to eat and gain weight. He also thinks it would be a good idea to have another echo cardiogram in a couple of months or so to insure that the pulmonary hypertension has really resolved itself.

She weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2" long. The doctor wants her to put on almost a full pound before her next doctor visit on the 23rd. The way she is eating now, that should not be a problem! I have never seen an infant get through a bottle as quickly as she does.

Little brother, Karson, continues to ignore her and big sister, Kailey, just adores her. She, like her parents and grandparents, would be content to just watch her all day long!!!

The NICU journey finally ends (Sat 1/10/09)

The day that I was not sure would ever come this time last week finally came. Kenzie was released from the hospital yesterday and is at home with us at last! The doctor said that she was now considered a "normal" baby, so we do not have any monitors or medications that have to be used at home. I don't think that helped me sleep last night, though, as I was up most of the night listening for little baby noises that would assure me that she was OK. She also seemed to be hungry every 2 hours and would happily chug down 70cc's of milk each time. She is quite the little piglet, I must say!!!

Kailey was there to pick up her little sister and was so excited to have her finally come home. She is quite the little mommy...very concerned with when she ate, how much she ate and what kind of dirty diaper she has! Karson was a bit more reserved, he didn't really care to much either way it seemed. He came over to see the baby, give her a couple of pats, and then went on his way. This morning he made Kevin take him to look in the bassinet and once he saw her, he seemed to be fine that she was still here!

The past 11 days have have been quite a test of my faith, mind, body and spirit. I appreciate every last one of you for your keeping up with our journey and offering your kind words and prayers, as they were part of the fuel that kept us going. We feel so blessed and fortunate to have made it through, and there are just no words to express how grateful we are.

My baby is finally coming home (Thurs 1/8/09)

Well, the doctor told us today that they will be discharging Kenzie tomorrow! I was not sure when we were going to see this day, and it was a subject that no one wanted to talk about. But she is doing so well now that they see no need to keep her. She is feeding very well and they took out her last IV late yesterday. The only thing she is hooked up to now are the heart and oxygen monitors.

As a part of the discharge process, they performed the hearing test today and she passed. I was a little worried because the oscillating vent can cause some hearing damage, but it turned out OK. The cardiologist did another echo-cardiogram as well and was amazed at how much better it looked than the one they did last week. He said all of the pulmonary hypertension issues had been resolved! Hallelujah!!!

We are so happy and feel so blessed that she has come so far so fast! Even the doctors were amazed to see her eating so soon after being so sick. I am so thankful to the nurses and doctors for taking such good care of her, but I am very glad that she will be able to come home and we can put the hospital visits behind us.

Closer to home (Wed 1/7/09)

Dr. Brennan called this morning with the news that they were going to transfer Kenzie back to Medical Center of Plano today! She has been doing very well with her feedings and did fantastic without the oxygen last night!

They have left her arterial line in because she is a "hard stick" for the IV's and he will leave it up to the doctors at Plano to decide when to take it out. He diagnosed her with "idiopathic" pulmonary hypertension...meaning they cannot find any reason that this happened, just the switch did not get flipped when she was born and that he cannot see any long term effects on her. We are so happy that she has done so well and recovered so quickly and that she will be closer to home.

I just hope that she won't be disappointed that she doesn't get another helicopter ride!!! =)

A very, very good day... (Tues 1/6/09)

What a glorious day today was!!! We finally got to hold our little girl for the first time. I can still feel her in my arms. And by the time we left the hospital, they had turned off the oxygen cannula and the tube down her throat for the stomach secretions was removed as well. Today Kenzie is officially off any form of life support.

I also was able to feed her for the first time too! She took 2/3 of an ounce of milk and gave us a good burp...she gets that from her daddy!!! If she continues to feed well, they will be able to remove her IV as well.

It was a good day for Kailey, too, as this was the first day that she got to see her. Big sister is dying to hold her and to have her come home...as we all are. We haven't talked to the doctors about that yet, but I feel that we may be getting closer and closer to that day.

Ding, Dong, the tube is gone!!! (Mon 1/5/09 pm)

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their calls, emails, thoughts, prayers and presence through this very difficult time. You have been a great source of strength for us, and we would not have been able to make it through this far without you!

When I called to check on Kenzie tonight, we received fantastic news! They had just extubated her and put her on a nasal cannula (this is the clear tubing that people that need oxygen supplementation wear.) This is a step down from the CPAP machine that we expected her to be on once she was removed from the vent!!! I am so thankful for her rapid progress. I can feel that I am getting closer and closer to getting to hold my little girl for the first time! There is also a little spot at the end of her nose that is just calling out to be kissed. =)

Kenzie is starting to have issues with her IV's. They have to move them often because she starts to swell around the site. She also had some "green secretions" collecting in her stomach that they were monitoring. They inserted a tube to remove the secretions so they did not continue to build up. They have postponed feeding her for another day or so due to this issue, so I am hoping that this too will be resolved soon.