Yesterday the Dr. decided to give Kenadie another blood transfusion, she was pale and always very sleepy and having breathing problems again. Today she looked alot better and was responding more to my voice and the noises around her.
Kenadie is up to 3 pounds 4 ounces.
Snuggle time with mom!

The Call

Today around 2p.m. I got a call from the N.P. at Primary Children's saying they had a few new admits and they were full so they are transferring Kenadie to Mckay Dee because they need her bed. I was so happy to get the phone calls and the good news. She asked if I would be there to meet them and I said I would love to but I am not feeling so hot. I don't think I will make it. I ended up today with mastitis....can we say YUCK! I am so happy that she is closer to home and out of Primary Children's.

August 27, 2008

Today when we got down to Primary Children's, Kenadie had just had her eye exam looking for ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) her eyes were all red and puffy, she looked so sad, she was not very happy either, the nurse said she didn't like it at all-but who would? The Doctor said she has immature eyes and that she needs to grow, nothing looked abnormal though-thats good, they will check them again. She is getting 1 ounce of milk every 3 hours and is tolerating them really well they are putting a milk fortifier in with my milk to add calories and calcium to help her gain weight. She is having a little problem with apnea/bradycardia but they figure it is coming from her blood being low. They thought they may have to do a blood transfusion but they took blood and the test come back good and that her bone marrow is trying hard to make her own blood so they didn't want to do that unless she really needs it, it is better for her to try to make her own because if they just gave it to her then her body is like why do I have to do this....
She is still as cute as ever and in rounds today the nurse practitioner said "being cute isn't really a good enough reason to be keeping her here so lets get her transferred". We will see when that actually happens it seems I get a different story every day.

Lesson learned

As I spent the weekend down in Salt Lake with Kenadie a feeling hit me strong and hard that I had a lesson that needed to be learned. When Kenadie was transferred to Primary Children's-I think Heavenly Father wanted to open my eyes and see how truly blessed I am, I have seen so many babies down there with things that I would never want to go through and I count my blessings every day how blessed we are as a family and what a little miracle Kenadie is. She is so perfect in so many ways and is truly an angel sent from heaven to bless us. I knew I was blessed but I never took into consideration of how blessed........My heart is very full with gratitude at this time.
Kenadie is up to 3 pounds and is enjoying her feedings very much, today I held her while they fed her, she gets 16 cc's every 3 hours. As they fed her through the NG tube they had me put the Binky in her mouth she started sucking instantly. The nurse said she is at the age she should be able to start drinking from a bottle, 32 wks is when they can handle the suck, breath swallow. Today I even changed my first diaper, the nurse wouldn't take "no I will watch" as an answer, it actually was easier than I thought it would be through the isolate holes.
The Doctor yesterday said that they were planning on transferring her and I said when in a couple of weeks when Logan can take her and she said no it will be sooner than that. I guess she plans on sending her back to Mckay Dee. That was good news, made my day!

Friday- August 22, 2008

Kenadie is doing great on her feedings she is getting 10 cc's every 3 hours with no residual or complications from it. They tested her for a milk allergy which came back negative -thank goodness! Hopefully she is on her way to gaining weight and growing and can soon come home. She weights in at 2 pounds 14 ounces as of Wednesday, she has almost gained 1 pound in a month. Go girl! Primary Children's informed me that they will not be doing a back transfer to Mckay Dee because insurance won't pay for it unless there is need for her bed slot for a more serious baby. So it looks like we are there to stay until 34 weeks (she will be 32 on Sunday) and then hopefully she can be transferred to Logan Regional-closer to home, yeah! They would pay for the transfer to Logan because it is a lower tier hospital so it would be cheaper for them than to keep her at Primary's where they are a higher tier hospital. That means we only have 14 days left there if all continues to go well. It is so hard not being able to go see her every day or every other day it is sad what an extra hour drive can do to your pocket book and time. I miss her so much and pray for the transfer day to come very soon!

Kenadie is 1 month old

Wow how time fly's when you are having fun.... Kenadie arrived at Primary Children's Monday afternoon, after she arrived and just after we had gotten there the PA that was looking her over said "this baby doesn't have Hirsch sprungs, they are going to do the test and be able to send her back to Mckay Dee". The nurse said "we never get to keep the cute ones. " Unfortunately they were not able to do the test until today, Tuesday the 19th. They did the lower Gi test and the results came back as being negative for Hirsch Sprungs, thankfully they didn't have to do the biopsy on her. They are going to keep her there for a week or so and start her feedings again and see what happens this time, if all goes well she will be transferred back to Mckay Dee. Primary Children's is not one of my favorite places, so I am counting the days that she can head back to Mckay Dee. Today the social worker approached me and asked for my permission to let them use Kenadies hand & foot print for a thank you card that they are making for Smith's. They had donated money and so they thought it would be cute to have a baby's hand print on the card and they decided that Kenadie was the healthiest baby in the NICU that would be able to tolerate it. She did great!
We have so much to be thankful for and we have been so blessed. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and support that you have shown us and for helping us make it through another obstacle. We love you all!

Sunday- August 17, 2008

Kenadie has been having trouble with her feedings again. Last week they did the full feeds for 1 day and then had to stop and put her back on iv fluids only, her tummy just cant handle the food she has green bile that comes up and they can't figure out why, they have done a number of tests and xrays on her, Friday they did a lower GI test and they are concerned there may be a problem, so they have been in contact with a doctor from Primary Children's and they decided to transport Kenadie to Primary Children's either today or tomorrow and repeat the lower GI test with a possible biopsy if they are still concerned about it and then we will go from there. This little girl has been through so much, but I know she is being watched over and everything will work out for the best, she has completely stolen my heart and I love her so much.

Wednesday- August 13, 2008

Kenadie has been doing great, they started her feedings again on Monday evening and she is now up to full feeds and they will quit the iv fluids again. She weights in at 2 pounds 9 ounces. The medications-antibiotics, caffeine etc. is all given orally now instead of the iv, which is nice, I am tired of seeing the little iv in the top of her head, it looks so sore. Today after I got done holding her I asked the nurse if my mom could hold her, she was ok with it so my mom held her and sang I am a child of God and you are my sunshine, it was so cute, Kenadie just laid there with her eyes open and looked at her, and her o2 sats were high, she loved it! It brought a few tears to my eyes, Thanks mom for being such a wonderful example of who and what I need to be.

Sunday- August 10, 2008

Kenadie has been doing good the last couple of days, she has had a little trouble with her o2 and heart rate dropping and she has had a lot of episodes of spitting up. They decided to put her feedings on hold for a couple of days and put her back on the iv fluids. Today I called down and the nurses said she is 100% better with her breathing and her color is a lot better than yesterday and she looks rested and peaceful. She said sometimes with these tiny ones and then put an infection on top of it, the spitting up just takes everything out of them. They changed the antibiotics that Kenadie was on because the lab work showed the levels staying the same so they put her on 2 different antibiotics and the infection (crp lab work) is going down so it is working and hopefully will get rid of it for good! She is getting her spunk and fight back so she must be feeling a little better.

Thursday- August 7, 2008

Yesterday they did another spinal tap on Kenadie to see if there was infection in the spinal column, the one neonatologist said it looked suspicious, but the one I talked to today said they didn't mention it on rounds this morning, she didn't think it was. She said the infection is actually in the trachea not the lungs. When I went down today, the respiratory therapist smiled as I walked in and walked over to Kenadie's bed and said, "should we show mom what you did". I was like, what now?. She lifted the blanket from the incubator and she was on oxygen, the vent had been removed. I was shocked, she was having a little bit of a hard time with remembering to breath, but she had been off only 45 minutes. They were loading her up with caffeine. I called down around 4:30 and the nurse said she had just gave Kenadie a bath and she was doing great with her breathing. Way to go little girl! They have turned off the iv's except for the antibiotics, so the only food she is getting is my milk. Hopefully she is over that hill on the roller coaster ride we are enduring. I believe it is because of all the prayers and faith. Thanks again!

Wednesday- August 6, 2008

The results are in and the MRSA came back negative, but she does have a staph aureus infection in her lungs and they are treating her with an antibiotic,  her blood work shows that the infection level is dropping so it is working. They did turn the vent down from 6 to 5.5. Kenadie is up to 2 pounds and 5 ounces. My heart has never ached so much but been so full of gratitude at the same time. Last night I saw what I never wanted to see.....Kenadies heart rate and o2 sats dropped so low that they had to rip out the vent and start bagging her, I am so thankful to the medical staff for all they did to save my little girl. Dave and my dad were able to give her a name and a wonderful blessing last night. It was amazing! I am thankful for all my wonderful family and friends for the many prayers and thoughts that have been sent our way. I love you all!

Update - August 5, 2008

The doctor called tonight and informed us that Kenadie's infection is in her lungs.  They suspect it is MRSA, which is a life threatening infection, but as of yet they are not certain.  Please keep her in all your prayers.  She is a fighter!  We love our Kenadie so much.

Tuesday- August 5, 2008

Today Kenadie's blood has shown infection coming from somewhere but they are unsure where, so they pulled the picc line that was in her foot to see if maybe that was the source, the only thing is that they had to put an iv back in and they put it on top of her cute little head, poor    girl :(      She  is getting her feedings continuously, instead of every 3 hours, they are trying to help her acid reflux. She is breathing room air, no o2 needed at this point, the vent is set on the lowest setting and helping her only when she needs it. She looked a lot better today. The neonatologist said they will check her blood in the morning and watch the culture that they took and that will depend on how long she will be on the antibiotics 48 hours or 7 days.

Monday- August 4, 2008

Yesterday Kenadie had a little set back, her o2 sats kept dropping and that made her heart rate drop, so they had to turn up the oxygen. Today it hasn't gotten any better, in fact it was getting worse. I went down and was holding her and you could see her cute little pink face one minute and the next the machines were going off and her face would go gray so they would have to rattle her to remind her to breath. She was freaking me out! The Dr. called about 5:00 p.m. and said that she just wasn't getting any better,  they put her back on the vent and they were giving her a blood transfusion and going to do a chest xray. The blood work didn't show any sign of infection, but they would check it again in the morning. She said the vent was on the lowest setting and she didn't know how long she would be on it, could be a day or two or even weeks. She said she didn't know what was going on, it could just be that she is so tiny and weak and that she just didn't have the strength to breath. It has been a very emotional 2 days and very hard to take but I know that this is what she needs at this time. Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts you are all saying in our behalf. We love you all!

Friday- August 1, 2008

Kenadie is up to 2 pounds 1 ounce today and she is getting 1 teaspoon of milk every 3 hours, they put a little drop in her month today and she was like a little bird, wanted more. She was thinking, this stuff is good, it was so cute. She has graduated from the little tiny diapers to big girl diapers. They have turned down the oxygen to 1, which is awesome! Pretty soon she won't need anything to help her breath. When we hold her, her o2 sats go high and they have to turn down her oxygen to zero. She just loves her mommy and daddy :). It sure is hard to have to put her back in the bed after holding her, I just want to hold her forever! The neonatologist came in today, asked if we had any questions. I told her I didn't and she said well I don't have any new things to tell you either, she is just boring. I said boring is great, I will take that, we don't need or want any excitement. I am very happy with were we are at. Everyone we talk to down there is just amazed at how well she is doing. In fact, they said if they get a new baby in they may have to move her to another room because she isn't needing as much care as some of the other baby's.