What a week.....

It has been 1 week and 1 day here only 6 more days to go. Hope they fly by. Le Bonheur is a great childrens hospital. Everyone has been really nice and not only are they accomodating to your kiddos but they go out of their way to make sure the parents are comfortable too. It sure makes the stay and long, scary ordeal much easier to cope with.

Kelcie is presumed to have had meningitis and is being treated for bacterial meningitis. All of her cultures have come back negative, all bloodwork has been negative and all mri and catscans of her brain have been normal, Thank God. She is still not having much luck eating or keeping on good weight, she is a very skinny baby girl. Now that is the next step to get the digestive issue solved. They did an ultrasound this morning to check her pyloric muscle, a sphincter at the base of the stomach that is sometimes to tight that it won't let food down so it comes back up, hers was negative. While all these negative test results are positive, it stinks to not be getting any difinitve answers! So now it will be an upper gi or a ph test, they place a probe into her belly and leave it for 24 hrs and it gauges how high up the acid comes into her esophagus. Those will probably happen Monday.

So while she still has some stomach issues, she is otherwise doing great. Since being treated for this infection with antibiotics and coming off the vent she is like a new baby. As scary as the vent and sedation were to deal with it really helped her. Her little body was just to little to fight that kind of bad infection. She now is alert and her color is perfect, no more purple hands and feet and most of all no more apnea spells, it feels niceto have our baby healty and like she should look and feel. Hopefully the tummy problems will be as "easy" to fix.

I have added a picture, she is frowining probably because she is sick of all the pictures I take of her!

Thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers, she needed them and obviously heard:)!

I would also like give a special Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Sitel. The gifts were so nice and such a surprise. You have all been so good to Rob and our family being so understanding in this difficult times. We have appreciated all of your call, texts and prayers!

Love to all!

Failure to thrive........

What a horrible term to associate with a brand new beautiful baby. That is the term they have labeled Kelcie with. Not because we are neglecting her, not feeding, bathing, clothing, or loving her, but because her little body has something going on that it can't absorb the nutrients and calories she needs to maintain and gain weight. There are many causes for the term, hers could be because she has an infection, allergy to milk or gastric reflux. It just takes time to try and figure out what is causing it. Someone should find a new term.

She had another set back yesterday and we had to take her to the dr because we were afraid of another 911 situation if we didn't. They were so nice and saw her almost immediately, she has great drs. She had lost another pound, was starting to throw up everything she ate and was beginning to choke again. They sent her for an Upper GI, thankfully she has no intestinal problems, just really severe reflux. She had to be cathed and they discovered she has a U.rinary T.ract I.nfection and is now on antibiotics again. The dr said "babys are very suseptible to UTIs", which I didn't realize. They have switched her to a new formula and we go back on Friday for a followup and weight check. Let's all hope she has gained weight and not lost. Not sure I could handle another hospital stay, she has had to endure so much in her short 3 wks. 1day in this world.

Now on a brighter note, Kelcie had her first real bath. No more sponge baths for her! When I first put her in the water she had this look of "Ahh I know this warm familar place", it was so cute. She just relaxed and she closed her eyes and layed there. Just like going "home":) So of course we had to take some photos to capture this first bath. Enjoy!

Home at Last!

Ugh, finally our baby girl is "thriving" as the drs called it. She is eating well, having regular poops and pees, her billirubin count is 9.4 anything under 10 is great and it was 25.7, the Axid for her reflux is working and she has gained almost a pound since Tuesday and looks good. She is still a tiny baby girl but she is getting healthy and has had her last hoorah at the hospital. We did have one bump today before we left. We had been watching her IV for swelling in her lower arm or hand, but didn't think to watch her upper arm. Well this morning I was changing her and discovered her left upper arm was 3 times bigger than the right. The IV had burned her vein and the fluids had run into her arm tissues. She was crying and it was very red but she is beter now. It will take 2-3 days to for the fluid to absorb but no lasting complications. We go to the pediatrician in 1 week for a check up but expect her to be doing well. So I took her first picture at home in her bassinet and she was very happy and content, looking pretty in pink:) Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers for Kelcie and us, it's been a trying couple of weeks but with all of your love and support it's all ended good. Love to all!

Kelcie's tough day.......

Yesterday Kelcie started having some bigger issues with choking than she started out with when she was born. She had swallowed so much fluid coming out that she had some mucous issues, but yesterdays issues were alot worse and more frequent. She and I went to bed about 2:30-3 this morning and she slept until about 8 when she woke up choking and gasping for air. I got her mouth suctioned and she caught her breath but again choked this time harder for her to get past. Rob came home from work so we could take her to the dr. While I was getting dressed he was holding her and she turned purple and started flailing her arms, she was choking. I grabbed her and tried the normal things to help her, nothing was working and then all of a sudden this yellow and green fluid started coming out of her nose and mouth and she stopped breathing for about a minute. We called 911 and the fire truck and ambulance got there very fast, as we live 1 street over from the medical complex, and they took her to the ER. She had another choking spell in the ER and has been admitted to the hospital again. She is on oxygen and an IV and they are running blood tests and did chest xrays. Her billirubin count is back up to 19 and she is dehydrated, breastfeeding is going ok, but she isn't getting enough milk because I am not producing enough. She has lost weight down to 5.7 lbs, adding to her body being weak. She also has reflux that is adding to her choking as she isn't strong enough to "fight" down the milk and bile that is coming up. So we will be here for a few days probably. Think good thoughts for her:) She's had a tough go of it the short time she's been here! Here is a picture of her Isolette, heat, oxygen and billirubin light, bed.