Kaelyns journey up to date.

I found out that i was pregnant with Kaelyn when i was about 2 months along. We were living in bethel maine at the time. I was extremely sick through out the pregnancy i had to lay still in bed for weeks on end to avoid being sick all the time. I lost massive weight during the first and second trimester due to being sick. When i was 5 months along we came back to Washington for some personal family issues. At that time i had started to feel better. I was still ill but i could handle it. I was having issues with vomiting and passing out and my blood sugar being to low. I arrived back in late April of 2007. Before i arrived in Washington i made appointments with my obgyn to deliver my baby and to find the sex of my baby and do all the norm. check up stuff. I found out shortly after mothers day may of 2007 ( The day her dad arrived) That we were having a baby girl. Her ultra sounds looked healthy she was active and her heart beat was really good. I went in for the diabetes testing and i tested with high blood sugar i was supposed to do the next test which was a 24hr fast and then for 3 hours a blood draw every hour on the hour. I couldn't go 3 hours without eating it made me very ill. So i never got the test. In June i started so swell and retain water. In July My husband had to take me in to the maternity center because i went into preterm labor which was stopped by using tribitulene. i also had an exam to make sure my water didn't break talk about pain worse than child birth. by the time September 2nd came around i was so swollen that i couldn't bend my foot at all. I started to retain all the liquid that i drank. My mom and my aunt and her family had all went to the fair that day and had to leave i sent them a picture of my foot and said i need to go to the hospital i think. Stephenie drove me to the maternity center at evergreen hospital in Kirkland Washington. Shortly after my mom and aunt arrived and they took me back to labor and delivery. I was so scared my baby wasn't due yet i was 35 weeks and 3 days but my body couldn't do it any more my kidneys and liver were failing. We were deliberating whether we were going to try and wait or if we were going to tell my husband that he needed to come to the hospital because Kaelyn was going to be born and i don't want to do the c section with out him. Despite the tension in the room i was cracking jokes trying to make the best out of a scary situation. The doctor and every one laughed and then the doctor said that yes we are going to have to deliver the baby tonight. Thats when my aunt gave my husband the go ahead. My husband arrived just in time 2 seconds after he got there they were ready to take me back. I had my aunt Lisa and my husband Carl in the operating room with me. I was shaking so bad because i was so scared. Carl taped the birth. The nicu was there so they could check Kaelyn over. She was born on September 2nd at 11:41 pm she was 18 inches long and 4 lbs 7 oz.I got to see her for a second before her dad had to carry her to the nicu. NICU=Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I was given medication after they got her out because i couldn't stop shaking. on the plus side she seemed perfectly healthy. She came out screaming no oxygen needed. Just on the really small side and that was the worry her weight wasn't as big as she should have been for how many weeks she spent in utero. They took me back to my room where i would spend the next 3 days. I struggled to get myself out of bed so i could o see my baby. I couldn't move but they brought her to me. She was so small and she didn't look like me or carl but she resembled a little old lady. her dads thumb was as big as her torso. They came to weigh her and had to take her back the the nicu because she dropped to 3 lbs 13 oz. Its normal for baby's to loose a significant amount of weight when there born but when your that small you cant afford to loose all to much weight. I was going to be realsed on the 5th of september but i started crying because they were going to have me leave my baby. I decided i wouldnt leave i would sleep in the lobby. I couldn't leave her. It wasn't right. My husband had spent so much time upstairs with her that he talked to the lead and she got Kaelyn moved to pediatrics so that carl and i could stay with her. She couldn't go home until her o2 sats(Oxygen saturation) stayed up while drinking a bottle. it took her 2 weeks to be discharged. When we go discharged Kaelyn was still in preemie clothing (Swimming in it) and we had a swallow study scheduled for 3 days after our discharge at children's hospital. Upon receiving the swallow study we learned that Kaelyn is what you call a silent aspirator. Which means when you and i in hale liquids we cough to protect our air way Kaelyn does not. This is the scariest kind of aspiration. So this was to be our 2nd hospitalization it was for 3 days to teach use how to put a ng (nasal gastric through her nose down to her stomach) tube in and how to feed her. she was prescribed medication and a wedge to sleep in for reflux because during the swallow study you could see her stomach acid climbing up her esophagus. Every thing was going fine until 10-20-07 Kaelyn was 8 weeks old. I was on the phone with my mother in law. Kaelyn was on her feed in her wedge being cute i was turned around for a second and turned to look at her because i often worry. Her arms were straight out and she looked scared. She wasn't breathing. I was so scared that i forgot how to do cpr. My mom in law walked me through it as soon as she was breathing i called 911. We at the time we being followed by her doctor weekly every Tuesday at 3:30 pm. There had been no warnings that this could happen. we were rushed to evergreen er where we sat for 4 hours and learned that we had to have an emergency transport to children's hospital. Evergreen doesn't have the right respitory specialists thats Kaelyn needs.At children's we were admitted to the hospital her ng was changed to an nd (Nasal duatnum From the nose into the opening of the small intestine) It was determined that she not only has a descending aspiration but a ascending aspiration as well. Meaning when she swallows she aspirates when she vomits she also aspirates. We spent 11 days in the hospital we were discharged on 10-31-07 we thought this would fix everything we were wrong. on 11-08-07 through 11-10-07 we were admitted to children's again for a fever and a cough caused by the damage the aspiration caused in her lungs at the time we did not know that she was still aspirating her stomach acid making this the 3rd of many hospitalizations for fever and cold. Kaelyn was 10 weeks old. on 12-09-07 we were admitted again for the early morning for more aspiration she had a high fever difficulty breathing vomiting and dirreahea we were discharged that day. we had many visits to the emergency room with aspiration and at this time we got a refferal for a bard g tube placement. and on 7-24-08 it was placed we went home on 7-25-08 and couldn't be happier with the tube placement. On 06-10-08 we received a positive diagnoses for rts since then due to some other issues like hands and feet being a almost constant blue/ purple and bladder infections that were making her vomit. Kaelyn has had a renal ultra sound with no issues reported she has also had a heart ultra sound and there findings are that she has a small vein from the heart to the lungs still open that was supposed to close in utero and a small hole in the top of her heart. The hole may need surgery which they will do when they close the small vein at 2 years of age or so. It took a while to diagnose Kaelyn with rts because she does not have the problems with her hands and feet that most people believe to be a 100% feature of children or adults with rts. Kaelyn has failure to thrive devolpemental delays and rts. among other diagnoses that i cant recall at this time. Her rts seems to be mild but still apparent. Kaelyn is now 16 months old she weighs 18 lbs and 13 oz she can crawl but no walking she says mama and dada rarely but she can say it. she has been checked for eye and hearing issues and there are none aside from a mildly lazy eye which i also have. her father and i are so happy to have such a blessed little angel in our lives. Kaelyn has 2 older brothers who currently reside outside of the home they are both 5 yrs old Jordan lives with his dad and Joshua lives with his mom. Kaleyn has a little brother on the way he is due on april 23rd of 2009.