It's been awhile

Well Kaden arrived on August 18th, 2008 and was 6lbs 10.5 oz and 19.5 in long!!! He had the cord wrapped around his neck and needed to be resuscitated immediately. By some miracle Kaden was, easily. They managed this without doing chest compressions, which is a miracle in itself. Kaden was placed on Ecmo on the 20th and has been holding steady so far. He has had his endotracheal tubes replaced (the 27th) and his Ecmo circuit was replaced today as well (very scary). Kaden does not have any signs of bleeding on the brain but did have severe edema which has come down a lot. His left eye was swollen shut but he can open it now to. Dr.Stork (director of Ecmo & our info giver) Took pictures of Kaden while changing his tubes so we finally got to see what he looks like with out them across his face. Kaden has less then 17% of his right lung and no left lung to date. They say this is not enough to sustain life. His chances where less then 10% and yet my warrior is still here, fighting for his life. I wish I could take this all away, I wish I could trade places with him. Kaden is fighting Severe pulmonary hypertension as well. This must get better by next wednesday or they won't do the repair surgery and we may lose our little boy. Kaden also had a throat infection but he fought that too, and now it's gone. My little man has so many battles. I wish I knew how to fix this. Our family and friends have been wonderful. Some more then others. We will have a benefit for Kaden soon. I trust in God that Kaden will pull through.

A Bumpy Start

Since I was just a few weeks pregnant with Kaden we had a very bumpy road. Kaden was first diagnosed with a nuchal fold increase of 7mm, and then during a routine amnio was then diagnosed with c.d.h. which is a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. During more testing we also found out he had cysts on his brain. Luckily the nuchal fold and the cysts have disappeared, but the c.d.h has not. Many family and friends are praying for our little boy, and we hope you will do the same!!

Just a little angry

About 10 weeks ago we went to the Cincinnati fetal care center in hopes of being approved for the utero fetal surgery. Our hopes were crushed when they said it is no longer done except over seas. Then I was reading posts in my support group, Breath of Hope and I kept seeing others talk of fetal surgery. I was confused and asked and then I looked it up for myself and it seems that UCSF is still doing the surgery, boy was I shocked and angered. We wanted the surgery and we were told that we would be candidates (by cincinnati) if they still did the surgery. Well they do the surgery between 26-28 weeks and now it is to late because I am 30 weeks. This surgery could have saved his life, and all I know is that Cincinnati better pray my baby boy will be ok. I know everything happens for a reason, but I think this is just a little ridiculous. Had those doctors told me about UCSF we would have gone in a heartbeat. I feel very angry and hurt right now, and I guess I just need time to cool off.

Those two little lines

I will never forget how I felt the day I took the pregnancy test. I was so depressed from my last miscarriage and it was actually the day that I was due to have that baby. I waited a few days before I told anyone. I wanted to be sure and take another test. My husband was at work and my daughter was napping. I didn't want to take the test for fear of getting my hopes up. I took the cheap test first, and two lines immediately showed up. I was excited but wanted to be sure, I took the digital read out and, pregnant!! I called my friends right away and devised a plan to surprise my husband. I got Kay ready and we drove half an hour to his work. I brought him lunch. In one of the bags I gave him was the test. His face was priceless as he laughingly said "are you kidding"?!? when he opened that bag. I smiled and said no, and he smiled. It was priceless. It's crazy the thoughts you think when you see those lines. What they will look like, whether they are a boy or girl, and what day will I be due. I knew Kaden was a boy the moment I knew I was pregnant. James reminded me not to tell everyone, immediate friends and family only. He made me remember having to tell everyone we miscarried and how hard it was. By the time we thought we were ready to tell everyone we also had to tell them about Kaden's disorder and his outlook. I know it's hard for people to think of what to say when they hear that news. But trust me I'm just as uncomfortable. I'm so sorry to hear that normally works well.