Daily Living with Grace

It's hard to believe that Kaydence Grace is one month old today. Time is flying by. I cannot describe how my life has changed in one month. She wasn't even supposed to be born until this week! Yet here she is, this precious little angel of a baby. Truly my life has changed dramatically with the birth of each of my children, but Kaydence, since December, has made an impact on me that has changed me forever. This week, I have been working to get her to nurse and take more milk by bottle. Turns out she is a very aggressive breastfeeder. It's not even tiring to me. It's just amazing. Every moment with her is amazing. Every little thing right now is going well. We aren't close to going home yet from the hospital, but each day is a step of progress. Our daytime nurse took her off of her oxygen yesterday to see how she would do. It didn't last long, but she did ok for a very short time. Her labs have been okay. She is pooping well. Funny how poop is still so importa...

Last night Kaydence graduated from the North Hall to the South Hall! Apparently in the Baylor NICU that is a big deal! Her room is darker, quieter, and has bigger babies in it. She has had some little issues that aren't so great. For example, she has had some really runny diapers and her bottom had a few issues, but that has been corrected. Kaydence is also still working on breathing more efficiently, and is doing well. She is also learning to take a pacifier and a bottle SLOWLY, but I think we were expecting that to take a little while anyway. Like I said, they are little issues and these aren't anything we can't handle! The nurses up here are absolutely wonderful. I firmly believe that God calls us all to a special purpose, but NICU nurses are truly angels. These people are patient, loving, and kind hearted in a way I just cannot describe. I am appreciative of these people, as I am of all medical professionals. I don't think I could ever work in the medical field, ...

I am so thankful for the NICU nurses. It is some determined nurses that just kept watching that oxygen level and hoping and waiting for the doctor to finally get the vent out of Kaydence. Yesterday, a wonderful rule-bending nurse finally had enough of us lingering in the nursery and not getting to hold our baby girl. We had been told we couldn't hold her until her arterial IV was removed, but she got an order to override that rule and we were able to hold her. The only problem was that Kaydence just kept gagging every time we moved her because of the vent. Our nurse said that is common. It made me feel bad for wanting to hold her. I was so disturbed I told Tommy I just wanted to wait until that thing was out of her before we held her again. This morning she was still uncomfortable acting and the nurse told us her tests came back good today and that the vent was set at its lowest possible setting to help her breathe. This afternoon we went to visit Kaydence and as soon as we ...

I just cannot even begin to describe how amazed I am that Kaydence Grace is 1 week old today! It's hard to imagine that last week at this time they had flown my precious newborn from Palestine to Dallas and were afraid that the blood wasn't flowing to and from her tiny lungs. Tonight when her daddy and I showed up at the NICU she was wide awake and you'd have thought we were the silliest parents around the way we almost knocked each other over to see her. It's the littlest things that keep you going when times aren't exactly how you imagined them to be. It's times like holding a syringe to feed your daughter or just changing her diaper that makes you smile. I feel so blessed just to do those things for her. But oh, when that baby looks up toward me, my heart sings. I know she knows I am her mother and that she is my baby. I try to whisper the Lord's Prayer to her and sing her at least one little song. Tonight while we were mooning over her, I told Tommy to...

Not a whole lot of change today for Kaydence. She is still on her ventilator. Her platelets are still low, but they are hoping that changes soon and put off a transfusion again today. Her white cell count was up a little, so to be cautious, she is being administered antibiotics. She had a very restful day according to her nurses. I feel she is in good hands. She's in God's hands. Today God showed Himself to Tommy and me very well. We got up and went about our new little morning routine and Tommy asked the NICU nurse about church services. She told him that there was a service in the hospital chapel. When I went down to see Kaydence, Tommy told me about the service and we both decided to attend. You'd think that in a hospital that the chapel would be packed full on a Sunday morning. Nope. Inside this beautiful chapel sat the chaplain, the janitor, Tommy, and myself. Oh well, you only need a few souls to have church! The chaplain introduced herself and gave us an order o...

So it is now at the end of March 3, 2012, and I can finally tell you a little bit about what is going on with my precious Kaydence Grace outside of the womb. I've been here since Thursday with her. Tommy has barely left her side. We were fortunate to snag a room at the hospital hotel so Kaydence is just a hallway away. She needs a lot of prayer. The virus is still active in her tiny body, even though I barely knew I had it, and it does all kinds of things to babies. First and foremost, we are still praying for her liver and spleen to kick in and work on their own. She has received 2 transfusions of platelets because of this, but she hasn't received a transfusion in 2 days. They are still low, but did not drop as low as they had previously. The doctors want to give her body a chance to do its own thing before giving her any more. They are keeping a close eye on her for hemorrhaging issues. Kaydence also is still on a ventilator. She isn't doing too badly, but she just is...

So on Tuesday, February 28, 2012, I went for my first of 2 visits to see my doctor that week. I visited with Cheryl for the biophysical profile first. All looked pretty good. Then I went in for the Nonstress Test. I knew I was having contractions, but I thought they were just those good old Braxton Hicks kind. I had been feeling them for at least a couple of weeks, and wasn't really concerned because nothing else seemed to be happening with them. During my NST, the nurses came in and took my blood pressure and would check the printout. Then Cheryl came in with Denise (a nurse) and I knew something wasn't right. Dr. Blackwell came in and said it was non-reactive. He was going to call Dallas. Shelly came back in and said I needed to go to a room and Dr. Blackwell would come talk to me and wanted to check me because I was having contractions. Oh boy. This wasn't sounding good. I texted Tommy and told him not to take Wade to College Station for music class. I then texted my ...