Christmas Party Postponed?

It looks like I won't be able to do my usual "Anti-Holiday-Stress""Christmas Spirit Jump-Start" Christmas Party this year. I'm still trying to think up some way to come through and have it after all but I don't want to do it at all unless I can do it full justice. I might have to wait and do a "Christmas in Spring" party. I don't know. I'll keep you all posted, though.

Look, Ma! No cannula!

Wednesday the nurses removed the nasal cannula and Kyle is doing quite well off of it. He's also up to 7 pounds! The nurse suggested that we go ahead and take the Infant CPR class at the hospital soon since one of the requirements for discharge is that all caregivers attend the class. It's good to hear all the staff keep talking about discharge but I wish that they could tell me with more certainty how much longer it will be.

A Wedding!

Stephen Croft, who was the Best Man at Chris and my own wedding, got married last Sunday, November 12th. Chris was Best Man. Chris and Steve have been friends since they were kids and we're both so glad to see him married off.

Hannah is a really big fan of both Steve and the bride and had a blast at the wedding. Although she was hard to keep still during the ceremony since she saw her daddy and her buddies all standing up front, she was amusing during the reception. She blew bubbles, rang the tiny bells and ran around with the other small children.

Update

Monday (11/6), I went to see Kyle. He is still in the downstairs NICU where they had put him to recover from anesthesia. He is in Pod #4. They said that the cardiology department had gotten the results but had not made a decision on what to do yet. The artery calcification (which the nurse refers to as stenosis) is on the outer branches of the arteries - not near the main valve - so the cardiologists are not sure if heart catheterization using ballooning would be effective or even needed.

Yesterday (11/10), I went to see Kyle again and the nurse practitioner said that it seems the cardiology department has decided to just keep an eye on Kyle but not to do any procedures at this time. They have been doing the occasional bottle feed for him but they said that when they took him off the diuretics, his respiratory rate went up again so they had to take him off bottle feeds temporarily and they started him back on the diuretics. They are going to try to wean him off the diuretics more slowly this time to see if all goes well. While I was there visiting, they said his respiratory rate was okay to try a bottle feed so I asked if I could try breastfeeding him. They said it was okay! He latched on like he had been doing it since day one! It was a truly special moment.

The nurse practitioner says that their main goal now is to get Kyle on regular feeds. If they can get him on regular feeds, she says we will be able to take him home shortly afterward. Of course, there's the possibility that he might need oxygen when we bring him home and we'll be having to bring him to All Children's for plenty of follow-up care appointments (eyes, heart, lungs, development, etc.) but we would be taking him home!

In other news, the timing couldn't be better for Kyle coming home since my first cycle with Nielsen just ended. From now until December 28th (when the next cycle starts up), the only hours I'll have to work are the occasional training classes so I can be home more with Kyle his first weeks back.

My mom and I also worked the election this past Tuesday, which fills in some gaps financially between cycles at Nielsen. Mom and I got about 20 hours of training pay for the elections and then 15 more hours for the call center the day of the elections. Not only that, but as I left the last training class before election day, the training supervisors asked if I'd like to work in a supervisory position for the day of the election instead of taking calls. I agreed and they paid me a little extra for the day of the election. It was fun although my feet were killing me for a couple of days after. They even said that if I work with the call center for any future elections, they would like me to be a supervisor again!

Trick-or-Treat

Saturday night, I took Hannah to the Safety Harbor "Harborween" at the city park. Hannah got to jump in an inflatable castle, pet animals in the "petting zoo" and "trick-or-treat". She still doesn't quite get the concept of waiting in line so the long lines waiting for each activity were frustrating for her but she had fun.

Last night, Chris and I took Hannah trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. She loved it! She walked up to the doors and said "Trwuck or Teet!" (Trick or Treat) or if they had dogs she would say "DOGGIES! Hi, doggy". Then after they gave her a couple of pieces of candy, she would say "Dankoo" (Thank You)- or stare at them confused if they only gave her one piece. Sometimes, she even said "Hay Hoween" (Happy Halloween) as she walked away, already reaching in the bag to see if she liked what they had given her.



She seemed the most impressed at the end of the night when she discovered (with a little counting help from Mommy) that she had thirteen lollipops. She wasn't as impressed with the chocolate but I'm sure that Chris and I will find some way of using it all up.

Kyle News

Kyle recovered wonderfully from the eye surgery last Tuesday. He did not need to stay intubated or in an incubator. In fact, the doctor said that the procedure took about half the time it generally takes because it went so smoothly. Dr. Mendelblatt did say that Kyle will need regular eye exams for the rest of his life - lots of them during the first few years of his life. We will need to watch him closely for crossed eyes and other abnormal eye movement. The doctor said he would do a follow-up eye exam on Kyle the following Monday to make sure that the surgery was successful.


A couple of days after the surgery, I went to visit Kyle and found that they had moved him upstairs to NICU3 which they say means he's one step closer to discharge. He now has a crib right by a window and has a TV nearby. He'll be a couch potato (couch "tater tot") before he even comes home. He looked happy with the new location.

Monday night, the nurse had removed the nasal cannula just before I arrived to visit. Kyle was a happy camper without the cannula up his nose but his respiratory rate was pretty high so after I left, they put the cannula back. But at least I got to hold him without it for a little while. His high respiratory rate is also why I haven't gotten to breastfeed him yet. Monday was a pretty busy day for Kyle. Earlier in the day, he had gotten his follow-up eye exam and an X-ray of the lungs. Then, while I was still there visiting him, his Grandma Foreman (Chris' mom) came to visit and got to hold Kyle for the first time.

Yesterday afternoon, my mom and I went to a training class for the upcoming election's call center and just when we were leaving for home, I got a call from Kyle's nurse. She said that the doctor was concerned about Kyle's high respiratory rate and wants to do an MRI and MRA to see what's going on with his heart and lungs. Since MRI/MRA requires the patient to be still, and you can't just tell an infant to hold still, they need to put him under anesthesia again. The MRI/MRA is tomorrow morning (Thursday) around 8:00am and the doctor plans on doing an Echo while Kyle is still under anesthesia.