10/20/08 - Then and Now

Today was media day for Kayleigh so I wanted to reflect a little on the growth this little girl has accomplished. Even though Kayleigh is almost at the four pound mark, she has nearly tripled in size since she was born.

Then
& Now

Then
& Now


Then
& Now

Then & Now


So when you say she is so tiny, your right. But, we'll never forget how tiny she used to be.

Wednesday at 8:00 in the morning, Kayleigh will be having her cardiac catheter procedure done. The doctors are going to measure her pulmonary pressures. There are two outcomes to this procedure and we are certainly hoping to the better of the two. The first outcome is the pulmonary pressures are high, but not constant. That means with time, they will lower to a normal state when the VSD (Hole in the heart) is repaired and she will live a normal life. The second is that the pulmonary pressures stay fixed, which the RN did not go in to great detail as it is not a good scenario. What we basically learned is that if Kayleigh has fixed pulmonary hypertension, her heart would be at a constant high pressure and we all know high blood pressure is not a good thing for the body. I don't know anymore details then that, but it seemed as if the nurse just wanted us to try and stay positive and hope for the best.

So I ask all of you for more prayers that this test results in a case where Kayleigh will not have pulmonary hypertension or high pulmonary pressures for ever. She has overcome many obstacles, but we need to overcome this one too so please find time to pray for Kayleigh again. I really don't know a whole lot else and our doctors advised us to not do a whole lot of research as each case is significantly different amongst preemies. It is also not the same as pulmonary hypertension amongst adults due to the different size of human we are dealing with. The good news is out of all of this, is if she recovers well from the cath procedure and can hold her temperature when they take her out of the isolette, she will be ready to come home. That could be as early as Monday of next week. WOO HOO!

So...Beyond this final hurdle of the unknown, Kayleigh is doing great. She grew 15 more grams last night which puts her at 1670 grams = (3 pounds - 10.9 ounces). The doctors have increased her bottle feedings up to "as much as she wants". They tried to take her off her oxygen completely to see how she would do, but she started to desat. The doctor said he would try to wean her down from 100% to see how she responds to that. She has been finishing all her bottles except the one we fed her today. Aimee breast fed her for about 10-15 minutes really good before Kayleigh started to get tired so we switched to the bottle. I guess it is much harder work to feed off the breast as the milk does not flow as easily as the bottle. The video below show Kayleigh right after finishing breast feeding and finishing half of her bottle, when she was trying so hard to stay awake, but just didn't have the strength. It is so cute when she perks up enough to do a half smile and then doze right back off.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support through this whole journey. Kayleigh is almost in the clear and ready to cause bigger trouble outside the hospital walls.

God Bless,

The Freemans :)

10 comments:

Kimberly (Anthony's Mom) said...

It amazes me how much they grow. How tiny we saw them at one time. And too think at one time they were the size of a grain of rice!!

Did you guys happen to read my post on Anthony's VSD's? He had 3 of them. 2 at the bottom of his heart and 1 at the top.

Kim

Rsymphony said...

Oh my goodness she has grown! What a pretty girl :) We’ll definitely be praying for Kayleigh’s surgery tomorrow!

Adam said...

Kim,

We did! That is so awesome! I can only hope and pray the same for Kayleigh. The procedure might be common, but it is still heart surgery and it scares the mess out of me. I am so glad Anthony's check up went well and things are looking up. God Bless you all and thank you for your support.

Warm Regards,

Adam and Aimee

Anonymous said...

As early as Monday? WOW!! WOOO HOOOO!!! I am sooo happy for Kayleigh's hard work and wonderful family to stand by her through this whole roller coaster!! Geesh...I remember reading Aimees first post on BBC! Now look at you all!! God is Good!! Kayleigh is living proof!! She will be home soon!! God Bless You Kayleigh!!

Erica
Mommy to 2 boys
1 who was a 31 weeker

Anonymous said...

Aw! How fun to see the comparison pics. What got me the most were her footprints. Her second one just dwarfs the first.

We'll be saying extra special prayers on Wednesday for Kayleigh.

Dan said...

Wonderful photos! Keep growing Kayleigh!!!!

Love, The Floods

Anonymous said...

She is such a beautiful strong little girl and I cannot wait for you to be posting about all of the trouble she is causing at home! My prayers are with you that she can clear this final hurdle and get her bags packed so she can go home.

Sincerely,
Beth (Houston)

Jennifer in NM said...

Oh man are tears in my eyes. You guys are almost done with this whole journey, and I can only pray that the surgery goes well tomorrow. I have confidence it will.

Kayleigh, you will be fine tomorrow, keep resting and growing and prepare for life in the world of your mom and dad.

Anonymous said...

AMAZING!!! I think that this is really a neat post. I remember my daughter being so tiny and delicate and she was never as small as Kayleigh. She was 4 lbs at birth, but she looked so big to me before she did to anyone else!! KEEP GROWING KAYLEIGH!!!

Trish said...

She is such a beautiful little girl! Thank You for sharing such a sweet little video! You guys are doing an amazing job.