Kayleigh's Story: February 2009

Are You Sitting Down???

Doesn't she look like "Mini Me" in this last photo...."Whooo-oo Haa-a-a-a-a!!"

Today was such a beautiful day! We had a meeting about Kayleigh and her new plan of action. Make sure you are sitting down. Are you ready....?

The plan of action has been confirmed for Kayleigh to go home very soon. We are looking about a month or six weeks out, maybe even less depending on how well she does with the upcoming tasks. There is not a whole lot left to do, but she can't have anymore setbacks along the way.

The next task ahead is for the doctors to insert a G-tube straight in to Kayleigh's belly. She has been trying to take a bottle and has not been too successful yet. They know it will take time, but they don't want to interrupt any developmental issues, so they are going to take out the last tube that is in her nose and put in the G-tube instead. The other tube in her nose was removed the other day for good since she no longer has any air on her belly that needs to be suctioned. The G-tube will allow Kayleigh to be on her regular feeding schedule and still be able to practice with the bottle. I can't wait to see her with no tubes on her face.

This surgery will be done next week sometime and she should recover very quick. They already took her off the continuous drip of Versed (Pain Med.), so they won't have to worry about weaning her off of that again. They will use another medication for her pain that can be stopped fairly quickly. Since being off the (Versad) pain medication completely, she is able to focus more and her eyes don't wonder around that much. Seeing her try to focus and her eyes cross is the cutest thing. They are doing an eye exam before she goes home to test her muscles in her eyes to see if the doctor needs to strengthen one over the other.

They are also weaning her off the Hydrocordizone that was used for reducing the inflammation on her lungs. Once they do that, they plan to remove the older central line out of her chest since the Flolan is the last of the medications she will be given through an IV. One by one they are starting to get rid of more lines and more meds, so she can come home on minimal items.

Right now, her feeds have been increased to 22ml's per hour and her caloric intake is at 25. She has blown up the last couple days. I know we just hit the 7 pound mark not too long ago, but she weighed in at 7 pounds - 6.2 ounces last night. It seems as if things have completely taken a turn for the better once she had her tracheotomy put in. Many of you said she would do that and you were right.

At the meeting, they told us that soon we will be training with some of the nurses for Kayleigh's home care and what to do in many different situations. We have already worked on changing the trach, but we have to train on changing the Flolan which is the scary part. There is a 3-5 minute window with that medication. If anything is pinching the line, or it is leaking, Kayleigh could go in to a hypertensive episode that could kill her. There is no room for error when taking care of our peanut.

So, needless to say, we need to be on top of our game when taking care of her at home. If our in-home nurse doesn't show up, we need to have all eyes on her 24/7 in case either the trach pops off or the Flolan is not working properly. It is enough to scare the mess out of you, but of course we will do what it takes to make sure she is home and safe. There are so many stories of how preemies just do ten times better once they're home, with growth and development.

This has been one exciting day for us and we are so pleased to see Kayleigh making leaps and bounds, especially after seeing her near death just a couple months ago. This was a day I thought was never going to get here, but it looks more promising now than ever before. To end today on a great note, Kayleigh started smiling again. You can her smile as Mommy was kissing her in the first photo and they came frequently as we played with her today. It melted my heart to see her so happy and this is such a blessing for us right now.

Thank you all so much for your support through this journey. Kayleigh has been an inspiration to so many and all we can ask is that you keep her in your prayers for next weeks surgery. We are not sure when it will be, but we will let you know. I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and please say a prayer for me as I have my final interview for my new job this weekend. If I get the position, I will be sure to clue you all in on the details.

God Bless,

THIS IS A REMINDER

For all of our faithful follower and those who are new, this is a reminder to the Donation/Giveaway program that is coming up next Tuesday, March 3rd. If you want a chance to win some AWESOME prizes like the week long FREE vacation at an Ocean Front Beach Condo , stay tuned. If you didn't read the post about the program, please CLICK HERE

Thanks,

Aubrey

Hey everyone,

We have a meeting with Kayleigh's doctor here in a little while to discuss her future plans, so we are really excited about what is in store. We will be sure to update you along with some awesome new photos of Kayleigh.

She put on a smile yesterday, so hopefully we can catch her in action today. Thank you all so much for your support and thank you Aubrey for putting on this program for us. You are a blessing to our family.

God Bless,

Kayleigh - IN THE NEWS

Here are both clips in case you didn't catch them today. The first one was on MSNBC (National) and the second was on our Local NBC Station (WCNC). If you happened to miss the other NBC interview from last week, we put that one on her for you too.

MSNBC-This was recorded off the TV as there was not a link for the video, so forgive me as the audio is not as clear.

WCNC- We recorded this right after the live MCNBS interview.

WXII- Interview we did last week at the hospital with the NBC News Crew from Winston-Salem.

God Bless,

2/26/09 "Thoughtful Thursdays"

This has been on very exciting week for the Freeman family and we are happy to share our second "Thoughtful Thursdays" event with you. We will be doing this every week and we would love for everyone to join in and do something nice for someone out there.

Last week, Julie Pizzitola is in our spotlight for her "Thoughtful Thursdays" kind gesture. Read was she did here: The Pizzitola Family

Okay, here is how our "Thoughtful Thursdays" works.

You all are going to go out in to this crazy world and do something EXTRA nice for someone else. You can do something nice for someone you love, someone you don't love, or someone you you have never had the chance to love and come back here to share about it each and every Thursday.

God has shown Himself through Kayleigh and we need to glorify Him in all that we do. We need to touch other people with our kindness and spread the love of God with Kayleigh's story to everyone we possibly can. When you deliver your good deed to someone, let them know that they were touched by Kayleigh and share her website with them, so they too can join in on Kayleigh's journey and our "Thoughtful Thursdays" to glorify God.

NOW...You you have got to think outside the box and come back and share it with us and the world. Be creative and make your stories stand out. You never know, you may win a creativity award and get recognized for ALL to see.

Here is what I did:

Aimee and I have been swamped with appointments, hospitals, kids and more appointments, so we have been on the run non stop and are sadly eating unhealthy throughout the day. Aimee had an appointment and she was beyond hungry, but didn't know when she was going to find time to eat that day.

So, I dropped her off because I then had to make 500 hundred phone calls myself so I just stayed in the car. I decided that I would take five minutes and put off a couple phone calls (sorry) and drove over to the closest Starbucks and got Aimee one of her little favorite Rice Crispy Treats that she loves so much and has not been able to get in a long time. I didn't spend anything on me for breakfast as I wanted to just take care of her.

The funny part is, I told her she had been touched by Kayleigh's Daddy when she got in the car and I gave her my website ;)

Okay, now it's YOUR turn.

Here's how you get your link on our blog for "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Go to YOUR blog, create a new post for "Thoughtful Thursdays". Start by copying and pasting all the following HTML code at the beginning your post.(NOTE: Make sure you are in HTML mode or view when you paste in HTML code!):

Then, click the Mister Linky's Link DOWN BELOW for the form to enter the title of your BLOG (not your post, your blog), and the link to your blog, or the blog post, either one. (if you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a comment, but we would prefer you put up a post if you have a blog.)

That's it! You'll be linked in today's entry.

Can't wait to read your blog posts for "Thoughtful Thursdays"

God Bless,

Delayed

Hey everyone. We received a call this morning from MSNBC to tell us that they needed to delay the show until tomorrow (Thursday). Obama is giving a speech so they need to cover that instead. We are going to be doing our segment around 11:30-12:00pm (EST) but that will be confirmed in the morning. I will be updating by Tweeter as the time gets closer.

Aimee is sick as can be with a stuffy head & nose so hopefully this extra day will be just what she needs to get better. Everything happens for a reason, right?

God Bless,

MSNBC "LIVE"

Great news!!!

MSNBC is doing a "LIVE" interview with Aimee and I on Kayleigh's story tomorrow between 11:00-12:00EST.

So tune in, grab some popcorn (yes in the afternoon) and say a prayer that we don't freak out, Ha! Actually, I was told to imagine the crew in their undies if I get nervous, so if you see me laugh at a part that isn't really funny, you know why :)

God is working in our lives right now to spread the word and we pray that we will deliver a great message tomorrow. Our main focus no matter what broadcast, newspaper, magazine or anything, is to do God's will and send our message of Faith, Hope and Love like we have from day one.

Faith - God has worked in Kayleigh's life when she was not supposed to survive the pregnancy and almost died several times along the way. People have joined together and prayed, and God listened to those prayers and performed His miracles. It is so evident through Kayleigh and her journey that God is real and He is so AWESOME!

Hope - Education through this blog has taught people what they can endure anything when the world comes crumbling down. It will give them the strength through their own battles and for someone who has a premature child, there isn't much left that Kayleigh hasn't been through that they will not learn from in our blog. It will give people a better outlook on a problem they are facing as God will not give you anything you can't handle.

Love - Changing a diaper at 3 in the morning from your crying baby won't seem so bad anymore. You will hug your little one much tighter at night and you will kiss them once more before they go to school. Family will seem much more important to you and you will cherish the minutes of a day instead of the hours. God has taught us that love is the most important of these three and the reason we share this story is because we love you all.

Please pray that we God will speak through us tomorrow and our message will be loud and clear. It is not about our family who is struggling to pay bills, it is our family showing you that you can beat your own battles. To show you that our family will never lose the love in our hearts even if we lose everything else of material.

We are doing this for all of you, to help save someone's life. Yes, a life you could not live to it's fullest because you are beaten by the devil. We want to lead by example and give you the strength you need when times are tough.

We are doing it for those who can prevent terminating their baby because someone else says there is no hope. Medicine can only bring you so far, but God will give you that extra push.

This is for those who don't have a relationship with the Lord, to help bring someone to know Christ as He is the way, the truth and the light. We only live on this earth to prepare ourselves for eternity. We want to help you prepare your life for our walk together, praising God and doing His will until we enter our eternity in Heaven.

This is all for you because God wants us to love everyone as they are our brothers, and our sisters. God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us. We are here to show you that same kind of love and sacrifice our time, energy and pain to share with you Kayleigh's story so you can be a better person in your own life. Fertilizing (Loving) your fruit will not only help you grow, but it will only spread and grow others around you.

Aimee and I already have strong faith, much hope and never-ending love, and we are hungry to know God more because of our sweet Kayleigh and her amazing journey. We are doing God's will because we care more about you.

God Bless EVERYONE,

EXCITING NEWS!!

WOW!!!

This is all I can say right now. I am REALLY at a loss for words. I am just amazed at the generosity people have towards our family.

Aubrey and Katie are two Kayleigh blog followers who have gotten together to design a program where people can donate a small portion and their name will be entered to win awesome giveaway packages. These packages are LOADED with awesome items for everyone to take part in. They figured out that you can not purchase a raffle ticket because it is not legal and is considered gambling if the money does not go to a non-profit organization, so Aubrey and Katie set it up to where the donations would be sent to our family to help us get back on our feet. God Bless them!

Even though I am in the final stages of starting my new position with an awesome Christian company, we are still unfortunately facing our financial battles in this horrible market. Our foreclosure date is set and saving the house would be a very bad move as the house has lost so much value in the past year. We could possibly not have a home for Kayleigh when she is ready to come home, which is so sad because we worked so hard on her room. Aubrey's hard work to design this donation program could be the blessing we have been praying for.

Aubrey wanted to share with everyone some of the incredible details, so here is her post:

Hello to all of you faithful Freeman family followers, as well as those of you just hopping along for the ride. We have been very blessed by a handful of talented and generous artists and business owners, and we'd like to 'pay it forward' to the Freeman family.

In ONE short week (March 3rd), we will have a special blog set up solely for donation purposes for the Freeman family. So far, there are over fifteen wonderful giveaways with one of the prize packages being a week long FREE vacation stay at an Ocean-Front Beach Condo in Garden City Beach, South Carolina - just south of Myrtle Beach (est. cost is over $1,000) Woo hoo!!! (If you want to donate an item to be raffled off, please contact Aubrey at: PrayingForKayleigh@live.com)

Entries for the program will be a $10 donation with the opportunity to gain extra entries by multiple donations or referring all of your wonderful friends. At the end of the program period (three weeks later), we will use a random online number generator program to pick the lucky winner for each giveaway. More details on all of that will follow shortly!

We'll let you all know what the blog address is on Tuesday, March 3rd so stay tuned to Kayleigh’s blog for that address. Please let's build a buzz for this program by sharing this opportunity with your friends, family, small groups, church family, co-workers, fellow prayer warriors, and any others you'd like to lead to Kayleigh...and to Christ.

We're so excited for this opportunity to help the Freeman family. Thank you in advance not only to our awesome artistic and business contributors as well as YOU for deciding to help the Freemans in any small way that you can.

'Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their...poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves for the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.' 2 Corinthians 8: 2-7

Thank you so much Aubrey and Katie for everything you are doing! This is amazing and going to be fun!!!

Wow! Thank you Lord!

God Bless EVERYONE!!!

2/23/09 - Happy 8 Month Birthday Kayleigh!!!

8 Months - 240 Days - 5,760 hours - 345,600 minutes - 20,736,000 seconds TOO LONG IN THE NICU!!!!

But man she is looking GREAT! We had such a wonderful visit as we changed her trach again, but it was just Aimee and I this time. I think we got the hang of it. I am going to video a trach change so you all get the real understanding of what we go through.

Kayleigh hit the 7 pound mark! WOO HOO

She's possibly going to get the chance to try a bottle soon, so we are really looking forward to seeing how she does. We were speaking with the nurse and if Kayleigh takes a bottle and can increase her feedings that way, there really isn't any other factors that are keeping her in the hospital. She will eventually come off the Pain Meds over the next week and all that is left is her Flolan, which she can come home on.

How about that??? Let's all pray that she continues to WOW the Doctors and prove she is a big girl and can do all of this at home. When the talk of coming home becomes serious, they are going to get Kayleigh on her "Laptop" which is a small portable breathing machine instead of having that huge compartment that takes up half her space. That will be an amazing sight to see when that is gone.

We both did notice that Kayleigh's hair is looking a little on the blond side.

Aimee and I have been getting a lot of mixed comments, so what I would like is for everyone to vote who you think Kayleigh looks more like, Aimee or Me. The voting poll is on the right tool bar at the top, so have at it.

I wish everyone a wonderful week and don't forget to do your "Thoughtful Thursdays" and come back to post about it. We can't wait to read them!!!

God Bless,

2/21/09 - "LOOK AT ME NOW"

You could hear nothing but "AAAWWWwwwwaaaaaaAAAHHH's" going on in the room when Kayleigh was placed in her little blue chair. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Although, I will probably say that every single time she does something new. Can you imagine how hard I am going to ball my eyes out when she talks or walks for the first time? Oh man, someone is going to have to give Daddy a bucket.

Kayleigh is doing fantastic!!!! She was taken off her Triple Mix (IV Nutrients) today and her caloric intake was increased to 25 calories. She is tolerating all of her feeds very well. They are decreasing her pain medication 5% each day, so we are making progress on that. The less she is on that, the more she will be able to focus and her eyes won't roll around so much. She is weighing 6 lbs - 14oz, and we expect a little more growth now that she is getting back up to her max feedings soon.

Kayleigh is just moving a long in the right direction. As for an outlook as to how long before she comes home, I am not sure. I was hoping it was going to be a couple months after she had the trach put in, but that may not happen since her feeds were cut back a little. I think if she continues to progress as well as she is now, it shouldn't be too much longer.

It was such a blessing for Kayleigh to be held again. I am just so pleased that she was not as cranky as she was before when we held her. Aimee felt so great holding and loving on her. We were shocked that Kayleigh was going to enjoy it, but she was so comfortable and didn't get upset at all. It is very sad when holding your child upsets them as it is not the norm in their daily routine. There is a lot of challenges that are in Kayleigh's future, but I have no doubt she will conquer them all. She has already proven she can overcome anything.

We go through every day with the challenges that we are faced with thinking about Kayleigh and how tough she has it. Even though we are struggling, I think about how easy we have it compared to Kayleigh and how she keeps fighting the tough battles. We get our strength from her and she is such an inspiration to our family as you all mention the same for yours. She has taught us so much in life and we are two of the luckiest parents in the world. God has blessed us with Kayleigh in so many different ways and we are so ecstatic to have such an AWESOME GOD!

Thank you ALL for your love and support. I apologize if I am not able to respond to all the emails, but please know that we read them all and are touched by your words.

God Bless,

2/19/09 - "THOUGHTFUL THURSDAYS"

First of all, if you didn't see the WXII Channell 12 News Feed, CLICK HERE

Okay, here is how our "Thoughtful Thursdays" works.

You all are going to go out in to this crazy world and do something EXTRA nice for someone else. You can do something nice for someone you love, someone you don't love, or someone you you have never had the chance to love and come back here to share about it each and every Thursday.

For instance and to give you all an idea, here is what I did the other night on Valentine's Day.

Since our funds have been limited, I still wanted to take Aimee out to dinner on the most lovable day of the year. So, I took her to Steak N Shake (our favorite fast food joint). "Yeah, I know I'm true romantic" but it was better than staying at home and if she wanted to live to see the next day, she wouldn't have wanted me to cook for her.

After we finished eating, I noticed a lady and her husband sitting together enjoying their ice cream sundae together. I decided that I wanted to do my "Thoughtful Thursdays" idea and gave the manager $10 to cover what I could on their bill. I also attached a note that says "You have been touched by Kayleigh" and I left the website address with a "God Bless" on the end so they didn't think we were some kind of crazy people.

God has shown Himself through Kayleigh and we need to glorify Him in all that we do. We need to touch other people with our kindness and spread the love of God with Kayleigh's story to everyone we possibly can. When you deliver your good deed to someone, let them know that they were touched by Kayleigh and share her website with them, so they too can join in on Kayleigh's journey and our "Thoughtful Thursdays" to glorify God.

NOW...You don't have to go out and spend money on everyone, but you have got to think outside the box and come back and share it with us and the world. Be creative and make your stories stand out. You never know, you may win a creativity award and get recognized for ALL to see.

Okay, now it's YOUR turn.

Here's how you get your link on our blog for "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Then, click the Mister Linky's Link for the form down at the bottom of this post to enter the title of your BLOG (not your post, your blog), and the link to your blog, or the blog post, either one. (if you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a comment, but we would prefer you put up a post if you have a blog.)

That's it! You'll be linked in today's entry.

Can't wait to read your blog posts for "Thoughtful Thursdays"

God Bless,

2/18/09 - WXII Channel 12 News

Here is the link to the News Website who covered our Story. CLICK HERE

If you saw it live from the Winston Salem/Greensboro viewing areas and are joining us for the very first time, welcome to our journey, make yourself at home and begin to fall in love with our sweet Kayleigh.

God Bless,

2/16/09 - One Blessed Dad!!!

Ha! I was having too much fun with the camera.

First of all, I wanted to let everyone know that the NBC News Affiliate (WXII Channel 12) will be airing our story Wednesday night at 5pm est. They will be putting the feed on the website for all of those who are not local to the Winston Salem/Greensboro area. We are one of those people, so they are going to mail me a DVD of the story and I will also post it to the blog when it comes in.

Kayleigh has been doing awesome over the past couple days. She has gone up on her feeds and her belly is not so bloated anymore. Yesterday, she was enjoying our company with tons and tons of kisses. It was perfect as every time we would give her some smooches, it was almost as if she was closing her mouth and puckering up for us. She is so sweet when she is not in any kind of pain or discomfort, so we are overly excited about her progress right now. The stress level is almost instantly lifted and we get to enjoy spending time with her like normal parents should. It is unfortunate that we haven't had many days like these and the ones we did, were short lived and practically forgotten.

Speaking of great days and spending time with our children, a lot of you asked how Brandon and Allyson are doing through all of this. From the outside in, I can imagine thinking "How do Adam and Aimee have enough time in a day for everything that is going on in their lives, especially time for Brandon and Allyson?" Well, we don't have all the time in the world! But, with the time we do have, our major focus is to be the best parents we possibly can to each of our children on a daily basis.

Our schedule goes a little something like this: We wake up around 7:00am and work until we have to take the kids to school at 9:00. We then come back and work some or go straight to the hospital until we have to pick the kids up from school at 3:45. We then work some more, do homework then dinner. After dinner, we give the kids full attention to do whatever they want. Whether it is board games, TV shows, a movie, computer games, or video games. No matter what it is, we have a blast and we make the best of our time together so they feel as they are 100% loved. When they go to bed around 10:00, Aimee and I work, blog or spend some time with each other until 3 in the morning every single night.

They are handling this whole situation like champs. Honestly, their lives have not changed one single bit. The hard part is they are not able to go see Kayleigh because of RSV season and that has been going on since September. They saw her once passing in the hall as they took Kayleigh to the Cath lab, but then again, that has been a while now too. Every time they hear she is doing rough, they are sad because they see us sad. Although, they are very excited to hear when Kayleigh is close to coming home. Hopefully the next time around their hopes aren't shattered. They think it is the coolest thing when we talk about having 24 hour nursing care in the home, but they are just kids and I am jealous I don't look at the world the same way they do.

Overall, they both are doing amazing. Allyson made the A-B Honor Roll and Brandon received Wolf of the Day over 5 times, which rewarded him with his handprint on the school hallway wall. They are both two amazing children and life is such a wonderful experience, just watching them grow in to their own personalities that continue to make us die with laughter every single day. I can't say enough good things about them, but I do know for sure that I am One Blessed Dad to have a family like this.

When Kayleigh decides to finally make the journey home to our house, we have an idea that I wanted to ask your opinion about. I am planning on creating a whole different blog that will allow you all to continue to follow Kayleigh's journey at home, but also follow our family as well. We will leave the hospital journey (old blog) and start the home journey (new blog) from then on. This will allow Kayleigh's story to remain just as it is on her blog for those who want to learn all about the NICU experience to educate themselves and help give them hope through their own journey's. The final post (When she comes home) will direct everyone with a link to the new site if they want to continue following in her story along with the rest of us. What are your thoughts about that? Would you care to hear about our crazy family? LOL

If you think it is a good idea, we need some help!!!! We can't think of a blog title! So, I am asking for EVERYONE to pitch in their ideas for our family blog title and we will award the person with the best idea with a huge.........uummmmm..........A huge...........and I mean a huuuuuuuuuugggggeeeeeee..........................A VERY HUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE.........Thank you :)

God Bless,

2/13/09 - Big Girl Bed!!!

Look who has a big girl bed!!!

Kayleigh is doing great! Aimee and I both were beyond excited to see Kayleigh looking more like her normal self today. She is recovering really well from the Tracheostomy procedure and her belly is starting to come down little by little.

They still have her on 3 mls/hr, but she is tolerating it very well, so they may increase that a little more soon. I was shocked to walk in today with the respiratory nurses giving Kayleigh a workout with the CPAP, which is a step up from the vent. They were trying her out for fifteen minutes to see how she would do without the vent and she did great. I believe they are going to try it everyday and increase her time off the vent. It would be great if she can come off the vent completely and go home on CPAP. They both hook up to the trach, so it really isn't a whole lot of difference on the exterior, just different when it comes to pressure controls.

Overall, Kayleigh is making good progress. Depending how her belly is and her ability to tolerate her feedings, will determine whether or not they try feeding her a bottle or put in a g-tube directly in to her belly. After that, the doctors are debating whether or not to start weaning her off the Flolan for her Pulmonary Hypertension. The ECHO that was taken the other day still showed her pressure in the high 60's, but she is not having and nasty episodes so the doctors are pleased with the results.

Honestly, I don't see what else needs to be done. I just hope these minor hurdles don't take forever and we can start planning on bringing her home. Let that be our prayer request for the next week or so. Pray that things will continue to progress in a direction that will FINALLY bring our little miracle home. What a glorious day that is going to be!

Thank you all for your wonderful comments. They are so uplifting and they certainly keep us smiling day after day. Everyone has been so incredible and I wish we could go around and give you all a huge hug for the love you have given us. Thank you so very much!

God Bless,

2/12/09 - GREAT EXAMPLE

I wanted to post really quick and share a perfect example (minus the $100) of what I will be doing for the "THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY" idea starting next week.

Check out RiggsFamilyBlog and they are doing a "HI/LOW Thursday" today and giving away a $100 to a lucky participant.

This will give you an idea/practice on how to enter by following the direction to post the link that will go to your site and your story.

GO CHECK IT OUT AND TRY TO WIN A $100!

***By the way, here my disclaimer... (Due to the limited funds that The Freemans have, they will not be giving away $100 during their "Thoughtful Thursday" LOL)***

God Bless,

2/11/09 - MORE EXCITING NEWS!!!

I’ve got some more exciting news to go with yesterday when I told you about the news station picking up our story.

I was contacted by the Editor of Serious.Life Magazine and they want to do a story on us. He told me the current February issue has had over 530,000 page views since last Monday, so there’s a good chance you may already know about them and it would be a perfect opportunity to spread the good word. If not, check it out – http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/ – the subscriptions are FREE.

They want to do a story on us and Kayleigh, and highlight our blog. He (Brent Riggs, the Editor) asked if there was some new or current information or a story that was not yet part of our blog that we could include as original content for the March issue of Serious.Life.

What do you ALL think? What about us, or Kayleigh, or our blog would you like to see them do a story on? What would you like to know about us that you have NOT seen on our blog? Any suggestions? Any ideas on an angle for the story?

It’s a great opportunity for us to be seen by a huge audience. Help us make the best of it.

Couple of things before I go: Brent asked me if I would tell you that anyone with a blog can still get a FREE listing in their Serious.Life Featured Blogs Directory. Since this is a nice benefit for YOU (and the price is right..), I told him I would let you know. So check out the magazine, then sign up for the directory here: http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/blogdirectorysignup.asp

The last thing I wanted to say was more personal about this guy, Brent Riggs. I went and scoped out his blogs. He has daughter with Leukemia (one of seven kids, three adopted) and they have a fantastic testimony of faith. I have asked for prayer requests this week, so you may have seen their blog. You should check out their family blog at http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/ Brent’s professional blog is pretty impressive too – http://www.brentriggs.com/ – and he also has a Bible teaching site he’s been doing for several years – http://www.seriousfaith.com/ Brent sent me a copy of that big 740 page book of Bible teaching he wrote, and it’s really something.

Anyway, we look forward to being in the magazine on March 1, and I hope you’ll help me figure out the best storyline and content so we can really take advantage of the opportunity for such a large audience to see us.

Click this button to go check out the magazine:

God Bless,

2/10/09 - "THOUGHTFUL THURSDAYS"

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get a new IV in the other day, they had to take Kayleigh down to the OR to put in a main line which needed to be surgically insert in to her chest. They finally got one of the IV's in her head, but that came out shortly after as it was not cooperating the way they hoped. The reason they put in another main line is because the central line (Broviac) has some puss coming from it, so they will have to pull that if it gets infected.

To me it looks like Kayleigh got the mess beat out of her, but she is doing better than she looks. Her belly is still a little on the "big" side and they are waiting for that to come down before they start to feed her again. I feel as if they started her back too quickly while she was still on her pain medication from the tracheostomy procedure. Pain medication tends to slow down the motility of a digestive tract.

Also, the trach site is oozing and they are taking precautionary standards to apply some medication so no infections occur. These type of infections are normal because Kayleigh slobbers and the folds of the neck are hard to keep clean. The medication they have should clear it up in no time.

On a lighter note, Kayleigh is enjoying having both hands to put in her mouth since there is no vent tube shoved down her throat. Oh, and let me tell you...Kisses are becoming plentiful!!!

It is cute to see no obstructions, like the tape that was across her face. Let's just hope Kayleigh can recover fully from this procedure and start moving in the right direction.

Now on to something really cool that I am planning on doing and I wanted to get everyone's advice, so all comments and ideas are welcome. As you all know, Kayleigh's blog is not only geared towards sharing her story with everyone, but helping people in so many other ways. Whether it is helping people through faith or through a battle they are facing, Kayleigh gives people that needed strength. I want to make this more about helping others in every possible way, while we still enjoy in the journey Kayleigh takes us on.

I was listening to my local radio station the other day and they are doing something really awesome for their community. It is called the "Drive Thru" experience. What people are doing is paying for the person's food behind them in the drive thru, so when that person arrives to the window, the employee tells the driver that their food was paid for by a listener of New Life 91.9 and to have a blessed day.

That is so cool! But...I am not going to ask everyone to start paying for everyone's fast food. What I am going to do is similar though. If you haven't seen my blogging friend, MckMama's site yet, she does a "NOT ME Monday" which is hilarious and you must go check it out. I am planning on doing a "Kayleigh's Thoughtful Thursday" for ALL of our readers to get involved with and have a great time sharing stories.

Here is what you do. You must go out in to this crazy world, away from your computers, and do something (beyond your normal self) extra extra nice for someone and come back to share your story with everyone here. And when you do this, you must tell them (after they say "OH MY THAT WAS THE NICEST THING ANYONE HAS EVER DONE FOR ME") that they have been touched by, none other than...."Kayleigh."

Now, I am not talking about opening a door for someone or saying "Thank you" because you should all be doing that already. (lol) I want things out of the norm and the better they are, the more wondeful ideas you give others to do on their own. Also, I am sure when people start reading other people's ideas and the link list grows larger and larger, it will be such a blessing to see ALL the wonderful things people are doing for others in this world. Kayleigh should not only be touching your lives, but she should be touching everyone's life you touch too. Make no mistake, God has shown himself through Kayleigh and all the people in her life and we need to glorify Him for that.

I am going to create a button for this "Kayleigh's Thoughtful Thursday" and you will be given detailed instructions on how to post the event on your site and set your link on ours for others to read. Since today is Tuesday and I don't have the time to get this ready for this week and you haven't the time to go out and touch someone's life and write about it, it will start next Thursday so go out and start sharing the love!!!

GREAT NEWS!!! God has touched us generously as Kayleigh's story will be captured by WXII 12, NBC News Affiliate in Winston-Salem, NC. We will be able to share our story on the news and hopefully touch the lives of others. We are filming tomorrow morning and hopefully when it is all said and done, I will upload the clip for you all to see. It will be airing Monday for all of those who live in that area and catch that station. We are really excited and I am already nervous to be in front of the camera. For some odd reason, I tense up and forget everything and it must be a serious problem because how could I forget anything that I have been through in the past 10 months. LOL.

Keep us in our prayers that we deliver a message that will help others. Please continue to keep Kayleigh in your prayers that she will get over this belly issue and can get back on track with her feeding.

Thank you all so very much for your comments and if you haven't been to LeeLou's Baby Shower to vote for those cute babies, do so. They are giving away some cool prizes and it ends Thursday, so don't miss it!

God Bless,

It Has Begun :)

WOW, This is way cool!!!

LeeLou's Baby Photos Contest and Virtual Baby Shower has begun. Go check out all the photo finalists at: LeeLou's Blog - They are adorable!

Good Luck in all the fun games and giveaways. They have some really neat prizes and we look forward seeing who wins!

God Bless Everyone,

LeeLou's Virtual Baby Shower

Reminder!!!

Monday begins Leelou's Virtual Baby Shower. Contest, Prizes and FUN (OH MY!!!)

CLICK HERE to learn more.

We can't wait to see all the cutie patooties in the photo contest :)

God Bless EVERYONE,

2/6/09 - What It's ALL About!!

Just look at that smile!!!

I am just overwhelmed with the love we have gotten over the past two days. All the wonderful emails and comments have muffled all the bad ones out. It has lifted us up and given us new strength to just turn our backs and to never have to explain ourselves to anyone again. Thank you everyone who donated to help us out financially. I am emailing every single one of you to get your address to send you something special. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

We apologize for having to explain ourselves, but we felt like God wanted us to lay it all out there for everyone to know what is going on. You ALL are our family because you have cried with us when we were sad, you have cheered with us when we were happy, and you have prayed with us every step of the way. We felt our loved ones needed to know us through and through. God has blessed our family with love and that is worth more than anything in this world. We may be struggling financially, but we are rich in love. Thank you!!!!

I also want to apologize if I didn't respond to every single email that was sent. We read through every email and comment, so not a single one went un-noticed. We have taken a lot of ideas that people mentioned and we are running full steam ahead with them. We have appointments being set and we have changes being made, so thank you so very much for giving us the ideas to make a difference. We found out quickly that insurance (for our family) shouldn't be so expensive and we are shocked that no one at the hospital mentioned some of the programs to us. We are on top of it now!

See, this is what everyone needs. This kind of support should be everywhere and available to anyone. That is something worth telling the world and sharing with everyone you can possibly know. It is not for self gain, it is or knowledge to make the right decisions in life. If I didn't have you all to begin with, Kayleigh probably wouldn't be here. With the knowledge you have given our family, you have saved our daughters life and that is what drives me to save other lives while sharing the greatness of our God.

JUST LOOK!!! Look again at her smile!!! She is happy because we ALL did what was right. We ALL did what God wants us to do. We ALL helped each other through thick and thin and We ALL can do that for so many others who need the help too!!!

No more negativity will find it's way to this site because this site belongs to God and His children. We are going to stay on track for now on. This site's main focus is to bring people closer to God, fill their hearts will love and give them hope in their own lives while Kayleigh leads the way. Nothing more than that! Praise God!!!

Now I am all fired up with joy and excitement! Kayleigh is hanging in there. We are waiting on an x-ray to come back to see what is causing her belly to be loopy and full. I think they started her back on full feeds too soon, but we'll see. She is currently weighing 6 lbs - 12 ounces. She was up to 7 lbs the other day, but I don't think it was true weight as they started her back on Lasix(diuretic) after the procedure to reduce some swelling.

I was nervous the other day when I was sitting with Kayleigh after her procedure and the nurse walked away. I had never put her trach back on when Kayleigh pulled it off, so I immediately started to sweat and pray that she wouldn't pull it off. Well, guess what??? She did! My heart sunk right away, but I put my big boy pants on and got the job done. Now I am a champ at it because she pulls it off every other minute. It is hard to see her struggle to breath when the trach comes off, but that is something I am going to have to get used to. Hopefully soon, she will learn that she turns purple and all the alarms start blaring when it comes off and she won't pull it anymore. Ha! Kayleigh?? Miss Attention Getter?? Yeah right!!

Thank you all again SO VERY MUCH for everything! We are truly blessed to have a great group of friends and we are forever in debt to ALL of you. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

God Bless,