Cheney's In Town

Cheney's In Town
Originally uploaded by obriens2.

This is a photo of Dr. Blue, my sister's boss who happens to live in Jackson, Wyoming.

In hearing Dick Cheney was coming into town this weekend he made sure to alert everyone to be safe.

This is awesome! I hope Cheney saw it. :-)

Post NICU Follow Up

With all of the excitement of the last few days it's quite weird being in a quiet house. (Note - toddler is not home yet - hence the quiet home~!)

We just came back from seeing Dr. Mokalla, a pediatrician at Fairview Lakes Regional Medical Center to check on Kaitlyn's jaundice and ensure we don't need to put her on a bili-blanket to stimulate her skin. They checked her bilirubin levels and found them slightly higher, which explains the jaundice, but he noted neonates tend to peak in bilirubin levels at around 5-7 days post birth. Considering today is Day 5, we're right on track!

Kaitlyn is doing fine, but she does like to be held, so the bassinet is not quite paying off yet, but with all of the stress of the last few days, we don't mind hanging out and spending a little more time with her.

I just got off the phone with Grandma Picha who called to say Aidan was coming home! Yeah!! We missed him these last few days and it sounds like he wants to come home as he misses Papa, (yep - trained him well!)

Home... Hooray!

We made it home this morning with Kaitlyn in tow. She was pretty cute all bundled in her car seat looking like a single pea in a giant pod. Oh do we know she'll grow into it.

But - the full details in all. After our visit to the NICU and the step down unit next to it (they call it the West Wing) we came home this morning. The total experience was to rule out why she was vomiting (although most parents call it spit-up) and look into the different reasons this could happen. Since they call it a 'soft rule-out' we had to wait until all of the test results came back. As of this morning at 10am, the blood cultures (which take 48 hours to grow) came back as negative growth. Any further issues can been seen up here at the Wyoming hospital by the pediatrician who referred us to Riverside.

The care was amazing (until we realize how much we paid for it), but like my brother said on the phone - "you just can't continue to try and put a dollar figure on your children's health". Of course - when we all realize the second homes or boats we could have from the same $$ that goes into raising them it is tough, but just consider those costs as investments in your family. You can't replace them!

Kim and Kaitlyn (hey - I just realized "my girls" are K&K) are upstairs taking a nap, as they've both been through a lot. Kim with being discharged in under 24 hours from childbirth and Kaitlyn for the poking, prodding, and trip through the birth canal - they've gone through plenty.

More updates later on as I figure out what to put into this blog.

-Shawn

NICU Day 2

Here we are, Day 2 in the NICU at Fairview. All has been well with the exception of last night when she had a small vomiting episode of the same yellow mucus that got us here. The Resident at the hospital took a look at it and determined it was not something we should be concerned about and didn't believe it was 'bilious' (we're assuming bile) and something to just note.

Through the rounds with the doctors this morning we were able to listen and hear from MANY smart people standing over Kaitlyn and telling us what they think. They discussed that what may be happening is just a relaxed sphincter and something that will actually resolve itself within a few days/weeks. This can be common for infants and something we can care for at home with regular clinic visits. We can take care of some of these things through positional feeding and ensuring Kaitlyn is OK

We are scheduled to be discharged tomorrow morning (2/16/06) if all goes well this evening and go home to be normal again. (as normal as you can be at home with an infant)

One note - TOO many monitors on a baby can be a bad thing, as you now have EVERYTHING to worry about, but most of it is pretty benign.

All for now, thanks for reading and we'll keep you posted.

-Shawn

The Whole Family

The Whole Family
Originally uploaded by obriens2.

Our first official family photo.
Shawn, Aidan, Kim, and Kaitlyn

All was well...

All went too smoothly yesterday, as Kaitlyn was doing marvelously, except for some vomiting she had. But, this morning it turns our her vomiting caused a little respiratory distress and caused her O2 levels to drop. Her pediatrician witnessed it firsthand and also noted the mucus she was vomiting was a little thick and discolored. She was also tachypneic after the episodes. (Breathing very rapidly: 70-80 times per minute.)

The hospital we were at was great, but they're not equipped to handle some of the issues which infants may present, so... a Critical Care transport to Fairview Riverside was in order. The team arrived to transport Kaitlyn and wow - were they good. So nice and talented that it reminded me of why I wanted to be in the medical field again. Kim was then discharged (NOTE - less than 24 HOURS after childbirth!).

We came down to Riverside where Kaitlyn is now in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). It sounds scary, but it just means they have an amazing staff at our beck and call if something is wrong. At this point - we've ruled out many things and are now just observing:

Upper GI Obstruction - nope
Lower GI Obstruction - nope
Pneumonia or other Chest Related - nope
GI Abnormalities - nope
Infection - Still pending

Kaitlyn is doing very well at this point and is just under observation. We're hoping to go home Thursday morning and be a complete, quiet family.

Introducing Kaitlyn Marie

OK everyone - the big day has come and gone. I am putting in this post and have an update for later on.

Kaitlyn Marie was born on 2-13-06 at 11:41am. Labor was amazingly quick, as Jeni didn't even make it to videotape, as Kaitlyn was determined to come out quickly. Kim was induced with Pitocin at 6:30am, was 4 centimeters at 9am and was near ready at 11am. It was also so quick that our Primary Dr. (Dr. Pena) didn't make it in time. (The inhouse Dr. almost didn't make it in time)

All is well and Kaitlyn is a doll. She looks like her big brother who saw her and was almost a little afraid to touch her. (He'll get over it - soon we'll have to seperate them)

More in a bit...