I am a historian fanatic the older I get. I don't want to miss any part of my Kids lives great or small. Kaitrynn had a rough start with life. I am grateful that she is still with us, and that I get a chance to love her and teach her is a blessing in and of itself. I am at a point through this whole process that I have been able to stop and think about the whole ordeal. Why I am writing this on my blog is there is a website blurb.com, where you can take your blogpsot entries and make them into a book. This is what I would like to do for Kaitrynn. I hope one day that she will cherish this book and appreciate all my hard work and detail I have put into this.
October 22, 2007 is a day that I will never forget. I had put Kaitrynn down to sleep at 1:30 am that morning after nursing her. She slept right by my bed in her swing do to reflux. Her and I slept until that morning at 7:30 am. I was alarmed when I awoke and realized that she had slept that long with out waking up. I immediately got up and lifted her out of her swing. This 4 1/2 week old infant lay Lisle's in my arms. I immediately called my Mom and expressed my concern for Kaitrynn. She said to call the Dr. as soon as they open. That hour seemed like forever as this child just laid in my arms with no emotions or real life in her. I got on the phone and spoke with Debbie at Dr. Coombs office and expressed my concerns. She said to bring her immediately in and see Lisa. I had been to that office since Kaitrynn was 10 days old, but had never seen Lisa before. I went that day with the intentions of getting to the bottom of the problem. By this time in her life she has already been treated at that office for severe reflux( which turned out to be GERD later on). She was going to the Doctors office daily to get poked to see what her Jaundice count was. I had had enough up to this point. Little did I know what was ahead of me that day and what I would be facing the next few months. Lisa finally comes into the room and I explain to her my concerns. Kaitrynn had no life in her when I picked her up this morning out of her swing. We are still dealing with the Jaundice issue. The reflux doesn't seem to be getting better. They came in and did a test on your heart. They wanted to see how high your heart rate was. It was a little high. I expressed again my concern of the Jaundice not going away at this point, as of the 18Th of October it was 9.8. Could she have a bowl obstruction? She isn't a normal newborn I expressed. Here I had never seen Lisa before I didn't want her to think that I was some Psycho Mom with issues. I really had concerns and deep down I knew there was something terrible wrong with my new baby. Lisa came in and said that she didn't think that Kaitrynn was stable enough to be taken by car to Primary Children's Hospital Emergency Room in Salt Lake. I felt some since of relief okay we are going to get to the bottom of this. Within minutes Kaitrynn and I were out the door. First thing I did was called Brennen and gave him the update. The worst news any parent or love one would want to hear. I then called my Mom and told her and asked her if she would get Brooklynn from school. Here I was trying to recover from a C-section and take care of a very sick baby and the rest of the family. My Mom agreed to get Brook and to call her as soon as I had information. Kaitrynn and I were off the Primary Children's.
We got there and It was so nice. Lisa had called them,so they new to look for us. They got us right in. I didn't want her sitting in that ER waiting room with all the other sick kids,let a lone we were going into the RSV season. I am so thankful that we live so close to the best Children's Hospital in the Western United States. When we got there they told me that they respected my Doctors orders, but when anyone comes into the ER they start from scratch. For that I am so.. grateful for. I soon found myself with nurses,Doctors and Techs flooding the room. They asked me 101 questions about her. Brennen ended up leaving work and coming to be with me in the ER. I was grateful that he was able to do that. I needed him for emotional support. They came in and took her blood and ran a CBC. This will tell us what the blood count is etc. It will tell them the direction that they need to go. It didn't take long before we had the test back. The Dr.came in with a not so, good look on his face. My stomach dropped for a moment. He informed me that Kaitrynn has a white count of 27. Normal is 12to 18. He said that it looked like we had a very.... sick baby on our hands. It looked like she had come down with GROUP STREP B. This is something that most women carry in their bodies. It effects the babies when they come through the birth canal. How did she contact this awful infection when I had her C-section. Had it already gotten to her brain. This awful infection gets in the spinal fluid and then travels to the brain and basically it leaves children as vegetables. The children that I know that have had the effects of this infection have not been well after. They informed me that in order to see if the infection had gotten in the spinal fluid, they would have to do a spinal tap. Brennen had a spinal Tap when he had his brain tumor. It was an awful experience for me to see. I left the room while she had the spinal tap. Brennen stayed with her. I just couldn't bear to see my infant go through that pain. I went outside and called my sister Kelly who is a Nurse Practitioner. She was at work that day,I didn't want to make her upset by telling her the news, but I really just wanted to talk to my sister at this time. I called her secretary and explained that I needed to talk to Kelly. I tried to keep my composure as I was on the phone with her. I said "Kelly something is really wrong with my baby." "Kelly something is wrong with my baby." "Tami what is wrong?" and where are you." I informed her that I was at Primary Children's Hospital in the ER. That she had a white count of 27 and that they were doing a spinal tap. I asked her if Kaitrynn could die with a white count at 27. She said she easily could, but that she is in the best place she can be and that they will take very good care of her. I was grateful for Kelly, she was able to put me a little bit at ease and I gained my composure and went back into the ER. I walked into the room and there Kaitrynn lay with an IV in her little body. She continued to lay there like there was no life in her. She was so little laying on the huge hospital bed. I walked over to the bed and went down on my hands and spoke softly to her. " I told her how much I loved her and that I didn't want her to leave me". I continued to tell her to not leave me that I wanted to raise her in this life." I told her once again and she began to cry. Then I cried because she was still in there as sick as she was. She could still hear and feel her mother's emotions. I was grateful for that alone time we had together. That will always be a special moment for her and I. Brennen came back into the room with his lunch and I asked him how the spinal tap went. He said that she didn't even cry. The Doctor said she is so.. sick she doesn't really feel much or has the strength to cry, great I said. The Doctors came back in and took some of the blood from the blood drawl and put it in 2 bottles that looked like taco sauce bottles. They would leave these bottles for 24 to 48 hours to see if any other infections grow like spinal meningitis, bacterial meningitis etc. We were then told that she would have to be admitted to the hospital. I thought a lot about this day. The decision had already been made by our Heavenly Father if she was going to live or die. I am grateful that he gave me the chance to raise her as a normal child. Later that day we found out that the Spinal Tap came back normal. We had caught the infection in time that it was unable to get into the spinal fluid and effect the brain. I was so relieved and felt at that point that I could handle anything coming my way. We were there a week and I am so grateful to all the Doctors and Nurses for their love and care for Kaitrynn. I am grateful to have shared this experience with her.
Today Kaitrynn continues to thrive and grow. She just pulled her self up in her crib yesterday and she can now go up the stairs. I am grateful we don't have them :). I am grateful for my Father In Heaven for his love and his faith in me to raise Kaitrynn up in righteousness . I love you sweet baby Kait.
