Bad Night; Terrible Morning; Better Afternoon

Before I get to the "Bad Night" part of this post, I need to update you on my Saturday. My mom and kids were able to come up with Heath to visit with me. They brought a picnic lunch and we ate sandwiches and chips down in the cafeteria together. Afterwards, I hung out with the kiddos and let my mom and Heath spend some time with Kimble. It was very nice.

After they left, the rest of the day was pretty quiet. I got to hold him whenever I wanted to, and we kept on trying to get him to wake up enough to breastfeed. At times we were successful, but they were very short successes. He would latch on for a few minutes before he fell asleep again. Those few minutes were milestones, though.

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Into the night, we tried to do the same thing. However, his stats kept dropping frequently, and it happened most often when I wasn't holding him, and he was back in his bed. His "stats" are his blood pressure, oxygen levels, pulse, and whatever bunch of crazy machines all his tubes are hooked up to. Anyway, to comfort me, and help stimulate Kimble, I held him throughout much of the night. Normally I would be able to sleep just fine while holding him, but because of all his tubing and cords, I have to hold him in such a delicate way, that there really was no way I could sleep while doing it.

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Thus, I was up throughout the night. One night wouldn't have been bad, but I honestly haven't slept more than an hour here and there since Monday night. I am completely wiped out. Add that to post partum hormones, and you have one seriously emotional momma. My nurse throughout the night was very kind, but didn't really know what to do with all my crying.

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So, this morning, when I was trying to find some showers I could use, and completely broke down in front of the poor lady who was just finishing up her shower, I tried to pull my overtired-self together. A shower helped. Then I made my way back to the Cardiac ICU.

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When I came back, after having been gone less than an hour, there was a team of doctors around Kimble. It seems he had a few more episodes of "forgetting to breathe" (which is a huge side effect of the medicine) and his blood gas levels reported a continuous dip in his oxygen levels from the day before. Anyway, all of that had them deciding that he needed some help. As they were explaining to me a certain headgear thing they would be putting on him, which came down to the nose and pumped in oxygen in a "not-so-gentle-way" in order to help him remember to breathe correctly, I was alright until I mentioned that it had been a few hours since I had breastfed, and was it ok to do that while they were waiting for the equipment.

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Then I was told that he wouldn't be able to breastfeed with this equipment. I completely broke down. I'm sure they had no idea how to handle me. The Respiratory Therapist came in to try to explain what they were doing. The head doctor came in to talk to me. I was really trying to hold myself together, but completely incapable of doing so.

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Anyway, I tried to explain why I was so emotional about this. I knew they were trying to do what was best for him, and were worried about his levels. I explained that we had just barely gotten to the point where he wasn't so completely asleep, that he was making progress on breastfeeding, and the last time he had latched on, he ate for 15 minutes. That was so huge. I felt like just when we were taking a step forward, we were now jumping back. Also, since he has hardly gotten any milk from our attempts at breastfeeding, I was worried about his nutrition levels. Oh, and my feet are hugely swollen. I've never had swollen feet before. Am I not drinking enough fluids? I feel like I am.

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So, the doctors discussed things further, and I overheard words like "didn't sleep last night..." "wants to breastfeed so badly..." "emotional..." and they came back with a different solution. They decided to just have a little tube across his nose, to allow for "room air" (not oxygen) and as it is puffed into his nose, it stimulates his breathing. Also, they started him on caffeine (not sure exactly what's in it), and that is helping him not be so sleepy from the prostoglandin.

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They also prepared a back room for me to get a few hours of sleep, away from all the beeping and noises of the ICU. Before I went, we tried to give him some of my freshly pumped breastmilk in a bottle, to see if he would drink that a bit better than straight from the breast, and he did great. So with the realization that he had some of my milk in his tummy, and the assurance that I would get woken up if anything changed with my baby, I went to the back room to sleep.

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One hour later, I was up and needing to pump. Seriously, my boobs are huge. Anyway, when I walked back in the room, Kimble was up and showing that he wanted to eat. So I pumped first, because I was just too engorged for him to latch on, and then I came back in the room to try to feed him.

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However, his tubing across his nose prevented Kimble from latching on. He's got such a tiny face, that it just wouldn't work. That's alright, though. We fed him a bottle of what I had just pumped, and he gulped it down. I feel great knowing that his belly is full right now.

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During the hour I was sleeping, his stats stayed high. His blood gas levels came back great. He was breathing fine. Chest X-ray was good. Things are looking much better.

As soon as he was done eating, the Ultrasound Tech came in again to do another Echocardiogram. It was just a short one, but the news was good. His openings that need to be open are, well, open. That is very important, since it's what is keeping him alive.

He also opened his eyes for the first time since he was born. That means the caffeine drip is doing it's job. I have high hopes that the rest of the day will be completely opposite from this morning.

Just look at that sweet face. I know I can't stop looking at him.

Sleepy Sleepy Baby

Yesterday morning we transferred from the University Hospital to Children's Hospital. The Transport team came and loaded up Kimble for the incredibly long ambulance ride... across the street.

He looked like a plate of spaghetti when they got all his cords together.
Soon after we got settled, the nurses were fiddling with him a bit, and I asked one of them if I could hold him. She looked at me and said "Of course you can!" Heath and I were so shocked. We told them that we hadn't been able to hold him yet. It was so very sweet to have him placed in our arms. I cried immediately.

Some of you are wondering about his hair. It's actually pretty long in back, but short on top...exactly the way Keaton's hair was.

Heath got to hold him too. It was very tender to see.

Soon after that, one of the Cardiology doctors came over to chat with us about the upcoming meeting our team of doctors was going to be having about Kimble, and the plan of action they were going to take based on the echocardiogram they had just done. While we were talking, I mentioned pumping and saving my breastmilk, and wondering when he could start getting my milk (he had been on IV fluids up to this point)
and the doctor said "You can breastfeed him anytime you want."

I think I almost fainted. First, I had just gotten to hold him, which was so wonderful. Now, he was saying I could breastfeed him immediately?? It was too good to be true. I was so excited. We got set up and tried to get Kimble to nurse, but he wouldn't wake up from his medication-induced sleep. Apparently the prostoglandin that he is on makes babies very sleepy. We spent the rest of the day and night trying to get him to wake up enough to nurse, and although he has made a bit of progress this morning, and latched on for a few minutes, he is still so very sleepy. The doctor's reduced the medicine a bit, and we hope that this weekend we can work towards him being a full-time breastfeeding baby!

Also, there is more good news. The doctors think there is a very high chance that his right ventricle might possibly develop into a more capable chamber. They want to balloon the pulmonary valve (which is closed off currently) to open up bloodflow, and hopefully that will make the right ventricle start contracting and could, eventually, (years down the road) function capably enough to give him a long and healthy life. There are lots of procedures, possible surgeries and stuff, that will happen along the way, but the doctors see this route as the best possible thing for Kimble, and have very high hopes that it will be successful.

At this point, sometime next week they will do an extensive Cath test, and if it looks as they anticipate, they will balloon out the valve immediately. After that, it could be 2 weeks, it could be 4-6 weeks, before they know if he will be well enough to be released, or if they need to place a shunt in his heart, or if they need to do something else. So right now, it is a lot of waiting. We'll see what happens.

Last night my mom flew into town, so Heath will bring up her and the kiddos to visit with me. The kids can't see the baby, but my mom will be able to. So this weekend, it's just visiting with family and relaxing with the baby and hopefully getting him awake enough to breastfeed! It's been a busy 24 hours, full of fresh hope for the future.

Day 2

We were originally supposed to be transferred to Children's Hospital yesterday afternoon. The doctors delayed it a few hours, then said it would be immediate, then they changed things again. Apparently, right as they were ready to do the transfer, another baby took the spot intended for our baby, which apparently was an emergency situation. So we've just been hanging out at University hospital still. It's been just fine, but I think we are all ready to get settled over at Children's.

As far as Kimble goes, he is doing very well with his oxygen levels. The prostoglandin medicine is doing the job. He had an echocardiogram the night he was born, and that showed no surprises from what we saw through the ultrasounds when I was pregnant. He has many more tests and procedures planned for him over the next few days while the doctors gather all the information needed before they decide on his route of surgeries.

Even though he is doing so GREAT, his situation is still very severe. However, Kimble has proved to be such a trooper already. He is so good natured about all the pricks, pokes, and prods that he is bombarded with. He is just so sweet natured.

He loves being touched and talked to. He always has his little right hand up by his mouth. Yesterday I walked in and he was sucking on his two first fingers. He is soft and lovable and sweet.

Heath went home last night to be with the kids. He had a hard time leaving his little boy. It was very tender to see how in love he is with Kimble. We are so grateful for our friends who have watched our kids these past few days, and even extended their watch, so that Heath could be here with us as much as possible. He has plans to come back again and spend the day, as we transition to the other hospital. My mom flies in tonight to stay with us for the rest of the month.

I'll keep updating everyday! Once again, we are so grateful for all your prayers. We are healthy and able to be strong, emotionally and physically, during this time. Thank you all so much.

Pictures!

Sorry it took so long to get pictures posted. It's been a bit busy around here. The picture above is just after he was born. I got to hold him for about 2 minutes before they took him to the NICU. I haven't gotten to hold him since, but I can touch him and kiss him all I want to.

The cute hat was knitted by my sister Shavonne. It's the only thing he has on right now, but he's on a warmer, so he's just fine.

His cleft lip is very minor compared to what it could have been. It is just his lip, not his pallet, and it doesn't hamper his sucking action at all. In fact, he LOVES his binkie! It gives me great hope that when I'm able to hold him and breastfeed him, he won't have any problems.

Kimble is getting moved over to the Children's Hospital in an hour or so. He will have more tests to decide when his surgery is, and what direction the doctor's will go. I am doing wonderful. I have the strength I need to be by him and love him. Thank you for all your prayers!! I'll continue to update everyday.

We Had A Baby!

Thanks for playing along with the name game. Nobody guessed correctly.
Our baby boy was born around 5:47pm. Don't know measurements yet. He is with Daddy in the NICU. Will update tomorrow. We are both doing fine.
His name is Kimble Paul Nunnelly. Kimble is my Grandfather's middle name, and Paul is my Dad's middle name.
Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes.

Guess The K Name!

You won't win a prize or anything, but I thought it would be a fun way to pass the day today. I'm writing this post ahead of time, but if things go as planned, I'll have the baby today.

So do you want to guess what K name we have for this baby? As soon as he is born, and I am able to make a post, I will announce the name!! Have fun. The only hint I'll give you, is that his first name starts with a K. :)

[Behind The Scenes] Photoshoot

Sunday night our friend Garry, the other half of my friend Heidi, took some family pictures for us to document our life right now, as we are about to welcome our sweet little baby to our family. We'll get those pictures that Garry took soon, but for fun, I had my friend Jennifer take some behind the scenes shots between Garry snapping the pictures. Here are just a few that she took.

First off, this picture was the result of me sighing in exasperation at how goofy the husband was being. I think I just got done rolling my eyes at him when Jennifer took the picture.

This next picture is EXACTLY how Heath feels about being next to my hair. He says it's too big and poofy and all the little hairs go up his nose and tickle him and he feels like my hair is a force field around me, and he should keep his distance. So apparently he got too close to the hair, and he let us all know about it.

Here are three cute boys. Soon there will be one more little boy to add to the mix.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures Garry took!

Birth Story: Kennedy Lane (Georgie)

This picture was taken about 4 days before I had Georgie. Of course, we didn't call her Georgie then. That nickname came later. We were having another girl and I was dying to use the name Kennedy. It seemed so perfect. I couldn't wait to have another girl! We were in the Air Force at this time, stationed in California.

Really early in the morning, 10 days before my due date, I started having some contractions. This was unusual for me, since I've never had contractions until I was in transition. Just the way my body does things. It likes to be like a speeding bullet, instead of a meandering train ride through the country, when I'm in labor. It's fast and efficient and doesn't mess around. Anyway, I was having contractions for about 30-45 minutes when I told Heath that this was unusual, and that I'd better get to the hospital.

So we had our neighbor come over to be with the kids while they were sleeping, and we went to the hospital. My doctor, who was also a friend from church, was on call that night, and when he checked me, I was 5 cm dilated. He said "We'll keep ya. Let's have a baby!" Yay!


Once again, I decided to give an epidural a try. Even though I had tried to have one before, it hadn't worked out, and all three of my previous children were born with a "natural" delivery. So I got the epidural, but at that point, my contractions had stopped. I sat around for a few hours, waiting for the labor to start again.

Finally it did, and I knew it because I could feel every contraction. This didn't bother me, or maybe it didn't occur to me, that I should be numb from the epidural. Then I tried to move around my position, to make the contractions more manageable, and that's when I noticed that my right leg was completely dead, from the thigh down. I couldn't move it at all. When I had gotten the epidural, I remember the nerve getting tweaked, and feeling it rush down and spasm my right leg. Well, it must have tweaked the nerve, because my leg was totally dead. However, nothing else was numb.

At this point, Heath heard me huffing pretty strong, so he went and got the nurse. They checked me and announced that I was completely dilated. They paged my doctor, who arrived a few minutes later, and once again, after a minute or two, we had a baby. My stupid leg was useless. The epidural didn't work, and I had another natural labor.

Kennedy Lane was born December 8th and weighed 5 lbs 11 oz. She was tiny and perfect and looked like Kolby. This next picture is supposed to be at the bottom of the post, but I cannot get it to move down!!

Kennedy was born 10 days before her due date, just like my boys were. Crazy how consistent my body is. Also, if you don't count the hours that my contractions stopped after I got to the hospital, this labor lasted 3 hours as well.

At this point, I've decided that although epidurals are great for some people, it just doesn't seem to work out for me. I just plan on having another "natural" delivery with baby number 5. Can ya blame me?

We had a lot of fun finding pink clothes again.

The kids really liked their baby sister.

I really enjoyed having a sweet Christmas bundle to love and cuddle during the holiday season.

It wasn't until just after Christmas, that we started calling her George. She was so curious and wouldn't stop looking around at everything, which made breastfeeding very frustrating because she would hear a noise and turn her head to try to find out where the action was. So curious!! Plus, she kind of looked like a monkey sometimes, so it was an easy nickname to fall into.

Friendship

I'm enjoying my time with this Lady. I picked up Jennifer from the airport on Saturday, and she's staying with me for a week. More importantly, she's staying with me THIS week. The week is finally here. I'm trying to ignore the fact that I'll have a baby in a few days. I'm trying to ignore the fact that I'll be living in the NICU for the next 3 weeks. I'm trying to ignore the fact that this will probably be the hardest month of my life. So the fact that my friend came down to support me through this means so much. Thank you for coming Jennifer!!

Birth Story: Kolby Heath

I had a great pregnancy with Kolby, just like with my other babies. With this pregnancy, we decided not to find out what we were having. We had a boy and a girl already, so we had the supplies that we needed. We thought it would be fun to be surprised. For that reason, I think, we didn't pick out his name as easily as the other kid's names. Heath and I suggested names to each other throughout the pregnancy, and this time it seemed pretty consistent that we would go with another "K" name. So we went through the masses. None of them seemed right. I'm pretty sure we even ruled out the name Kolby at first. I can't even remember what the girl's name was that we had liked. It wasn't until a month or two before we had him, that we decided that Kolby would be it, if we had a boy. Of course, Heath still tells everyone that he had no idea I was spelling it with a K. Why wouldn't I?

On the morning of August 28th, 10 days before I was due, I finished showering and got dressed. For some reason, Heath was home with me that day. Maybe he had a late shift that day or something, but anyway, he was home with me. After I had been dressed for a few minutes, I felt a trickle of fluid run down my leg. I figured I just hadn't dried off completely after the shower, and thought nothing of it.

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A few minutes later, another trickle happened. This time, I changed my underclothes. Again, about 10 minutes later, I was wet again. I honestly was beginning to wonder why I was so leaky all of the sudden. I knew my bladder was empty, so it wasn't that. Maybe I was just extra wet that day. hmmm. Then it all came together. I thought...maybe my water broke...slowly. Is that possible? So I called my OB and he said to come in and they would test the fluid to see if it was indeed my water, and not just a leaky bladder.

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We dropped off the kids with some friends, called my mom to be on alert so she could go get the kids if it turned into labor day, and we headed to the doctor's office. Sure enough, my water had broken, but it wasn't a normal break by my cervix. It was a high leak, like a little tear, up by my ribcage. Apparently, my uterus was contracting a few times (I didn't feel it) and what resulted was the little trickles of fluid every 10 minutes or so.

Anyway, I was admitted into the hospital. However, hours went by before my doctor could come and officially break my water again, so Heath and I sat. walked. sat. and waited. Finally, around 6pm, he came and broke my water. My contractions started immediately. He said he'd go home to eat dinner with his family, and then come back to be with us. This was the same doctor I had with Keaton, so he knew fairly well how fast my labor would go.

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About two hours later, he came back and made himself comfortable at the foot of my bed. He was wearing an old holey shirt and a pair of jogging shorts. I found his outfit interesting. Anyway, I was progressing nicely with my labor. In fact, I had decided to try out an epidural. It seemed like everyone was pleased with epidurals, and so I wanted to give it a shot. We got started with the IV, went over all the risks with the anesthesiologist and he started prepping. During this time, my labor was deep into transition time, and it was very hard to sit up and hold still. I remember as he was placing the needle, I had the incredible urge to push. I told everyone, and as soon as he took the needle out, I was laid down, and checked. Sure enough, the baby was crowning. I had the baby before the epidural even got a chance to begin. Kolby was also born face up (posterior) which made it more difficult and painful to push him out. As it was, I must be a great pusher, because even with that problem, I only pushed for a minute or two, as with my other two kids. My body really does a great job being pregnant and having babies. I am very lucky for that. This labor, as well as Keaton's labor, lasted 3 hours total.

Kolby seemed so tiny. He was 6 lbs 2 oz and had some dark hair. We named his middle name Heath, after his daddy. Here he is after his bath, with his nurse Stephanie.

The next day, Kamy and Keaton came and visited their new baby brother.

We went home a day or two later and all was well! We loved having another baby join our family.

Birth Story: Keaton Taylor

When Kamy was 9 months old, we got pregnant with Keaton. When we found out we were having a baby brother, we looked through the baby name book again. This time, we were finding names that were odd, and laughing about why people would name their babies names like Thor and Wainer. While going back and forth, trying to find all the terrible names, one of us yelled out "Keaton". We both stopped, looked at each other, and said "Hey, we like that name". So we decided to name our baby Keaton. At that point, we weren't trying to go for all "K" names. That part came later. We just honestly thought Keaton was a cool name. His middle name, Taylor, is a family name on Heath's side of the family.

Due to my extremely quick labor with my first baby, my doctor (and myself) were very concerned that I might not make it to the hospital in time to deliver this baby. So during my 38th week, my doctor brought me in on a planned day, so I could labor safely in the hospital. On September 27th, a Thursday afternoon, he broke my water. I was already 4-5 cm dilated, so it didn't take me long to get things started. Just by breaking my water, my contractions started. A few hours later, my doctor came to check on me, and noticed that the baby's hand was coming through first, just before his head. So during a contraction (because the cervix stretches during contractions), he pushed Keaton's head back up inside, pushed the hand out of the way, and let the head come back down. THIS. WAS. MURDEROUS! I did not have an epidural. It hurt so bad!

Well, that wasn't the end of that. Two more times the doctor had to push Keaton's hand back up inside me to allow the head to present first. After the third time, with tears streaming down my face, I told him I didn't care if the hand was delivered first, there was no way he was doing that to me again!! A few minutes later, Keaton was born, and he did indeed have his hand right up by his forehead as he was being delivered.

Just three hours after my water was broken, without a hint of labor beforehand, Keaton Taylor was born. He weighed 6 lbs 7 oz, if I remember correctly, and had some cute hair that was a bit curly. He was born with eyebrows too, which was odd. He was so darn cute.

Here are some pictures of his blessing day, barely two weeks after he was born.

This next picture, he is about 6 weeks old. Sorry for the scratched up picture, but you can still see how cute the kids were.

If I had to envision how this next baby will look, based on the ultrasounds, I think he will look like Keaton does in this picture, with big chubby cheeks and cute fuzzy hair. I guess we will see soon!