A week of immense blessings!

As you know, it's been a long haul for us these past months. Some days, it's been hard to keep trusting and hoping, yet we have always known that God is in control and guiding this ship. But God clearly knew we needed some encouragement, because He sent it in great supply this week! On Tuesday, Filip was accepted for the position of PR and marketing for Elements in Spokane - our first full-time position in just shy of two years! On Wednesday, Kendra reached 5 pounds finally, and we received the results of her cystic fibrosis tests - negative! Which leads to the amazingly awesome news we got yesterday - she's coming home on Monday!!! Unbelievable. God, You are too good. I know we now face even more sleepless nights and chaotic screaming and bottom wiping and colostomy bag changing and double bottle-feeding and who knows what else, but I can't wait! All my babies under one roof at last, and a job to provide for them all! Blessed be the name of the Lord!

PS - sorry I don't have more photos. I'm having issues with uploading from my camera. But for those of you in the Spokane area, you'll get to see her live and in person really soon!

Getting closer to homecoming

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. I know ours was very special, yet bittersweet with Kendra still in the hospital. On Christmas Eve, she had her second colostomy revision, and so on Christmas day she was completely sedated. The surgery went well, but she had a harder time bouncing back from this one. She was on the ventilator for three days, required a blood transfusion, and had fluid in her lungs. However, she is now on only a little bit of room air in her nasal canular and has even taken some food by bottle, though only a very little. Once she gets back on track with feeding and gaining weight, she gets to come home!! It's been a long, long road, but the end is in sight.

I'm looking forward to having my baby girl home, yet dreading it as well, because Collin has gone from fussy to fanatical. He hardly ever sleeps, even during the day now, and can be very difficult to soothe. We're hoping it's just a very temporary phase, but we dealt with this for about six months with both Evan and Ian. I can't imagine four more months of that with two babies at once. Phew. We're running on very little sleep, and we are going to need our rest to care for this clan. But sleep or no sleep, it's time for our princess to come home and soon.

We also squeezed in Ian's third birthday before my oldest sister and her husband had to return home. What a fun age! He really tore into his presents, and he insisted upon a yellow cake with yellow frosting, so we ended up making him a big smiley face cake. He loved it! He's been busy trying to keep up with the "big boys" lately, and getting bigger all the time.

Well, from our family to yours - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kendra's big week

Kendra is now a member of the 4-pounder club, with a certificate to prove it! She's had a great week. The pediatric GI doctor was brought in to evaluate her and help us trouble-shoot with her lack of growth. The initial consult gave us some potentially frightening news. He was concerned about the possibility she may have cystic fibrosis. What little I know about this disease is enough to know it would be a scary diagnosis, if his fears proved valid. Praise the Lord that her initial test, called a sweat chloride test, was negative. They sent out her blood for DNA testing to confirm, but it looks as if we don't have that additional worry.

The other result of his visit was a change in her nutrition. She had been receiving my milk with formula supplement added for extra calories. He felt that part of her problem was an inability to digest the long-chain fatty acids found in mother's milk, so she is now strictly on a formula called Elecare. Since the switch, she has gained weight every day and is now at 4 pounds 5 1/2 ounces!!! Yeah!! Not only that, but she is taking everything by mouth, drinking her bottles like a pro, so they pulled out her NG tube yesterday.


She also had a visit from "Santa" this week. Here she is with a picture of her first encounter with the jolly fellow. Doesn't she look so big!!




So anyway, now that she's growing well, we hope to get her next colostomy repair scheduled soon so that we can get that out of the way and move forward with her recovery - the sooner to get her home! We had so hoped to have her with us for Christmas, but it just wasn't God's timing. However, we are abundantly grateful for all the progress she has made this week. God is so faithful.

Overdue update

Hey all!

Well, I know it's been a while since I've posted, but life's been a little crazy lately. Looks like I've got a few minutes for a brief post, though, so here goes! Kendra is still in the hospital and has kindof hit a plateau. She gained less than an ounce all last week and can't seem to figure out bottle feeding. Also, her colostomy has prolapsed again, which means she will require another surgery before coming home. So far, they haven't scheduled it yet since she may also require a direct feeding tube into her stomach if she can't learn how to bottle-feed, and they would do both surgeries at once. It's a little discouraging, since we had so hoped to have her home for Christmas, and that really is looking less and less like a reality. But prayer is a powerful weapon, and I know many of you are fighting on our behalf. Keep it up!!

Collin is doing great, though he has become a bit of a fussy boy like his brothers were. Still not sleeping great at night, but at least he's healthy!! He has his two-month appointment on the 21st, when we'll find out just how much he's weighing these days and get his first round of shots - yuck. I love the time I get to bond with him at home, but feel so torn knowing that Kendra is not getting that same time and attention from me. Some days, I can hardly bear to put her down when it's time to go home.

Filip is working on getting a photography/filming business up and running. He has been toying with the hobby for some time, and would love to have it be his job as well, so if you know anyone needing family pictures, wedding video, or anything along those lines, let us know!! Well, time's up and that's all I've got. I leave you with these pictures of our sweeties.

The week in review...

It's hard to believe that it's been just over a week since Collin came home. Already, his time in the NICU seems so far behind us. We are blessed!! We are all adjusting quite well to having him home, even though nights are short and days are sometimes long. It is just so sweet to be able to hold and cuddle him all we want with no tubes and wires, vital checks, etc. Here he is getting his first bath at home - a treasured moment for us!!

After days of little to no measurable progress for Kendra, we had a big night yesterday. She took her first bottle!! It was only 1/8th of an ounce (4 mL), and she sputtered a bit, but she really seemed to enjoy it. Today they are going to let her take up to 1/3rd of an ounce (10 mL) three times a day if she will tolerate it. It was so wonderful to get to actually feed her something and see her making progress. She also reached 3 lbs 11 oz - one whole pound over her birth weight! Thank You, Lord, for these little blessings that mean so much. Here she is taking that first little bit of milk by mouth:

Progress and setbacks

Monday was Collin's first pediatrician appointment, and he did splendidly! He is already in the 91st percentile for his length and 35th for his weight - that's without taking into account his early arrival!! Super news for our little guy who was having trouble feeding - obviously not much of a problem right now! For the most part, he's been a good sleeper (as much as can be expected with a newborn) and tends to be pretty content most of the time.

Kendra has had some setbacks since her surgery, unfortunately. While she has gained a little weight (up to 3 lb 4 oz), it's been much slower than we'd hoped because she is unable to take food other than through her IV. Right before her second surgery, they were noticing after her nasal "feeds" she still had quite a bit of residual milk in her stomach as well as bile, so they were going to try putting the tube past her stomach into her duodenum. This was put on hold by the surgery, and since then, they have had no success getting a line placed and starting her on my milk again. They have tried it under guided fluoroscopy, with different positioning, all to no avail. Please pray that the doctors will find a way soon so she can begin to really feed and grow. They said her liver is getting stressed from being on the IV for so long. We need some encouraging news for our little darling!

Too much...

Today was... a little too much.

Too much snow for mid-November if you ask me.
Too much GoFish-playing from my game-loving boys. Phew. Mommy's tired.
Too much sleep this morning, nearly making us late to meet the geneticist.
Too much joy upon arriving and seeing Collin ready to go home!!
Too much concern when I saw that Kendra's colostomy had prolapsed out ... too much.
Too much sadness and fear when we learned she would require another surgery immediately to correct this problem. This was NOT part of the plan for the day that was already a little too much to begin with.
Too much relief to have her pull through like a pro again, but sad that this will likely add more time to her recovery, which is already taking too much time for our tastes. We want her home!
Too much paperwork to just get my baby boy brought home - but it was worth it!
Too much good food and generous giving from our friends the Schwahns tonight - thank you, guys. We really needed the support and encouragement today!!
Too much precious time spent at the computer now at the end of a day when there's too much to say, but for now, I'll leave it at this -
I praise my God for Whom NO situation is EVER too much.