update for today

Kellen has decided he is staying with his brother, by golly : ) Really, Kellen is doing well, but they keep planning to discharge him and he just is letting them know he isn't having any of it. A couple days ago, they said he would go home on Monday or Tuesday. Then he decided to not eat as well and drop his heartrate. They then decided maybe Tuesday or Wednesday he could go home. Last night he purposely failed his car seat test. Just kidding, but he had to pass the car seat test and did not. They place him in the car seat for 30 minutes longer than it takes to get home which is 3 hours for Preston and Elizabeth. Premature babies neck muscles are not as strong and as a result, they lose their airway or at least it gets compressed. Kellen's oxygen levels dipped down several times, so it looks like he may not be going home next week : ). This kid is already too smart for his own good. We will see what happens. His weight is 5 lbs 9 ozs. AWESOME!!! He is about to outgrow premie clothes and diapers.

Okay, we need lots of prayers for Carson again. He is cruising along, but just not getting better. His lungs still look quite hazy on x-ray and they aren't exactly sure why he is not getting rid of the fluid on his lungs. They have restarted his lasix to try to get rid of some fluid. There still has not been any culture growth from his trach so they don't think he has an infection. However, he is still on antibiotics just in case. We just need to really pray for healing for his lungs and ability to get off this ventilator. We think part of the problem might be that he is laying down all the time. They are going to start trying to sit him up more, but we will see how he tolerates it. On a positive note, he is up to 13 mL/hour of breast milk and will have his lipid IV shut off tonight. That means he is just getting about 2.5 mL/hour of IV nutrition. His weight is up to 5 lbs 12 oz. He is doing great on peeing and pooping.

Preston and Elizabeth are doing great!!! AMAZING PARENTS!!!

Prayer requests:
Number one is healing for Carson's lungs so we can wean off his ventilator.
Number two is healing for his G-tube and skin around that surgical site.
Number three is healing for his throat and ability to swallow.
Number four is for all the amazing individuals that have been praying so faithfully for my precious nephews.

We love you!

Posted by Sarah

update for today

Well, Kellen is showing his stubbornness. He heard the doctors say he was going home next week and decided he didn't so much like the thought of leaving his brother. So he has decided to not eat as well. :)  We all are pretty impressed with his ability to manipulate at such a young age... ha ha!! Really, he is doing great but hasn't been feeding as well since yesterday.  However, he still doesn't need his tube put back.

Carson is chilling and doing well. He had occupational and physical therapy today. He did well. He is using his pacifier more and it appears that he does have fairly symmetric suck from both his right and left side of his mouth. His tongue deviates a little to the left, but it is encouraging that he can still suck with both sides of his mouth. He also is doing better with swallowing his saliva rather than drooling all the time. :)  We are just pleased he is doing so well.

Again, we are all overwhelmed with everyone's generosity and kindness. Thank you and God bless you!

Posted by Sarah

update for today

December here we come! :)  The update is pretty short today. Kellen has done so well with his weight gain and feedings, he gets his NG tube taken out of his nose...YIPEEE!!!! He is going to be a happy little boy. The doctors said he will definitely be going home next week! YEAH!!!

Carson is up to 11 mLs per hour on his feeds and his IV nutrition is down to 4 mL/hour. This is really good b/c we would like to get him off his IV nutrition and on just breastmilk. All in good time. From the standpoint of ventilation, the doctors are giving him a week vacation and he gets to coast. After a week, he better be ready to roll because everyone is going to want to get back on the weaning band wagon. :)  He appears to be doing well from the standpoint of infection and will just be finishing his antibiotics.

Next Tuesday will be the one month birthdays and Preston and Liz plan to take a Christmas photo. Can't wait to see it! ;)

We hope all of you are doing well and getting ready to celebrate a fun weekend!!!

update for today

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. We are so thankful! Please keep up your prayers, because we know Jesus is hearing and answering each and every one.

Kellen is doing great. They are going to let him exclusively breast feed unless he is too tired to eat and then they will supplement. This really is amazing considering how closely they have kept up on how many mLs he is getting and how much weight he is gaining. I know Liz is really excited and it is another step in the right direction of getting to leave the hospital.

We still need to pray for Carson. He has been a lot slower to wean off the ventilator than they thought in the beginning. They believe some of the high pressures used in the beginning b/c of his swelling may have set him back and created some damage in Carson's lungs. In addition, he is getting more fluid in his lungs again and that makes it harder. They have had to go up on his ventilator settings today. He didn't have any sign of infection in his blood or urine, but some mild staph infection on his trach. They will continue his antibiotics and restart a diuretic to help him get rid of some more fluid. His G-tube insertion area has also not healed as much as they hoped. Dr. Yang believes Carson just might not have enough energy to heal all the various places on his body he has suffered trauma. As a result, the next few days, we are not going to make any ventilator changes and just let him rest. On a happier note, Liz and Preston are getting to hold Carson more and it just makes us all happy to see him looking so good. His color is so much better and he even is sucking on his pacifier. Both boys are so precious.

Liz and Preston are doing great. Recently, they were on a mission to get more premie clothing b/c Mr. Kellen likes to poop through all his diapers and managed to go through about 15 outfits in 2 days. Looks like Liz and Preston have lots of laundry in their future. :)

Please continue to pray for healing for Carson: no infections, healing for his lungs and ability to wean off the ventilator eventually, protection over him and patience for Liz and Preston as they wait for total healing for Carson.

twice the fun

Goodness...what a precious little boy.  Can you believe this little sweetie?!

We love you too, little one!

little fella

Blog Moderator, Ahdra, here and just had to comment on this picture Liz just sent of Carson.  Wow.  It looks like he already knows all the answers, right?

We sure love you little buddy!

update for today

Thank you to all of you for your prayers!!! YEAH, the ultrasound was negative for any masses or abnormalities on his liver. He has a gallstone, which they believe to be fairly normal and are just going to watch. Tomorrow he will get a CTScan of his lungs to make sure there aren't any potential areas of question for metastasis from his mass. They are not expecting any, but just to be thorough and make sure, they will get the study tomorrow.

Carson did have an elevated white blood cell count (indicating infection), so they got cultures from his tracheostomy, blood, and urine to see if they could find a source of infection. They started him on antibiotics prophylactically, and we will just wait to see what the results from his lab work are. Let's just pray he gets over this quickly and doesn't have any bad infections. His ventilator is the same.

Exciting news, it was okayed with surgery that he can have a pacifier so he gets to start having some practice sucking! It makes me feel better too because when he gets mad, we can at least try to soothe him with his pacifier. Starting a bad habit maybe, but oh well, he will grow out of it. :) He also got to wear his first stocking cap today!

Kellen is doing great. He gets to start breastfeeding twice a day instead of once. Liz and Preston are doing excellent. And both boys now weigh over 5 lbs!!!!!

Thank you to all your prayers and keep up the prayers for healing of Carson's neck and ability to swallow, for Carson to be able to get off the ventilator, and so Carson does not develop any serious infections. 

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Posted by Sarah