Kena Update

Man, a lot has happened since I last updated this ol' blog!!  Summer is nearly over, the kids are growing like weeds, and my grass is dying in this dang heat!!  So I'd imagine most of you are here for an update on Kenasyn.  She is doing really good!
Just cause I love blogs with pictures, here are a few pictures I took of her when she was 22 days old.  I wish they were edited, but I can't pin Rayce down long enough to teach me how, so here they are, and i honestly think they are as cute as ever!!!  I love my Kena-bug!!!!

(Ivory sure loves her baby sister!!!!)

KENASYN'S SURGERY

Kenasyn went for surgery to receive a colostomy at 24 days old at Primary Children's Medical Center.  We were sitting in the waiting room with all of the other kids & parents waiting to be called back for surgery.  I was sitting there completely freaking out in my head.  Everyone else seemed so calm, just waiting their turn.  Of course it didn't take me long for the tears to start flowing.  I asked Rayce how can all of these parents seem so composed?  I just wanted to take my baby back home.  I wanted to wake up from this nightmare.  I wanted to open my eyes and see Kenasyn's leg straight and "normal".  I wanted to change her diaper and have everything look like it's supposed.  I didn't want to have to hand my baby to a complete stranger and know that she wouldn't be the same when she returned.  I was terrified for my itty bity princess.  When we walked her down the hall and handed her to the Anesthesiologist, I nearly collapsed because I was sobbing so hard.  She was perfect to me, and I just wanted her back in my arms.
Before her "surgery" started, once she was sedated, a urologist scoped her bladder and vagina to make sure that everything was structurally how it was supposed to be.  And luckily it was!  They told us that the surgery would take up to 3 hours, but in a mere hour and a half, her surgeon was done and came to tell us that everything went perfect, and she was in recovery.  It took about another 45 minutes before they let me back to hold her.  It was the saddest thing, too.  Her already raspy voice was extremely horse from having the breathing tube placed while she was out.  I got there when they were giving her a dose of pain meds.  Unfortunately, they accidentally double dosed her, but all it did was take the edge off her pain, so she was in a lot of pain for the next 8 hours before they could finally give her morphine.  But all things considered, she did wonderfully in her surgery, and they were very happy with the results.

Daddy holding Kenasyn shortly after her surgery.

We couldn't keep her O2 stats up from the original pain meds they gave her, so she was on blow-by oxygen for 6 hours after surgery.
Unfortunately, Rayce had to leave that afternoon to return to Idaho to take care of the other 4 kids.

She seems so tiny in that big hospital bed!!

Just when I thought everything was starting to get better, they got worse :(  The "wound team" came in the next morning to teach me how to take care of Kenasyn's colostomy, and when they removed the bag, we were all shocked at what we saw.  Kenasyn's original procedure was called a loop ostomy.  But the problem she faced was because her anus is SO small, all of her bowels were swollen, so when the pressure was relieved from there, the swelling started to go down.  And when that happened, the lower part of her colon prolapsed out of her incision. (pic below)

So, once this was discovered, her surgeon was paged and he rescheduled her surgery to fix this right away.  And she was wheeled back to surgery 35 minutes later.  I was terrified.  I sat there in the waiting room by myself and tried to keep myself from sobbing.  Her surgery didn't last long, and the doc came and said that everything went really good, that they changed her colostomy to what is called a Double-barreled ostomy.  So she has two incisions.  It was so nerve racking to listen to all of this, and just hope that my little angel was okay.  I just wanted to hold her in my arms at that moment.  Her doc said that she would be ready to go back up to her room soon, and that they would call me to go to recovery with her.  TWO HOURS LATER they finally let me back there.  They couldn't get her to wake up from her anesthesia, and she still had the breathing tube placed.  They normally don't let parents back to recovery when the patient is like this, but the waiting room people could clearly see me in distress (crying in the corner cause I couldn't get answers from anyone!), and so they let me back.  It was heartbreaking to see my limp little baby, laying on a bed with a breathing tube in her mouth.  I once again, started crying.

The anesthesiologist finally came and checked on her, and decided her stats were high enough that they could pull the tube.  (trust me, a parent should NEVER watch this happen to their child!!!)  Her O2 stats stayed level, and soon after she was taken back up to her room.

(She had an allergic reaction to the plastic-y tape they use, and she broke out with a rash across her eyes)

Slightly sedated, but calmly sleeping :)

After a bath.  Check out that crazy hair!!!

Kenasyn was at Primary's for 6 days.  We were so excited to have her home.  It was such a hard thing to watch my princess go through all this, and the hardest part of it all, is I know that this is just the beginning for her.  She can have up to 6 more surgeries before she even turns 1! But we are strong and we take it day by day.  It hasn't helped that she is really colic-y. But she is beautiful and we love her.  She sleeps 7-9 hours at a time at night, so it helps me re cooperate for each day of non-stop crying!


Shortly after our return from the hospital, we adopted a kitten from my sister, Genice.  He is aptly named Cheddar Cheese Bird.  He has been a lot of fun! (at least to the kids anyways)  He aimlessly wanders around the house meowing very loudly when the older 3 kids are gone.  He has a very funny personality, and my kids really have enjoyed having him here.

This summer the kids did swimming lessons.  I took a Mom & Tot class with Ivory, but this day, I was home with the flu, so Daddy was my sub.  (Which worked good for me, cause I really don't want to post pix of me in a swimming suit!!!  YIKES!)

(Shylee looking at her "boyfriend" Drake  {he is out of the pic, not the boy next to her})

Icelynn is ALWAYS posing for the camera.

Ivory Loved every second of it, and wanted to spend her whole time jumping off the edge!  She is fearless!!

Cayge and his beautiful blue eyes

Kena has physical therapy twice a month.  So right now we are working on tummy time and holding up our head.

This past weekend we went and stayed in a cabin at Island Park.  Kena kind of struggled with all the attention she got.  So here she is enjoying some alone time (with daddy right next to her) sitting up watching everyone run around.  

This is just this morning.  You can clearly see her colostomy bag, and her mucus fistula (the part that they made the new incision for) right at the edge of her diaper.. it's the little pink spot.  She is slowly growing.  She is a whopping 8 pounds 10 ounces.  She is on the negative 1%-ile.  Which is extremely surprising to me cause she wants to nurse ALL the time!  But she is happy and healthy.