Kaitlyn Ryan

So if I had taken any time to update this site today, by now there would probably be 5 separate posts talking about all the craziness that has happened…literally in the last 12 hours.  As such, you guys are just going to have to deal with one large post.  So make sure your coffee mug is full, because you are going to be here a while.

This morning during rounds we got some great news about Kaitlyn.  First, her direct bili had come down from 3.6 to 3.3.  I honestly don’t know what it should be at, but what I do know is that it had been going up for the last week, which could eventually be a bad thing.  So the fact that it turned around is a very good thing.  Next, the cultures they took to see if she still had her infection were both currently showing as negative.  We won’t have the official results until tomorrow morning, but assuming that they stay negative, then they will be able to take her off of antibiotics by Thursday sometime, which is great news by itself, but is even better when taken with…

They have pulled her off of her lipids and TPN completely.  Both are supplemental dietary things that they give preemies since most cannot take food directly for a while.  This means that as soon as Thursday gets here, they will be able to remove her IV permanently.  Coming full circle, the TPN is also thought to be the primary reason her direct bili is high.  So everything taken together means awesome things.

As I promised, that is just the beginning.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, she had been moved from the NICU to the Special Care Nursery.  At the end of rounds, our doctor informed us that because she is doing so well, she would be a candidate to move to the Level II nursery.  This is where babies who have a normal birth go.  So as soon as we get adjusted to life in the SCN, we have to start thinking about moving again.  It’s great, but I think they should take how the parents are doing in consideration sometimes!

Finally, Tori asked our doctor when she felt Kaitlyn might be able to come home.  The doctor fed us the standard line that the best estimate was her original due date, but that most preemies go home a couple of weeks before that.  But then she said something else…something that left Tori and I a bit stunned.  She said that she has seem some preemies go home at 35 weeks (gestational age, not time).  Now normally that would just be something said in passing to keep our spirits up.  But 1. we didn’t need our spirits kept up, because we have been getting a lot of great news lately, and 2. we have found that when a doctor or nurse hints to us that “sometimes this happens,” it always does.  Maybe this is just me being conspiratorial, but I think she was trying to let us know that we could have as little as two weeks before she comes home.  Holy crap!

So Tori pumps, and we have lunch, and I go off to work.  And today, the doctor recommended another first for our Kaitlyn  – to put her to breast and see how she handles it.  Tori can elaborate on the specifics later, but from what I understand, Kaitlyn sucked, which in this case is a good thing!   Being able to feed from breast or bottle is one of the biggest requirements for coming home.

So I get back from work, and it turns out that there is a surprise for me – I get to hold Kaitlyn.  Not just hold her in my hands for a few moments while they put her back in her nest.  But actually sit down and cradle her the way a new father is supposed to – in shock and awe.  And it was exactly that.  I only got 15 minutes, but they were the most amazing 15 minutes I have experienced.  Just looking down at this perfect little being in your arms…awesome.

Okay, so busy day already, right?  No more surprises, please, since we are leaving the hospital not just for the afternoon, but for the day (taking a well deserved evening for ourselves).  Well, not so fast!  We get a call on our way home from our nurse.  Turns out that possible move to the Level II nursery the doctor mentioned earlier in the day wasn’t for later this week…it was for today.  As our nurse explained it, the NICU is for critical babies.  The Special Care Nursery is for babies who are not critical, but could slide that back that way.  And as Kaitlyn is neither critical any more, nor in any danger to going back that way, she needs to be moved to Level II.

Today has probably been the craziest day we have had since the day she was born.   Not only is our preemie doing well, but she is doing so well they are going to put her with the “normal” babies.  And to think it was less than two weeks ago when we were scared out of our minds, with a baby who had to come out of her mother early because the baby was in danger of dying.  And then she lost so much blood that first night, we didn’t think she would make it to morning.

And now, here we are, our baby in the place with all the term babies, breathing on her own, healthy as a horse, and just trying to get fat enough to come home.

-Dad