Life with a New Baby

(Blogger wont let me post pics)
OK, I have 35 minutes till conference starts again to post. Here we go..........
We brought Carden home from the hospital on Friday. He needed to spend some extra time at the hospital being watched because of his low blood sugars. He also had jaundice. I had to laugh a little because they sent in a social worker to speak with me about bringing him home on a Billibed to treat the jaundice. I assured her that I was not going to be traumatized by this and that I could handle it. A billibed was the least of my worries. All my boys have needed one.
Just made me chuckle.

Carden is such a tiny sweetheart. I cannot believe how small he is. His lower arm is as round as my thumb. He is still a great eater. We brought him home just a little over 5 pounds and I am sure that he is gaining. He still doesn’t fit in his newborn clothes. He has his days and nights a little confused. In fact from midnight to 4 AM he doesn’t think that sleep is needed. He doesn’t sit and cry, he just wants to be awake and nurse. He is extremely loved by his brothers and his sister. Kaidence loves to help change his diapers.

Life here keeps moving forward. Thursday Miss K had a cardiology appointment. All still looks the same for her. I have noticed that her heart rate has dropped these past 2 weeks and that makes me feel a little more confident. She was excited to show off he brother. Kaidence's cardiologist looked at Carden and said that she thought he should have an echo. My stomach sank, I was sick. Sometimes it’s easier to just not know. Ignorance is bliss at times. However, I knew that we should do it. Instead of making me wait for weeks and worry they did it that day. He slept through the whole thing and everything with this little guy’s heart looks great. How grateful I am. I cannot help but look at him in amazement. How the Lord knows what our hearts need. I guess McCaden was right. When Kaidence was sick, he prayed for the little brother that would be in mom’s tummy. At that moment in time, everything with K was falling apart. I was sure that Mike and I were DONE having kids. I could not take the chance of more heartbreak. We explained to McCaden that there was NOT a baby in my tummy. He said “I know, but there will be.....a baby boy". I guess that the Lord gave him a glimpse of what was to come. Just as it is with all of our children, we could not imagine our lives without Baby Carden.

Introducing our New Little One.

Welcome to the world Carden DeMont. Weighing in at 5lbs 15oz and a length of 19in. He joined the ranks at 3:3oPM this afternoon. McCaden, Camden, and Kaidence are super excited to have a new baby brother. He has already brought the mother instinct out in our little Kaidence. She insisted everyone use "hanitizer" before touching her brother. Camden wants to hold Carden constantly, McCaden won't let him go, and Kaidence bosses everyone around. It's great.

Things were a little scary for a while. During a routine NST this morning for Shauntelle they found that her fluids were very low. Along with the low fluid the baby's heart rate was low. Low enough they admitted Shauntelle to the hospital and were talking C-Section. They determined that the cord was wrapped around our little ones neck. When Shauntelle would have a contraction it would constrict the cord causing his levels to drop. They watched things for a while then decided that it was safe enough to induce her and watch closely and have the C-Section ready to go if needed. About an hour after they broke Telle's water she went from a 6 to a 10 in under 10 minutes. 6 pushes later and we had our little boy. A crazy morning with tons of stress and now everything feels great. Our little bald Carden is such a sweet addition to our little family.

*Update 9/23/2010*

We are stuck at the hospital a little longer than we wanted. Carden has low blood sugars because he is so tiny. As of yesterday he was 5lbs 8 oz. Such a cute little stinker. He is also being treated for jaundice. He is a GREAT nurser (finally I have a kid that will do it). The docs are surprised at how well he does at eating for his size. So our main concern for him is to get those blood sugar levels up so that he stays out of the NICU. He is so fun to have around. He is very loved by his brothers, sister and parents. We feel so very blessed to have him in our family.

Long Night

Thank You SO much for those that have fasted and prayed for Kaidence today. I had what I call a "Hospital Sunday." Those are Sundays when you feel extremely humbled and the spirit feels so strong..... Regardless of last night serious lack of sleep.

Kaidence's night last night was awful, to say the least. Her headache was severe, nausea and vomiting was literally every 5 minutes. We could night keep any pain reliever in her, within 2 minutes of giving it, it came back up from about 7pm -3 AM. Then the body aches kicked in.

Last night was spent catching throw up, trying to keep her from throwing up, 2 am store run, body aches, ice packs for her head, worry about fast heart rate, trying to find a magic way to run her feeds so she would keep them down, debating on a trip to the ER, sleeping on the floor and so on. The poor little girl would nicely ask each time for her throw up bowl. Around 2:30 Mike gave Kaidence a blessing while I held her in my arms. Before it was over, she was asleep. At that time we decided to give her 30 minutes to try to keep down feeds, if not we were heading to the ER. This is too much with her recent rejection episode. She didn't throw up the rest of the night.

Today she seemed to do ok. She laid around more then usual but seemed ok. Tonight she is getting a fever and her nausea seems to be making a come back. I hope that we can at least keep it in control tonight. She is tired and so are Mike and I.

Once again Thanks to everyone. Last night I found much peace as well knowing that today she was being fasted for. I will keep everyone posted and hopefully this will subside in the next day or two. Love to you all!

We are Fasting for Kaidence Tomorrow

I meant to blog earlier about this, but this week has been AHHHHHHHHHH! However, as of today Super Saturday is DONE!!! Thanks everyone for your help.

Tomorrow we will be having a fast for Kaidence for anyone that would like to join in. I have felt strongly that we needed to do so, but have put it off because I feel guilty asking....yet again. However, I know its power. I don't know exactly why, I just keep getting this feeling that we need to do it. So we will. We do what we can, and the Lord will do the rest according to His will.

Kaidence had her IVIG treatment on Thursday. The treatment itself went well, however this evening she seems to be having some reactions to it. I walked in the door exhausted from today, only to find a sick little Kaidence. She laid on the floor crying (NOT a typical Kaidence thing to do.) She has a terrible headache and started vomiting. Because of the recent rejection I called cardiology. They said its a reaction to the IVIG treatment, they have seen another child react the same way. The headache may become very severe very quickly so we will be giving medication for that around the clock for the next 36-48 hours regardless of symptoms. If the headache cannot be controlled and fluids or meds cannot stay down then she will need to be admitted to the hospital tonight. I am praying that we can all stay home tonight. I am wiped out!

Back to Thursday. Kaidence's heart function looked good again on the echo. However, still nothing has changed in regards to the hearts size and the leaking heart valves. Due to the fact that nothing has improved in the last month, her cardiologist is not sure that it will ever improve any further. This could cause issues down the road, but we will cross that bridge if and when we need to. Hoping that we never need to cross it.

Other than that, Kaidence is doing well. Once her "soldiers" get stronger she wants to go to primary at church and ride the TRAX train. Those are her only 2 request.


The boys seem to like school. McCaden is still full of ALL the energy in the world. He is a good help and is testing his sense of humor out on everyone. Camden turned 6 on Friday and was so excited to bring treats to his class. He is my little sweetheart. He has the cutest grin, he can never get away telling a lie because his face always gives it away with that darn grin of his. He is a great listener, usually only have to tell him once or not at all. He could talk the ear off of anything (like his mommy). Happy Birthday my sweet little man! Mommy Loves you FOREVER!

Thank you all for all of your love, prayers and understanding.

Tomorrow's IVIG Treatment

Tomorrow we will head up to PCMC for Kaidence's IVIG treatment. It will make for a very long day, but we will be prepared for ways to stay busy. She will also have her regular clinic visit. I am hoping that they can still do it. It seems that she has caught Camden's cough and icky nose from last week. Please pray that this treatment will go smoothly and do what it needs to do for Kaidence's heart.

Baby and Cardiology Update

Once again, I meant to post much sooner. Life has been CRAZY! My time seems to barely allow me to do the things I HAVE to do, no time for extras. Blogging is an extra. Between Kaidence and myself we have doctor appointments 3-4 days a week. To tell you the truth, I have had to take some time to deal with my emotions and fears with regards to Kaidence's future. In fact, it took me crying myself to sleep a couple of nights. However, all I can do is my best to care for her, love her and teach her life's lessons.....the rest is out of my hands. What is meant to be, will be. Sometimes that is so hard to deal with and at other times it comes as such a relief.

A quick pregnancy update. I have Non Stress Test 2 times a week for the baby. Fluids have been up and down. However, more time spent being down. Last week I had my last progesterone shot, so we will see what my contractions do. I will be 35 weeks and have made it past the time I delivered McCaden. Hopefully, I can make it at least 2 more weeks. The kids are getting excited, especially Kaidence. So that is the baby update......now for the Miss Kaidence update!

As far as her heart goes, things are still the same. I am a little frustrated that her heart is not recovering quicker. It really hasn't made any improvement since coming home, but it hasn't gotten worse either. I am worried that her heart rate is still high, the vessels in her neck come and go. Her heart is still big and therefore her valves are still leaking. However, her heart is functioning (squeezing) well and so that is a great BLESSING. Cardiology wants to keep Kaidence on her steroids and heavy drug doses longer than originally planned, because her pressures in her heart are so high due to the rejection. It looks like she may be on these for the next couple of months. Longer than originally thought. They are also starting her IVIG treatments next week in hopes that things will start to move along with regards to recovery and treating the antibodies and rejection mor aggressively. So because of these treatments Kaidence is no longer able to get her flu vaccine for this year (scary) and she is very immunosuppressed. We will just have to stay home, keep germs away and hope for the best. Please be understanding if I get a little more freakish about sickies as flu season approaches. Just remember that a virus is what started it all and is the reason she needed a new heart to begin with. So yes, it scares me.

Kaidence is flying high on her steroids. I know most others have the opposite problem with grumpy kiddos on the roids. Kaidence seems to be very hyper on them. As usual they make her hungry and I think she has gained about 3 pounds since being home. Her face is very round and she has a cute little double chin. She seems to think she is the luckiest girl in the world. She is so upbeat and full of herself. She talks non stop and has the funniest little giggle. She misses going to primary on Sundays. I think that is when she is reminded most that her heart needs to get better. She understands the whole germ thing. She has spent time outside painting with her brothers (she loves art stuff right now). She has also spent time in her playhouse. I feel bad because the neighbor kids usually play in it with her, but for now its just for her and her brothers. She also loves to go out and ride her bike. This girl just goes and goes. When I nap, she lays in bed next to me and watches movies. She will spontaneously grab my hand and kiss it or lean forward and kiss me on the cheek while I sleep. She doesn't know that I know she is doing it, she thinks I am still sleeping. Its those moments that I just savor the sweet tender spirit and personality of this little girl.

I am grateful that she IS so happy, crazy and full of life. She is such a sweetheart.


Our hope is that Kaidence can continue to stay healthy and that her heart may start to heal and recover if that is what is meant for Kaidence.

Todays Biopsy Results

I hope this post makes sense, because I have an awful migraine and am sick to my tummy. I wanted to update K's blog though.

We got to the hospital at 6AM, she was first case in the cath this morning. I walked her in, sat with her as I held the gas to her face and she held the gas to 'bear bears' face. Before, I knew it she was snoozing. No tears, no fear it went smoothly.

After her cath we met with the doctor that did it. He seemed concerned because Kaidence's pressures in her heart were higher than last Fridays. He worried that her heart could possibly be getting sicker. Hearing this news just made me want to scream and cry. Ok, I did cry. Things with his pregnancy are getting a little worrisome in regards to early labor and the last thing I need is another sick kid in the hospital. The thoughts of being back at the hospital and missing the 3rd straight first day of school........aghhhhhh! He wanted to wait and speak with her cardiologist and see what she thought.

Kaidence came out of the anaesthesia beautifully. We have found this new cocktail that works great for her. She woke up today, looked at me and within 10 seconds smiled and asked for her chocolate milk I had promised. She was happy and that was nice to not fight the tears that come after.

Around 12 noon we went down to meet with her cardiologist and for K to get her echo. I have been told the echo looked the same as last time. Dr E felt that Kaidence looked too good to have pressure that bad. She is not sure what happened in the cath but feels hopeful that we are still heading in the right direction. Kaidence's BNP (heart failure number) has significantly dropped, but still has a little ways to go. She reminded me that this could all take months to repair. We will watch her closely and call if we have any concerns. What a BLESSING!

Kaidence was not thrilled with the idea of heading home. She kept asking when she could go to her room. finally we told her she could have chili's Baked Potato soup and she left the hospital premises willingly.

I guess I should add that her biopsy results were just called into us. It is still the same as last time "suspicious". We know that Kaidence is holding her own with all the meds and that the antibodies are behaving currently. Hopefully things will continue to mend and that her heart can eventually make a full recovery.

It sounds so redundant, but Thanks so much for the many prayers that have been said for Kaidence and our family. Today, they sustained me and kept me from losing my mind.