Surgery Successful!

Kenzie's surgery yesterday went beautifully and she is doing wonderful!! PRAISE THE LORD for hearing and answering our prayers in the name of Jesus!!! We are soooo thankful and happy, not to mention relieved!!

After being in surgery for about 5 hours, our surgeon (who is awesome by the way) informed us that everything went as planned and she tolerated the procedure like a champ. She looked MUCH better post surgery this time around! Her chest was closed, she was extubated immediately following surgery, and the swelling was minimal compared to last time. After a long day yesterday and a long night of her being in a lot of pain and discomfort from everything, she finally dozed off and settled down at about 4am. She is one tough little cookie!

Today has been a series of weaning off of different medications, oxygen levels, and taking out lines and such as necessary. She already has had her chest tube removed along with several of her IV/electrical lines, and is on a low dose of oxygen. She is also eating well and although a bit drowsy, is checking out mommy and daddy with those big pretty eyes of hers. And we have already got to hold her! Much better than last time!

It is possible that she may already be moving to the stepdown unit tomorrow...yay!!! God is so faithful and we are beyond grateful! As always, THANK YOU so much for the prayers and support!! Lord willing we will be on our way home in only a few days...AMAZING!



Surgery Scheduled

So we have a date for surgery number two... the big day is scheduled for Monday, September 17, at 7:30am. We went in for an appointment this past week and received the news. This definitely is a little earlier than we expected, but it is apparent that this is the right time for her to have the procedure. She's not gaining as much weight and her oxygen sats are dropping a little, which are both signs that she is outgrowing her shunt and ready for phase two.

The next two weeks will be all about keeping this little girl healthy! If she contracts any type of sickness they will automatically delay her surgery 6 weeks, which would place her in an even weaker state. So with that being said, we are going into isolation mode! No outings for Miss Kenzie until she is all recovered and healthy! Not that we go that many places anyways! ;)

As for how we're handling it, we both are of course apprehensive and I for one am absolutely dreading taking her in that day. But just as with the first surgery, we are again putting all complete trust in God's plan and relying on Him! Although we would of course prefer her not to have to go through this, in the big scheme of things, this step is both crucial and necessary and will help her out so much when it's all said and done. All we can do is pray, pray, pray for our little sweetie!

As for the surgery itself, from what we understand, she will probably be in the hospital for about two weeks. Lord willing, this time around should be less time in surgery, less time on the heart-lung bypass machine, less swelling so hopefully her chest can be closed in the OR, and less difficulty breathing so hopefully her ventilator will be removed before she even returns to the ICU. After surgery number two, she will be much stronger and basically a "normal baby." (A normal baby with half a heart that is!) No more weighing her, checking her sats, or writing down every milliliter of milk she eats!

For our friends and family who are praying for her, if we could ask you to please pray for the following:

• For Ryan and I not to be anxious in the time leading up to her surgery but to just enjoy every sweet second we have with her
• For her to stay healthy and strong throughout the next couple weeks
• That the morning of the surgery would be smooth sailing with her not being able to eat for a period of time beforehand and that all her IV lines would go in easily (she is a tough stick...tiny veins)
• That the surgery would be flawless and without complications and that God would just guide the hands of her surgeon
• That recovery would be quick, as painless as possible, without complications, and that she would be safe from any infections while in the hospital
• That she would NOT have to take a specific medicine that may be needed (more than likely not) which would require us to give her two shots a day for six weeks (don't think I could handle that one on top of everything else)

Thank you SOOOO much!!!! :) We will update with any new info to come! Here's a little video of our happy girl!

Pre-Surgery Scans Scheduled

Hi friends and family! We haven't posted in a long time, but in this case, no news is good news! Kenzie has been doing AWESOME and is growing and changing more and more every day! Since our last post she has had a lot of "firsts." First trip up north to visit Grammy and Pops, first trip down south to visit family in Germantown, first trip to the zoo, first time being babysat by Auntie Shell so we could go out on a date, and so on and so forth. She is truly such an immense joy to us! She now weighs almost 11 pounds and is grabbing toys, talking up a storm, and smiling...always smiling!

Recently we got a call scheduling Kenzie's pre-surgery CT scan and Echocardiogram. We can't believe she is nearing the 6 month mark. It's just amazing how time has flown! It is definitely very scary to think about the fact that she has to have another open heart surgery here soon. We just have to keep trusting that God is in complete control and continue praying for total protection. She has her CT scan and Echo scheduled for the end of August, in which they will sedate her and take images for further review. She'll then be "presented" at something called conference, and they'll decide exactly when to do her procedure. This upcoming surgery is called the "Bidirectional Glenn," and thankfully is more common than her first procedure. It is still a MAJOR surgery, but she is obviously in a much better spot for surgery this time around. During this procedure, they'll disconnect her shunt and connect her superior vena cava directly to her pulmonary arteries.

We'll update with more info after the results of her scans return, but for now, here's a few pics of our precious doll baby. Oh and the first pic is super special because of the outfit she's wearing! ;) Here's why: http://prayerforkenzie.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-25-2012-post-from-tiff.html

At the zoo with cousins Jake and Nate

Chillin' at the "pool"

Visit to Hudson!

Thanks to Brendan for taking this family photo!









Life at Home!!

We haven't posted in a long time, (babies require a ton of work!) but we've been enjoying EVERY single second at home with our sweet babygirl! She is SUCH a joy and a blessing... we couldn't be happier!!

As for her status, we are immensely pleased to say that Kenzie is doing AMAZING and getting bigger every day! Since she's been home, she's gained almost three--that's right THREE--pounds! She's a regular chunker weighing in at 7 and a half big ones. ;) (Well, maybe not, but at least she finally has some form of chub on her little body.) It's funny b/c people still tell me she's tiny, but compared to what she was, she's huge to me! This is SUCH an awesome thing seeing as many heart babies need feeding tubes and have a difficult time gaining weight b/c of the extra calories their heart has to burn. We're sooo grateful that she is eating and gaining so well!! She's also sleeping well and doing all sorts of normal baby things. Yesterday she smiled at me for about a solid three minutes, which absolutely melted my heart. Any parent knows there's nothing sweeter than this! She's "talking," smiling, eating like a champ, sleeping great, she's strong as anything, and she loves being held (of course)! She falls asleep in the carseat everytime, likes going on walks, swinging, and being outside. She's even gone on a few select outings---and aside from the 2 minute scream fest in the middle of Target (yeah, I was THAT mom), she was great!

As far as her heart goes, it is functioning perfectly!! We check her heartrate and oxygen saturation levels every day, and never once has she had a questionable reading... SOOOO awesome! Every doctor's appointment has been great and she's checked out beautifully! Even her bilirubin levels are down to 1.9--which means she's lost her tan and now has that slightly bluish skin color of a baby with 75 to 80 percent oxygen sats. Again, this is another huge thing to be thankful for... there seem to be no longstanding liver issues! Her shunt is working perfectly, and we've only had one slight scare since she's been home, which turned out to be nothing at all! We thought she might have spit up some blood, but it turns out, it was dye from the carseat straps coming off on her sleeper! Ha! Although annoyed at the dumb carseat, we were super thankful for that one! Other than her scar, you'd never know she's had major surgery and that her heart operates in a completely different way from the norm. Her second surgery is tentatively scheduled for around September or October, but this just depends on how she does and how she grows. The bigger she is, the better! Although we of course don't want her to have another surgery, we know she needs it and all we can do is pray for God's continued care and protection over our sweetie.

Looking back at pictures of when she was first born and we weren't sure what was going to happen, it is absolutely incredible to see where she is today! Every time we look at her, we see God's goodness and answered prayers. And every so often I just tear up staring at her and am in awe of the fact that we have the immense privilege of having her here at home with us. What a joy!!! Here are a few pics of Kenzie at home just being the sweet, happy baby that she is!