Surgery.....Here we come!

Much to our surprise, we got a call on Tuesday from the surgery department at Primary's and we scheduled a date for Kate's heart surgery. The surgery is scheduled for January 18th and it's going to be here before we know it. It's been a little stressful trying to make appointments for her immunizations and Synagis shot. She cannot have her immunizations within 6-weeks of her surgery and she cannot have her Synagis shot within 3-days, so we've had to rearrange her appointments a little. We're going to have a pretty hectic schedule the next couple of weeks. On Tuesday, she was fit for her prosthetic device. She did so well. Her mouth is so small that even the tiniest mold was too big, but it ended up working out just fine. It looks like she's all set for next Friday.

Dad's already teaching Kate the love of golf!!!

Kate's as big as a 10 lb. Turkey!

We spent Thanksgiving this year at Grandma and Grandpa Roper's house. It was quite a process packing for 2 days, but we did it. We pretty much took everything but the kitchen sink. We had a great time. While down in Fillmore, we had family pictures taken at Grandpa's farm. It was such a beautiful day.

Kate had her appointment with the Cardiologist last Tuesday. He couldn't believe how much she has grown. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 1 oz. and measured 22 inches. We talked about the time frame for her surgery. She will need to get an Echocardiogram before Christmas and it looks as though her surgery will be a couple weeks after that. We discussed the surgery and what to expect. The procedure will take about 6 hours. After, she will go to the Pediatric ICU where she will be there about a week and then she'll recover in the infant unit for 2-3 weeks. It's going to be a very trying time, but we have so much love and support that we will make it through it.

Kate also had her Synagis shot Wednesday(the RSV vaccine). She is such a little trooper. She cried when the nurse initially gave her the shot, but was just fine the rest of the day. She will continue the shot each month until March.

Dad's a pro at this feeding stuff!!

Because Kate has been doing so well with her bottle feeding, we were so encouraged that we were going to be able continue feeding Kate and drop the NJ tube. However, I called the pediatrician on Monday to talk about her feeding and what to do next and the doctor was a little concerned about her eating that high of volume. Basically, she is using up so much energy while eating that it's putting stress on her heart. So, he would like us to keep her on the feeding tube for the majority of the day with occasional bottle feeding....Booo!!! This is definitely teaching us patience :)
Kate took her first trip to the car wash on Friday. As we drove through, she just stared at the water and bubbles. She loved it......she takes after her Dad!!
On Tuesday, Kate has her appointment with the Cardiologist. I think that we will talk about scheduling her heart surgery. Also, she was approved through our insurance for the RSV shot. She is eligible starting December 15th. Kate has a lot going on the next couple of weeks. Uncle Jordan's mission farewell is the same weekend Kate will have her prosthetic procedure. We're hoping she will have an easy recovery and be able to make it down to Fillmore.

I'm a little snow bunny!!

We still have Kate off the feeding tube and she is doing so well. Since we've started feeding her just from a bottle and getting her on a schedule, she has been sleeping so much better. She sleeps great through the night and she has been taking longer naps during the day....yay!!!! We're going to continue what we're doing until Tuesday and see how she does and then we'll call the pediatrician and see what he would like us to do. I would love to take the thing out completely, but I'm sure he is going to want us to keep it in until after the prosthetic procedure. We'll see!!

Kate loves to smile!

We decided to shut off the feeding tube all day today and see how Kate does just from the bottle. She did AWESOME!!! In fact, a full feeding is 60 ML or 2 oz. ever 3 hours. Well, she exceeded that. Also, we took her off Reglan (1 of her reflux medications). So far, she has done really well. Her last feeding of the night, I think she was too tired and she ended spitting EVERYTHING up. Oh well. We still keep her on the feeding tube at night. We're going to see how she does through the weekend. If she continues to do this well, we are going to consider pushing her feeding tube back to her stomach. She will have to have it at least until she recovers from the prosthetic procedure in December. We are so proud of her and the progress she is making. She is such a happy baby and we get so excited over every new little thing she does!!

Somebody's tired!!!

Am I chubby or what??

Kate has started to recognize her tongue. She loves to mimic Bryan and I when we stick out our tongue at her. She has also started to roll (with a little help from Dad). But, she is getting stronger and stronger by the day.
We haven't set a date for her first RSV shot, but it will be sometime this month. She also goes to see the cardiologist on the 21st. Time is just flying by.
Kate is going to be blessed on December 3rd. We debated whether or not we would bless her at home or at church. We feel like it would be best to bless her at church. That way, we can bring her in right before she is blessed and then take her home right after. We're a little disappointed that we won't be having an open house with all our family and friends, but it's really important that she stays well before her surgery. Once she has recovered from her heart surgery, we are going to have a BIG party :)

Are those not the cutest little feet you've ever seen??