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??

Kate's 1st Halloween

As you can see, this was not the most comfortable costume. We were able to get it on, snap a few shots and then take it right off. Unfortunately, it didn't last long enough to make it to our Halloween party : ( Maybe next year!!!

Go Cougers!!!

Kate is the biggest little Couger fan, and she doesn't even know it yet. She loves to spend Saturdays with Daddy watching footbal. Let's go BYU!!!

There's a little smile!!!

Daddy's Girl!!!

Kate loves it when Daddy gets home from work!

All Tuckered Out

I can't believe it has been almost a week since the last posting. Kate has been doing AWESOME. She had an appointment with the pediatrician yesterday. She is now up to 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 inches long. Wow!! She has finally doubled her weight. She did have to have her first round of immunizations.... : ( She did great, but I am the one that didn't do so great. It was very hard to watch, but we know that the immunizations will be good for her. She seemed to do okay until last night (we had quite a wild night). She was up pretty much all night and we're not really used to that, so Bryan and I have been zombies all day long :) It's totally worth it though. I guess Kate qualifies for the RSV shot, Synagis, which she will get every month during RSV season. I wasn't aware of this shot, but apparently is only given to babies that are "high risk" and Kate qualifies for it. It's supposed to be a very effective shot to prevent from getting the virus......it better be for $1,200 a pop!!! So, she will begin those shots in November.
Kate is scheduled to have the pallet procedure on December 8th. We will take her in on November 27th to be fit for the device and the 8th is when she will go in and have it tacked to the roof of her mouth. We're hoping that once she heals from that, she will be able to do better with the bottle feeding. She's still dealing with the reflux issue though. What a pain!!!! We've been experimenting with soy-based fortifier and milk-based. She absolutely HATES the soy-based and tolerates the milk-based better. However, it seems that she has been refluxing more since we've switched. If we had it our way we would just feed her straight breast milk, but it doesn't have enough calories.
We have been so blessed and continue to receive blessings each day. This month, our ward did a ward fast for Kate and we have felt each and every prayer. We have such wonderful, supportive family and friends who love Kate so much.

Kate's having a BAD hair day!!!

Well, it has been quite an eventful week. It seems like the days and weeks go by so fast. Yesterday was especially eventful. We woke up and noticed that Kate's NJ tube has come out yet again. SERIOUSLY!!! Well, at least it wasn't mommy and daddy's fault this time :) Anyway, Kate had an appointment with her cadiologist yesterday at Primary's, so we were able to get her into Radiology to have have it put back in. I think our biggest challenge with having Kate home is monitoring that darn feeding tube. Anyway, things went well and we were even able to meet one of Kate's nurses for lunch. Nurse Katie was amazed at how much Kate has changed since she left the hospital.
Kate's cadiology appointment went really well. She is now up to 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches long. She has almost doubled her birth weight and has grown 4 1/2 inches. It is so wonderful that she is growing and making progress each day.
Today, Grandma Roper came up and we took Kate to her appointment with the plastic surgeon. He seems to think she is ready to have the prosthetic devise put in to close off the gap on her cleft pallet. The procedure should only take about 1 hour, but Kate will have to be sedated :( It should be a quick recovery though....just 24 hours she'll have to stay in the hospital. By having this procedure, it will allow Kate to be able to better suck from a bottle and it will act as a retainer to help close the gap. That way, by the time she has the major surgery to fix the pallet the gap will be much smaller and easier to close off completely. The doctor thinks she will be ready by the first of December.
After Kat'e's appointment we went down to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Christensen in Orem. They were so excited to see her.

Check out my cute new booties.....

One of Bryan's co-workers made these cute little booties for Kate. We love them.
Kate is really starting to take on a personality of her own. She is a happy, mellow baby. She really likes to blow bubbles, grab on to mommy's hair and she still loves to pull on her canula.....the little stinker.
Yesterday was her 3-month birthday. We can't believe how fast time flies. She has been home for 7-weeks tomorrow. We are getting more and more used to her and have taken her off the monitor during the day. It's been so nice not having that thing beeping all the time. We do, however, turn it on at night for our peace of mind. We have also tried taking her off the oxygen a couple hours a day to get her used to not having it all the time. She does really well and we're hoping that it won't be too long before she is off it completely.
Kate's doing really well with her feedings. She is not quite up to full feedings yet, but we try to push her a little more each day. It's interesting because some days she does really well with the reflux and other days are not as good. We think she is starting to outgrow it.........we hope!!!

All dressed up....No place to go!!

Kate is changing day by day and it is so much fun now that she is filling out her clothes. This outfit is one of our favorites. In fact, Kate's little friend, Laney let her borrow it. Even though she doesn't get out much, it's fun to dress her up and take pictures :)
Kate continues to make progress. She is now 7 lbs. 10 oz and every ounce counts. She's going to be ready for heart surgery in no time. She has a follow up with her cardiologist a week from today. We're hoping at that appointment we will be able to start planning for the surgery.

We deserve the "Parent's of the Year" award!!!!

Putting Kate to bed is quite a process, as we have to transport all of her equipment with her. Bryan and I are quite a team though. However, as we were taking her into bed from the living room last night, we failed to disconnect the feeding tube and ooops....the feeding tube came right out. Since it was so late, we decided to wait for the next morning to take her in. So, we took her into Primary's this morning to have it put it back in. Kate is such a little sweetheart and did so well. We are hoping that this is the last and final time this happens :)

Kate's new friend

Our good friends Elizabeth & Brody came to visit and brought their new baby, Shawn. He was born almost 4 weeks after Kate. They were both pretty grumpy that night : )

Oooops....She did it again!!!

Kate is constantly keeping us on our toes. This morning I noticed that Kate's feeding tube had been pulled out a couple inches. It's hard to know if it's been pulled out from her intestines into her stomach. So, to be safe I took her in to get an x-ray. Lucky for us, it was still there....but just barely. The radiologist just pushed it back into place. Kate is such a good baby!! We have been so lucky. It's fun to see the many changes from day to day.
As we mentioned before, we ended up taking a little trip down to Fillmore on Sunday. It was a lot of fun, but A LOT of work taking all of her equipment. It might be a while before we do it again : ) But, she did great with the long car ride. Kate's a lot like her mom........she loves road trips.