Kale Anthony Albrecht has arrived!

Well....my 24 week checkup didn't exactly go as planned. By now you have all heard that Kale arrived yesterday, here is how the series of events occurred....

I went in for my normal 24 week checkup around 1:15pm. The doctor did not get a strong heartbeat at all from the normal check, so she said she wanted to do an ultrasound. At that point I called Derc and told him what was going on, and luckily he only works a few minutes away so he came as quickly as he could. By the time Derc got there I was ready to go into the ultrasound room. The ultrasound tech looked at his heart, and while it was beating steadily and the structure looked good, it was beating very slowly...a heart rate of about 80, much slower than they like to see. At that point, the doctor said that she wanted us to go downtown to have it monitored and be looked at by a cardiologist. She said that based on what they found that we may end up delivering that day. Needless to say, our first question was, can he survive at 24 weeks if we deliver?! They said yes, babies do survive all the time at that age. At that point they said that Derc wasn't going to drive me to the hospital, they were going to call for an ambulance. Looking back I feel like the doctors were downplaying the seriousness of this condition a bit in attempts to keep Derc and I calm. As soon as the ambulance got here, they put me on the stretcher and started doing tests. The ambulance ride took about 10 minutes, and during that time we called our families to let them know what was going on.

From the time I was wheeled into the hospital to the time Kale was born was probably 15-20 min. As soon as I got there, they took me to the OR. There were about 10 people waiting for me. They got me prepped in about 30 seconds and did an ultrasound. During the ultrasound Kale's heart rate would go from about 140 to 70, and when it was low he would stop moving, so they were concerned he wasn't getting the oxygen he needed to his brain. At that point they thought it was necessary to deliver him to avoid anymore stress for him. Within about 1-2 minutes I was under and at 2:48pm Kale was born. He was taken by C-section, and was in the breech position, so that made it a little tough on the little guy. Derc got to hold him for about a minute before they took him to the NICU. By the time I woke up (begging for pain meds) I was already in the recovery room and we were just awaiting family to make it and updates from the doctor.

The cardiologist came in and spoke with us. He said that Kale has a 3rd degree block in his heart. Essentially the node in his heart that controls the electro-pulse that tells his heart how to beat is not sending signals properly. This was causing half of his heart to work normal, and the other part was getting only half the signals or so, which was why we were seeing such irregularities. The Dr. said that he wasn't sure why this was happening. It's possible that I have an autoimmune disease (like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis) that caused my body to build up antibodies against his heart. There is about a 50% chance that this is the case, and I had blood drawn today to run tests on those things. The other 50% is just a random genetic thing....either way the Dr. said it's pretty rare. He said Kale will likely need a pacemaker to regulate his heart rate when he is big enough. Right now he is only 1lb. 10 oz., and a pacemaker wouldn't fit inside his body.

The doctors here are taking very good care of him, and he seems to like his temporary home. He will be here for about 3-4 months minimum. The biggest concerns right now are his underdeveloped lungs, brain bleeding, his heart issue and risk for infection. He is getting a blood transfusion as we speak. The drs have been taking so much blood out for tests that his body can't keep up, so they needed to give him a transfusion. They said that is very common with preemies so we shouldn't be concerned about that. He has an ultrasound Monday for his brain. This is to test for bleeding in the brain. If there are bleeds (caused from broken blood vessels from stress and delivery) then this could potentially signify risks of mental or physical disabilities down the road, so please keep him in your prayers for a clear brain scan Monday! He will likely have these every 4 weeks or so to monitor.

Today Derc and I got to touch him inside his incubator :) We got to stick our hands in and cup his little feet, and then he pushed back on us. He responds to our voice, he can tell who his mom and dad are, so that's kind of cool! When Derc put his hands in there, he gave Kale his pinkie to grab onto and Kale took it and held on. That was very special to see! He has also had two wet diapers today, which means that his kidney's and bladder are working, so that's great! He has to wear some dark cloths over his eyes to protect them as they are so underdeveloped. We think he has Derc's nose :)

So, needless to say, the road ahead is very long and has the potential to be very stressful on Kale, Derc and I and all of you who care about him/us. We thank you in advance for hanging in there for us. We could not do this without the support we have from our friends and family, you guys are utterly amazing. Kale has so many people praying for him, it's amazing. We're hoping that the prayers work and God protects him in his long journey. Derc and I fully realize that we are faced with a life altering event. We're preparing for Kale to have a tough road, as the potential is there for him to have some physical or mental disabilities, but holding out hope that he will be one of the few that comes out at the end completely normal. Either way, words can't describe how much we love our little miracle, he's so precious, so tiny but seems like he is a real fighter. Pastor Perry from St. Marks in CR came down today and baptized Kale. It was important to Derc and I that he be baptized early on in this journey so we knew God was with him every step of the way.

We'll keep everyone posted as much as possible, thank you for your thoughts and prayers, we love you!