I promise I didn't forget we have a blog

Let me start with...sorry it's been a while!! As Kale (ahem...my sister) so nicely reminded us in a comment on our post below, it's been a week since we updated you all on how Kale has been doing! Turns out when a baby is in the house you pretty much take advantage of any amount of time that isn't spent feeding the baby, changing the baby, washing bottles, fixing bottles, laundry and take that downtime to nap :)

So! Where to start...

On Monday I spent my birthday with my mom, taking Kale to his pulmonology appointment. I'm SO glad she was there, because as it turns out, it's pretty difficult to lug Kale and all of his equipment around. I didn't bring the stroller because I though, surely with my mom and I there we could easily manage. Wrong. Between the two of us, we left the house around noon and got home about 5 for ONE appointment!!! We lugged around Kale, the carseat, each of our purses, the diaper bag, his oxygen tank, a spare oxygen tank and a monitor. I wish someone was there to take a picture. We started with his pulmonologist who will monitor his lung and respiratory development. She was impressed with how he was doing and turned his oxygen flow down to 1/4 liter. He has been doing well, and his oxygen saturations have still been at 100% consistently. She ordered a blood gas and chest x-ray as well, and both came back pretty well. She will see him again in one month. She was very confident that Kale will not need to be on oxygen for long, she said she will likely turn him down to 1/8 liter in a week or two, then let him hang out there for a few weeks and if all goes well she will probably take him off oxygen after that. Can you say WOOHOO?!

Tuesday and Thursday -we had home nursing visits to check in on how his weight and feedings are going. He is up to NINE pounds :) So even though he wasn't eating all that well he was still gaining a little bit of weight. She will come again twice this week to monitor his weight gain. He is eating better (now that I'm mixing his formula correctly) and we're trying different bottles and some anti-gas drops to try and help his belly. There are days when he is pretty uncomfortable, poor guy :(

Friday he had an eye exam (I brought the stroller to this visit :) ) and that went well - no change in his eyes. She is hopeful that when she sees us again in 2 weeks that may be the last time she needs to see Kale which would be great because those exams are no fun!

Kale is still adjusting really well to home, he is sleeping well -we usually have to wake him up in middle of the night for him to eat otherwise he would probably sleep through the night. His monitors are also not going off nearly as much which is a very welcomed change.

Monday night Derc and I got to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings with our friends Lynnette and John for my birthday and we had a great time with them! We've had a lot of help and some visitors throughout the week. My Grandma Burkholder came down from MN for 3 days to help with Kale, Derc's parents have been a huge help coming over to relieve me (i.e. - take Kale while I get a nap in) and help with Kale. I've had some friends from work come over throughout the week and hang out with me and the little man as well, and as always they are great company! Today my Mom and Pete came down with my sister Mel, who lives in NY so hasn't been able to meet Kale in person yet, so they got to hang out today! We made a roadtrip to Williamsburg this week as well to do some shopping and get my birthday present, so that was fun to have a little family outing (Kerry you of course are part of the family!).

This week brings 2 more nursing visits, a pediatrician visit for some more immunizations and labs, a cardiology appointment with Dr. Law who is the specialist for Kale's specific heart issue. My aunt Jean is also coming to visit from Seattle this week, so that will be fun!

Well, until next time (which hopefully isn't going to be a week from now!)......

Thanks for checking in!!!