My Joyful Little Boy

Words can't begin to describe my joy of being a mother. I wake up every morning to little feet kicking me in my back, followed by eye contact (his eyes are gorgeous), then he starts smiling and then it turns into a ten minute talking session. I swear Kylan is really telling me something. He talks (babbles) soooooo much. I love it. Lately I have been thinking back to when he cried for the first time in my presence. It was the day I gave him a bath at Egleston with nurse Caris. It was the silent cry because only his tiny little face showed me the expression of how much he hated every moment of bathtime. Now 8 months later...Kylan LOVES bath time. As soon as I put him in his whale tub he starts kicking, splashing and talking. Oh and the cries now aren't so silent anymore. These lungs that we have worked so hard to strengthen fill the house when he wants your attention. I remember the first sounds he made after the ventilator was removed. The cry was so faint....far from the sounds of Kylan's 9 month only cry.

He had his month follow up this week and he did very well. He is now 15.8 lbs and growing. I have let him try almost all of the fruits and veggies of Gerber. I have yet to find something he does not like. I think that is pretty funny. I started him off with veggies first then added the fruits. I've read that there is no research stating if you start babies off on fruits first they won't eat the veggies BUT the grandmothers and great aunts recommended veggies first. I figured it must work...either that or my son is greedy. :)


For once there isn't much activity with Kylan as far as doctors visits. We do not have another appointment until the end of April! Woohoo! We are almost there. Normalcy is on the horizon. Now my next task is to get Kylan to start sleeping in his crib. I tryed the other night and it was an epic fail. Kylan woke up scream bloody murder where is my mother! We will get there.

Almost a "Normal" Parent

Kylan has been home from the hospital for four months now. It seems as if it has been longer than that. He has kept me busy as any preemie with a gazillion doctors appointments would. Since my last blog Kylan has come off all the medications he was sent home on from the hospital. The pulmonologist had a sleep study set up to see if he was ready to be completely weened off the oxygen. The night of the sleep study there was only a few hours of sleep. Kylan was hooked up to 22 cords to check various rhythms and beats of his body. Kylan was soooooo restless and fought for the most part of the night. The respiratory therapist had him wrapped up pretty good but Kylan is a fighter none the less and found away to take some off the probes off of his head.

The results of the study showed that Kylan has moderate sleep apnea so he has to use oxygen when sleeping at night. Although I was hoping this oxygen battle was over it is nice not to have to carry around the oxygen tank and monitor. I can move alot faster! Kylan is a much more pleasant baby as well. After the sleep study we had to go see the cardiologist to rule out pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure). High blood pressure in babies with weaker lungs is caused by the heart pumping harder to damaged lungs. So in order to test that the doctor ordered an EKG and an echocardiogram. Kylan was being soooo active that we needed two nurses and myself to hold him down just to get a 15 second reading. The nurses were laughing at him and he was laughing too. He apparently thought it was time to play. The last nurse was ready to leave and didn't find it funny that Kylan was scooting down the table as she tried to perform the echocardiogram. It was quite humorous to me. :) I had to get the bottle to hold him still. After the results came it the doctor gave him the clear stating his heart looks good and we won't need to follow up with him. I was beyond excited not to have to add another doctor to the list ESPECIALLY a heart doctor.



The next doctor that we had to visit this week was the ENT specialist. He wanted to check Kylan's adenoids to see if they were causing the apnea. After a little probing the doctor stated that his sleep apnea is not the severe and he just believes we should keep him on oxygen and let time do its course. We will have to repeat the sleep study sometime this summer. I"m sure Kylan will enjoy that. :) The doctor told me that I am one step closer to being a normal parent! It was funny but it's true. We are almost there. It's been a rough road but there's nothing like seeing the fruits of your labor.

Development wise he is doing very well. He enjoys his "Your Baby Can Read" programs daily. He is starting to babble ALOT. He wakes up in the morning smiling and talking. It's such a blessing to see him develop and reach milestones.