Kaitlyn's 6 months NICU follow up

Kaitlyn had her first follow-up from the NICU. This is an evaluation 6 months (after her due date not her birth date). We still have to go back for the developmental part of the follow-up. As I was at the hospital for 4 hours yesterday, where we saw: Neurologist, EI specialist (Jan who comes to our home every few weeks), Social Worker, Nurse Practicioner.

I also ran around getting a urine sample from Kaitlyn to rule out a UTI infection - as her ped is trying to rule out any reason why she's vomiting so much lately. You may ask, how do you get urine from a baby? Well, you clean the "area" very well, and dry it, then attach a sticky bag, put her diaper back on and wait. I had to run to the hospital for her NICU follow-up, so when I was there, I had to unstick the bag to later take to the lab (she doesn't have an infection). And of course she vomited throughout this whole ordeal of running around. Well not throughout, just one very large vomit and one small spit-up.

The best news is that Kaitlyn was basically "cleared" by the Neuroloigst for neurological diseases like Cerebral Palsey (CP). This is a REALLY big deal. Now we figured she was probably out of the danger zone, but it was really nice to hear it officially. CP is a very common disease for preemies, primarily when they were without oxygen.

a rare time that Kaitlyn is actually looking at me - and watching me eat some tuna fish!! Maybe she'll get the idea! She just started putting her head to the side while on her tummy and can now lay like this for a period of time (whereas she used to get pissed off after a while).

A Steelers picture for Uncle Wayne in Pittsburgh! Thanks Uncle Wayne!!!

Dad holding Kaitlyn like a football. She's wearing the cute new onsie that Lisa M just sent! Thank you Lisa!!!! It fits perfectly!

She looks comfortable

Is this a laundry basket? Yes, I had to show what my life has been like lately. This is from ONE day of vomit cleaning. ONE DAY!!!! This is what we have to do day after day after day after day after day. You get the point.

Updated Kaitlyn Pictures....

It's been very hot lately, so Kaitlyn has spent some time in the buff lately. Here is her typical expression....

She looks almost "chubby" in this picture, I think it's just the way she's sitting.

Not sure if you can see it, but her TINY scar from her heart surgery (PDA surgery) when she was 4 days old is growing with her and is now quite long on her shoulder blade - at least 3-4 inches.

She loves to sleep curled up on her side - now you can see her swing is covered in burp cloths, blankets and of course she has on a bib...all in antipation of vomit - we are always at the ready. See her crossed arms....she'll "cuddle" anything you put in her arms. . It's so cute.

An attemp at carrots last week. Unfortunately, her feeding with the spoon has gone downhill. She no longer even allows me to get anything in her mouth any more. She clamps down with her lips. So much for some early success with the spoon and solids.

Here's actually a video of her eating carrots:

Kaitlyn eating carrots 2 weeks or so ago

Another Carrots Picture

Sitting in her fancy new Boppy that friends of Mame and Gille (Brian's parents) sent Kaitlyn this week. And in a very cute little dress

Kaitlyn in her bassinet with her feeding tube attached. As I mentioned, she LOVES sleeping on her side, with her arms crossed, cuddling anything. I've recently given her this super soft lamb-blanket (a gift from step-sister Kris W) and in the morning she is still cuddling it. I wish I had taken a picture of her in her bassinet when she first came home. She was so tiny in it, now she has almost outgrown it.

Our friends Keith and Kim came for a visit this last weekend. We took kaitlyn out for lunch at a restaurant in Tiburon (Sam's for the locals). it was HOT. Keith and Kim are from New Orleans and are actually "family" in a complicated way. The first floor of their house was completely flooded from Hurrican Katrina, but there were able to rebuild and just moved back in. It was SOOOO great to see them!

R.I.P.

It's been a bit since I've updated ...life and taking care of Kaitlyn has been getting in the way of blogging (that's a good thing).

I have news though, yesterday I officially retired my breast pump. Yes, R.I.P to my breastpump. After a 8+ (almost 9) month "intimate" relationship with my breast pump, I'm not going to miss it. Kaitlyn is on milk that is defrosted from the begining of March, but my supply really started going down not long after that - I don't know how much she'll have left, probably about 2 months I'm guessing.

The last few days Kaitlyn has been vomiting terribly....Really terribly. I feel so horrible for the little thing, she looks up at me with these teary eyes right before she vomits, like is pleading with me to make it go away. It just breaks my heart that there is nothing that I can do for her...and no, "they" don't tell me when it's going to stop. I get asked alot about what "they" say about her vomiting... I think people mean her many doctors and what their expert opinion is about why this is happening or when it's going to stop. But there is no answer as far as I can tell.

I have forgotten to report that K has 2 visits with a Physical Therapist. The really good news is that as of this time they don't really want to work on much with her (besides the "typical" stuff of tummy time, helping her roll over (she should be rolling over by now). This is great news. They were worried however about her continued averting gaze and non-smiling.

I was with 2 12 month old twins today, and seeing their smiles was so precious. How I yearn to see Miss Kaitlyn smile at me.

Kaitlyn's last weight check was 12 pounds 4 ounces, I'm guessing (hoping) she's at 12 1/2 pounds now - then again with all of her recent vomiting, who knows.

We have started trying to give her some formula to replace some of my milk, (but yesterday she had no formula and a TON of vomiting). It's very frustrating.

Here's a link to a video of Kaitlyn vomiting.... (this is my first attempt at uploading a video)

Kaitlyn Vomiting

Now a few notes about the above clip...She vomited in 3 spurts, (I missed the last and largest one). the first one was definitely projectile, and the end of the video you can hear K's "cry".

Pictures from my crazy day the other day

Visit with Dad at the fire house. This particular station in San Francisco is in the "Haight", the home of the Grateful Dead. If you look above Brian's head, you'll see that station's logo, which is a Grateful Dead Head! These were taken with my cell phone camera - not very good quality

Close up of Dad and Katie

Bonding for almost Father's Day

Eating Peas. Ok, it looks like she's really going to town "eating" in this picture, but she is really more interested in biting the spoon and blowing bubbles - she grabbed it right out of my hands.

And, you can tell by this shot, she decided to have fun "blowing bubbles" with the peas...this picture really doesn't do justice to the splattering of peas everywhere, including me!

Wow - Peas!

After the pea episode (and a bath), doing a little tummy time. Wow, I'm 12 pounds 4 ounces! I'm becoming a "Big Girl"

Kaitlyn really likes her colorful music box.

Tired, Tired, Tired!

Wow, what a day....

Don't even know where to start....

Brian worked a double (48 hours straight), which means I was on my own...

4:30 am, Kaitlyn started stiring (rare for her so early) so I changed her diaper
5:00 am K had a big poop so I changed her diaper again
5:30-6:30 K threw up about 3 or 4 times

8:20 Got up and took a quick shower, got dressed, etc.

9:00 A guy came to fix a crack in my windshield and our cleaning woman arrived (who I forgot was coming) so I had to crazily clean up tossed vomit burp cloths, diapers etc from the night-time craziness as well as try assemble the house somewhat so she could clean - it was a wreck.

9:05 Get ready for 3 doctor visits in SF- ran around, changed K's clothes (covered in vomit from night time vomits), pick up, defrost her breast milk for the day and measure out for specific feedings, pack supplies and spoon and rice cereal and sweet potatoes for a visit with K's feeding specialist in SF and pack cooled milk burp cloths and bibs (and extra clothes just in case) for a feeding on the road after a day of doc visits- also pack extra Mic-key button that needs to be changed for her appointment with her GI doc

9:35 Hooked K up early to her feeding pump so it will finish early as we have to leave the house

9:40 waited for the glass guy to finish and leave so I could pump breast milk (I'm down to 1 pump a day!)

10:25 or so leave the house, knowing I'll likely be late for the first doc appointment in SF; pull-over so I can stop the alarm from her pump as her feed finished

11:15 after driving around to find parking arrive late at my doctors office (I had to go to a new primary care doc, as my prior one no longer took my insurance) and I needed a specialist visit to f/u with the ultrasound I had last week on my thyroid (I've had cysts for a few years and they needed to be checked to see if they've grown - they have a bit), so I need to see an endocrinologist. I also ask for help about my JAW - more about that later...The NP can't find my faxed records, so I don't finish until about 11:45.

11:45 RUN with kaitlyn in her stroller to my car, as her GI appointment is across town at noon! Drive through golden gate park, and park and rush all over huge UCSF to get to GI

12:10 Late, obviously, meet with GI, Kaitlyn gets weighed and measured !! Yeah!!! She's up to 12 pounds 4 ounces! (Have I ever mentioned that I've eaten yet - no, will get to that later). We changed her Mikkey button for the first time (for the last week she's been fussy and crying when cleaning or hooking up her feeding tube, so I think that it needs to be changed or is too small now that she's growing). Kaitlyn screams (as much as she can) is very upset and promptly falls asleep afterwards in my arms....

1:25 finish up and run again, across many elevator towers to a different part of UCSF (at least I don't have to drive) for K's feeding Specialist appointment - Kaitlyn is sacked out, not a good sign for her feeding appointment to show that she is actually eating SOME solids!

We started about 3 days ago with sweet potatoes, and she is actually swallowing it and hasn't been upset! I'm so excited to show the feeding OT our success. But Kaitlyn would have none of it, she did wake up but wasn't the least bit interested in eating, so we left.

2:45 Call Brian, he's actually stationed at a fire house super close to UCSF, so we drive by to see dad at work....I forgot my camera but took a few pics of fireman dad holding K in front of the fire engine with my cell phone had to stop on the drive home when her pump alarmed with her feed being finished (no vomit)

3:30 stopped by my office to drop off an escrow file for a house that is closing on monday

4:00 or so - tried once again to eat something for the first time today, but I can't - why you ask?

Well, I've been having some dental work done - cavities from when I was a child all need to be replaced and I've been 2 times in the last 2 weeks. BUT alas, it seems that I've had some bite/jaw issues all along that are only surfacing now with all the work being done and the result is that I can't open my mouth! Hardly at all. It's been getting worse the last few days (It's been a week since my last visit so I thoguht it would get better), but no. I tried to eat a banana yesterday and had to eat it sideways. I can't even open my mouth enough to eat a power bar! I haven't eating all day. Driving back to Marin I stop and get a milk-shake and some french fries (small and soft) and call the dentist. I knew I couldn't make it in earlier today, and he does definitely want to see me, which I find out as I neared my house, so I got back on the free way to visit the dentist at 4:30pm.

Home at 5:30 pm, feed Kaitlyn some peas (first time with peas). Which was actually quite a funny experience, as she was somewhat interested in the process (but not eating), She thought it was great fun to blow bubbles as I put the spoon in her mouth, and even proceeded to grab the spoon and "feed herself" well, not really, as soon as the spoon hit her mouth, she blew all the peas everywhere......yes everywhere. I gave up trying to keep her clean at that point and knew she was destined for a bath.

5:45 - gave her a bath, got her milk ready for her 6:00 feed.

6:30 K threw up 2x, cleaned that up. she PROMPTLY fell asleep.

7:15 after feed was done, got upset again...picked her up , got a good burp (no vomit - yeah), and she feel asleep on my chest. (She hasn't done this in some time). I sat and vegged on the couch with her sleeping on my chest until it got ready for her night time feed at 8:30 pm.....

It's now 11:00pm

Well, that's life in the McCarthy household.

Blogger isn't letting me post pictures, I'll try again on friday.

You'd think after I'll I'd been through....

OK, this is too funny.


After carrying my girls for months, the IVF shots I endured, 10 weeks on bedrest, leaking of amniotic fluid, weeks in the hospital, packing my c-section incision, becoming septic, and now the daily barfing episodes, feeding tube, doctor visits, and so on.... that at least my daughter would at least look like me.....


No, alas! We now know the TRUTH. Kaitlyn is DEFINITELY Brian's daughter.

Ah ha! I at least have answers for those funny red eyebrows, the funny expressions and the color of hair (is it blonde? is it red? Is it brown?).....

Introducing Kaitlyn (well, actually Brian when he was a baby!) Brian's mom just sent these to me today! (Check out her cool 70's garb in the johnny-jump-up picture!)

Kaitlyn is DEFINITELY Brian's daughter!