Kaitlyn Smiled...and good lung news.

You can't know how long I've been waiting to see my daughter smile. She's almost a year old and FINALLY she's smiled!!!

Kaitlyn smiled yesterday about 7 times and today about 3 times!!!!! I was able to capture the moment on film. It first happened yesterday on her changing table, she was looking up at the ceiling, (yes, the ceiling) not her mobile, not me, not anything in particluar, she looked above her head and broke out in a smile. A big smile. A really big smile. I got her eyes and the smile stopped, she looked upward again, and smiled again and again and again. I started crying when I looked up at the ceiling and didn't see what she was looking at.

Because the first thing I thought of was the fact that Corinne's ashes are in Kaitlyn's room and I felt her presense so strongly as Kaitlyn smiled for the first time over and over and over. Tears lept to my eyes. I called Brian in and she presented us with a few more smiles.

I went to bed hoping that maybe this morning for the first time ever she would smile at me, but no that's still not to be. Later when I was about to give her a bath she did the same thing, looked upward and smiled about 4 times - AND I was able to capture 2 on camera!

OK, I thought my daughter was beautiful with her serious face, but look at her now!!!

Enjoy (and oh, Kaitlyn is 15 pounds 6 ounces - she finally surpassed the 15 pound mark)!!!

OK, I should probably post this in a seperate email, just to end on the smile above, but at least the following is good news:

Lung Test

Kaitlyn had her lung test (again - remember the last one failed AFTER she was sedated) this last week, and this time the machines were working. The test was scary for mom, as having Kaitlyn sedated brought me back to the NICU. I guess there are only 20 of these machines any where in the world, so we are lucky that we have access to such good medical care here. The test was at UCSF.

The test basically is similar to what an adult would go through on a lung function test, but an adult can hold their breath, suck in air, blow out hard, etc, and an infant obviously can't.

There are different portions of the test, one part she had to be closed in a box, other parts they held her breath for 3 breaths, and another where her chest is expanded. The whole thing was scary for me. Pictures of the test are below.

This was after the test, while Kaitlyn was still sedated. I'm holding her and couldn't wait for her to wake up.

Resluts of Kaitlyn's lung function test:

Basically Kaitlyn does in deed have Chronic Lung Disease (that certainly wasn't anything out of the ordinary,) BUT the good news is that it seems to be fairly mild. This is absolutely amazing news, remember that Kaitlyn spent 1 month on a ventilator, had her lungs collasp many times, filled with fluid and was put on many many drugs during that time. She then spent more weeks on a CPAP machine and another 2 months on oxygen. We were completely surprised that she didn't come home from the NICU needing oxygen and now we are even more pleasantly surprised that her Lung Disease is only mild.

Now, she's still at risk for RSV (which is a common child cold/flu that if kids with Chronic Lung Disease get it can be put right back onto a ventilator) and will still need to be under hibernation from other children this winter, BUT I feel that it won't need to be as strict now as we had to be last winter, which is great news!! it also means that she can fly on an airplane (again not in the winter with flug bugs and RSV season).

Here are a few bath pictures - Kaitlyn's first Big Girl Bath!