Update on Kaden

Just wanted to give everybody an update on Kaden. He is holding his own on ECMO. The Doctors and nurses are constantly keeping his stats where they should be. He is a very sick boy, but they say he is doing as well as a severe CDH baby and we just have to take it day by day to see how he improves. We got to see his little feet and toes wiggle at us this morning when we were visiting him. Grandma Debbie, Grandma Mary and Sissy (Jessica) came to visit today. Please pray for Jessica, too. She is having such a hard time with all of this. I think it is hard to really deal with when you are 16 years old and I know that she feels like she doesn't have anyone (her friends)who can understand what we are going thru. She is an emotional mess, too, not sleeping and crying at the drop of a hat. I feel some sort of guilt for putting my children thru this, it is not suppose to be this way.

It is amazing how it is the little things that make our day--just seeing any movement from him. We were told today by the doctors that the valve in Kaden's heart was closing (the valve that normally closes at 2 days old) but because his lungs are so small, it was making his O2 levels drop and making his heart work harder. I don't know if we mentioned before, but Kaden is only on the lung bypass ECMO. They felt his heart was strong and did not need to be bypassed. They gave him a drug to re-open the valve and his stats almost immediately improved. We are just in the waiting game to see how much of his lung tissue has viable air sacs. If he does not have enough air sacs, there is not alot they can do for him. For right now, we are really praying for his little body to continue to make urine (his urination has slowed down a bit since most of the blood is going to his brain and lungs and not the other organs in his body) and that the lung tissue that he does have will "relax" and start to oxygenate his blood. Like Kellie (Carter's Mommy) said, I feel like ECMO, at this point is a safety net. We do not expect him to have any drastic changes while on ECMO these first few days.

I know everyone is praying for us. We feel your support and appreciate all the comments. We are finding great comfort in your CDH stories, and are going back and reading the blogs of all the babies that were on ECMO. It helps us stay focused on remaining positive and believeing that Kaden can beat this. I know he knows how much we love him and want him to get better.