Caydence's New Beginning

Yes, I'm finally posting again! Got a little side tracked once Caydence came home.


First of all, Josh and I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to the staff at UW's American Family Children's Hospital for taking such good care of our daughter and giving her a second chance at life. We would especially like to thank Dr. Hennein, Gene Kenny, Dr. Wilson, Jayme Frank, Dr. Proctor, Dr. Brazelton, Dr. Wilhelm, Dr. Neumann, and PICU nurses Jill, Jessica, Megan, Karie, Karen, and Mary. There are many more, but we can't remember all their names :) Thank you so so much! We are so incredibly thankful that the surgery was a success and we have Baby Caydence back home with us.


Since she has been home, Caydence has been a little cranky, but is doing really well. She's off all the meds for her heart and as you can see, her incision looks great! You would never guess she had heart surgery 2 weeks ago. I looks like it's been healing for months. Her weight is down a little, so they are having us fortify her milk a little more so it is now 26 cal instead of 24 cal. Hopefully her weight will be up next week when we see her Pediatrician. She has also been having some problems... pooing... but I guess the anesthesia can slow the intestines up. So hopefully that will get better.

If you remember, before her surgery, Caydence had a really bad gag reflex that developed when she was around 3 months old. Whenever we tried to get a bottle or pacifier in her mouth she would gag and cough really bad and put up a fuss. Now that the surgery is over the gag reflex is totally gone. It is amazing! She lets us put things in her mouth now! The only problem is, is that she doesn't remember how to suck because it has been sooo long. She just kind of pushes the nipple around in her mouth and will sometimes take maybe 1 or 2 sucks. It's gonna be a long process, but we are determined to get her back on track. So for now, we are holding off on the g-tube surgery, to see how she does.

Santa was very good to Caydence on her 1st Christmas! She got MANY MANY toys! Believe it or not, I think there are even some toys missing from this pic!


Thanks to Great Aunt Millie for the toy shelf!


Here's Caydence meeting her new penguin friend


My cousin Charlie got us this blanket with Caydence's picture on it from Costco. I think it's funny because she is SO BIG! She's like godzilla baby LOL!


It was the best Christmas, because we had our daughter back. Thank you all so much for your prayers. We are truly blessed!