Kolten at the hospital

If you haven't yet read about Kolten's birth--scroll down some more.  It was hidden behind Kaylyn's birthday party.  Kolten looked great that morning when the pediatrician came in.  He ate well.  Grandma Julie came to visit.  She loved holding little Kolten, even if she wants to call him JT--Julian Tingey.  Since he was born on her birthday.

 But Grandma didn't get to hold him long before Grandma and Grandpa Cook showed up.  They brought Kolten his teddy bear blanket.  And then enjoyed holding him.

 I love this picture of them!!  Aren't they just cute.

 And then big sisters showed up!!  Everyone wanted a turn holding the baby!

 "Take a picture of me too mommy!"

 After everyone left, the three of us caught a nap.  I tried to feed Kolten, but he didn't eat very well.  And I finally got a shower!

 And then I had another visit.  My Grandma and Grandpa Tingey came to visit.  They were so cute.  Grandma woke up the baby (I didn't mind, but Grandpa teased her a little.)  Grandpa laughed when I said "look at how much hair he has."  He told me "you should have seen your mother."  I like to think about him holding my mom as a baby.  It was so fun to have them visit too.

 After Grandma and Grandpa left, I noticed Kolten was doing a funny sucking thing.  He had seemed to have problems breathing as everyone was leaving earlier too--but his lungs sounded good and they squeegied his nose.  So I asked our nurse to come and see if he was being querky or not.  He was retracking.  Which means he was having a hard time breathing.  No wonder he wouldn't eat good for me--I didn't eat good when I couldn't breath either.

 They ended up taking him down to the nursery to observe him. They gave him two chest x-rays, but they came back looking clear.  It wasn't until we did a heart ultrasound the next day--around lunch time, that we realized what had happened.  Kolten has a heart murmur in his meta something value.  This caused the blood to back up in his arteries in his lungs.  So his lungs were full of blood and couldn't fully fill with air.

 He was put on oxygen as soon as we realized how hard he was breathing.  And they monitored his oxygen levels going in his heart and coming out.  They were able to give Kolten a diretic And flush the extra out of his system.

The diretic caused him to become jaundice, so like his sisters he went under the lights.  Small price to pay.  The diretics did the job and flushed the excess blood!

Here is his tube down to his stomach because he kept throwing up.  He never did digest all of his second meal.  He had a few things given to him through this tube including his next meal--so he wouldn't have to try to eat and breath at the same time. Kolten didn't like it though and kept trying to pull it out.  He didn't like his helmet either. Most of my ultrasounds have his hands by his face.  And when they finally took his helmet off he had both hands touching his face for several hours.  And while his helmet was on, he kept trying to touch his face--and wasn't very happy.  Once I left him with his hand on his helmet as close as he could get.

As his lungs started doing better--it appeared we had another problem.  There is a hole in the heart of babies where the umbilical cord is attached.  It naturally closes off and usually we don't even notice.  The problem for us was that, that hole was working as a back flow value.  With it closing it looked like it would cause complications.  We started packing for Spokane Sunday morning.  And so many of you fasted and prayed for our little guy.  When  the test results finally came back mid afternoon--everyone was amazed at how much better he was doing.  His pediatrician said that he was doing well enough we were going to stay there at KGH.  Kolten was weaned off the oxygen and then we started feeding him again.  First very small amounts through his tube.  And as he kept that down, we fed him more.  And before he could leave he had to eat 30 ccs.  And he did. Tuesday we were finally able to pack up our little guy to come home.  It was such a relief!!

I know we were able to bring him home because of the power of prayer--and having all of you join with us to pray for him.  I'm so grateful!!  We couldn't have done it with out you.  

Meanwhile--while we were in the hospital for a week, the girls got to go visit with Grandma and Grandpa Cook.  I was shocked when they offered.  We don't worry about the girls out there, we know they were well taken care of.  But we worried about Grandma and Grandpa!!  And they kept saying they were fine, but Todd forgot to pack diapers for them (since they started out with Grandma Julie until they met Kotlen and then went out to the Cook farm.)  And Grandma just delt with it.  What troopers.  They were amazing.  And I think it helped the girls that they didn't have to be passed from one babysitter to the next while we were still in the hospital.  And the girls had a blast.  Grandma and Grandpa have such a fun place.  The girls once overheard me saying we could go out while they were in school--they firmly disagreed with that idea.  "You can't go without us."  We love and appreciate everyone's help in taking care of the girls while we were focused on our little man.

PS I am grateful for the technology that enabled us to keep in touch easily.  And all those who made extra calls to help keep people updated and praying.  But occassionally, as when we play telephone, the story got jumbled.  Here is the actual story and facts--but we are so grateful for all the prayers and those who helped us get the word out!!