Day 81 - Saturday October 13

The Latest with Kathryn~

She is now up to 11.5 on her feeds. I think it was around a week ago that Dr. Strange said to pray specifically for 10 -12 ccs by the time she came back on. Specific prayers have worked, because it looks like we are making that one!!

She is now weighing 2 lbs, 14 ozs so she has gained an entire two pounds since birth!!! The next time you have that extra piece of cheesecake or pizza and are worried about the two pounds you will gain from it, I promise that to you, 2 lbs is not that much. To us, of course, it's HUGE!! (definitely relative!)

The new development is that they have noted on her last eye exam from Friday that she has developed some signs of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). An eye specialist saw her today and called Greg and I to give a report. They are planning to perform a laser "surgical" procedure on her tomorrow that will take about 30-45 minutes per eye to hopefully stop the progression of the ROP and to maybe even help her regress from the current state. After they perform the procedure, they will do a follow up eye exam in about a week in which they hope to see no progression of the condition. There are very little complications that could result from the procedure, but the biggest risk exists if they don't do it. The concerns from this could lead to eyesight problems and absolute worse case scenario would be blindness. The doctors seem fairly confident that they can perform this procedure and that there should be very little complications down the road. They also seem confident that blindness should not occur, but as a mom that's really difficult to stomach. Dr. Dicarlo did mention that she will most likely be a candidate for some time of corrective vision (glasses), but Greg promptly responded and said that it is common from his side of the family to wear glasses. So please add this to your prayers for Kathryn that she tolerates the "surgery" tomorrow and that it is successful in halting the progression of ROP and hopefully reverse it. Our specific prayers about the feeding have shown prosperous, so now we are praying specifics about her eyes!

On the rest of the family front, I am finally feeling a little better. Dr. Kennedy did determine that it does appear to be a bacteria infection and we may have finally found the right medicine (after 5 tries) that will treat it effectively. As a result of the appointment I had with her though, they have determined that I do in fact have a cyst on my right ovary. They want to check it again via ultrasound in a few weeks to make sure it is ok. They seem to think that it is a normal thing, but they have to make sure!! I sure pray that it is.

Greg is doing fine and recovering with a little TLC from me and Madelyn. Madelyn is also doing great. She is definitely a 4 year old!! Her Nini (my mom) gave her a CD player for her birthday and she seems to love it. I think it is definitely her favorite gift and may even trump the bicycle. We have caught her several times standing in her room in her underwear singing Hannah Montana songs or songs from High School Musical.

Still no news on nephew Reed who is due any moment. If he doesn't appear on his own by Monday night, he is being induced Tuesday morning. So it won't be long now. We are all prepared for a quick trip to Montgomery whenever we hear news that he is on the way. We are not used to waiting on babies like this so it is definitely different. How do you moms that go full term wait this long?? :-)

Please keep Kathryn in your prayers. Specifically this week, pray for great eating abilities, good eyesight, good toleration of the surgery, and maybe some ventilator weenings!!

Kelly