Cardiac (Catheter) Ablation

Well, we took the plunge and scheduled the ablation for the end of this year.

Shortly after the last update we started seeing high heart rates on Kimber's FitBit.  And then 3 times she told me "Feel my heart, it's bumping", all 3 times she was in SVT.  I'm not sure if she has been having episodes all along without us knowing or if this was a new thing, in the past many, many times Kimber came to me and asked me to feel her heart because it was "Bumping" but when I'd listen it was in normal rhythm so I thought she was just becoming aware of her heart beat, I mean surely she couldn't be having SVT because this kid had never, ever converted out of an episode on her own before so why would she now?  I'm second guessing that thinking now, I'm pretty sure she's been having episodes for at least the last 2 years but was converting pretty quickly, obviously before I listened to her heart.  The last 3 episodes that we, and the FitBit caught, were short, 5-15 minutes long, and she self converted without any vagal maneuvers, twice we were listening to her heart and heard it convert on its own.  The self conversion is amazing news!  But knowing this now brings new light to Kimber's claims that her heart was beating too fast in the past, all this time we've thought she was SVT free when she really wasn't.  Having so many episodes suddenly happening so frequently we called the EP who upped her medication doses for the first time in 4 years and pleaded with us to reconsider ablation sooner rather than later.  After much thought and prayer we decided now is the time so I called and got her scheduled for December 7, 2016.

Here is a screen shot of the FitBit app showing one of Kimber's spikes to SVT:

And since then we've been waiting.  Last night was the very last dose of heart medications for Kimber, after 5.5 years of heart medications Kimber is hopefully done forever.  Now, I say "hopefully" because:
a) the ablation could be unsuccessful and she could end up right back on the medications soon after.
b) even if the ablation is successful the SVT could come back later in life, most likely around puberty when hormones and the body starts to change.

We opted to slowly wean Kimber off the medications rather than suddenly stopping them, the EP didn't say which to do and the Pharmacist said it was up to us so we decided the slow wean was probably best since we'd heart stories of terrible withdraw issues in other kids who stopped suddenly.  I tell you what, the last week has been so, so hard on all of us!  Remember Kimber has been on these medications for years, since just a week old, it's all her body knows, so when we started lowering the doses her hormones and her body started to resist, it wasn't happy about it, and essentially didn't know what to do without the medications.  Kimber has had terrible mood swings, yes she's a 5 year old girl and they're pretty moody by nature, but this was worse and came on quite suddenly.  She has been terribly emotional, clingy, and had a hard time being separated from us.  One day I had to carry her kicking and screaming onto the bus and had to pry a monkey grip of a Kimber off of me forcefully, plop her down in a bus seat, and the driver and I had to have an older girl sit next to her and block her in so she wouldn't leave the seat and come after me, the bus left with a screaming little girl and left me crying on the side of the road.  Luckily the driver reported later that afternoon that Kimber stopped crying very soon after leaving the bus stop and giggled and had fun most of the ride to school.  This week as I walked Kimber to dance class she suddenly wrapped herself around my legs and begged me to carry her, I obliged only to have her monkey grip me again and refuse to leave my arms once in the dance room, a lot of coaxing, pulling and prying, and I was again leaving a screaming Kimber in someone else's care.  I won't mention the long days at home, let's just say it has been rough.  None of this is typical Kimber behavior and all suddenly started just a few days after we started weaning her off medications.  Hopefully it is short lived and we have our happy girl back soon!

It was bittersweet giving that last dose!  And funny enough this morning as Kimber left her bedroom I called her back, presumably to give her medications, I stopped for a beat as she walked into her room and asked "what mom?" and I smiled and said "nothing baby girl, just go get dressed".  It's so routine that I know it's going to take months, or more, to remember we don't do it anymore.

Here is a picture collage commemorating the last dose, I couldn't help it, we needed to document it as it's such an epic milestone.

I will keep this blog updated, this will be my communication to keep everyone in the loop on surgery day so check back here often on December 7-8th to keep yourself updated on Kimber's progress.

Prayers that they can successfully get Kimber to go into SVT in order to accomplish the surgery, that they will be able to ablate it all successfully, that Kimber will handle the surgery well and come out OK, that we can avoid any and all complications, and that recovery will go smoothly and quickly for her, would be greatly appreciated.  Oh, and maybe a little prayer for Mommy and Daddy as well ;).

Past Due Update

I cannot believe it has been 18 months since my last update.  I am so sorry we have not been active here!  Life has just been so, so busy.  In May 2015 we added baby #4 and it really threw me off, I have not been able to do much other than care for my kids and work my jobs.

In May 2015, soon after bringing new Baby Brother home, my mom found a lump in Kimber's neck that concerned her, I kept an eye on it for a few days and realized it was growing, and quite fast.  I took her to the Dr., who happened to be the on call Dr. rather than her regular pediatrician, he told us there was nothing he could do for 2 weeks!  I did not feel comfortable with this so a few days later I called her regular pediatrician for a visit, he wasn't overly concerned either but he sent us in for an ultrasound on it, she was diagnosed as having a Thyroglossal duct cyst.  This is not dangerous and is seen in a large percentage of children.  These cysts can be left and watched for a long while until painful or very large, and it can take a long while to hit this point.  We opted to have Kimber's removed as soon as we could because she was claiming to be in pain from it and was not eating well.

In July 2015 Kimber went in for her Thyroglossal Duct Cyst surgery.  Everything went well.  It was discovered to be a rather large cyst that went further back than the ultrasound showed and proved to be a very good thing we had it removed when we did.  Kimber's heart handled the surgery very well!  We happened to get a very knowledgeable Anesthesiologist who had dealt with SVT patients in surgery before, as well as had patients go into SVT under her watch so she knew what to watch for and knew how to handle the situation, but like I said, Kimber did great.  It was a quick recovery.

Kimber's Spontaneous Hypothermia Migraines have continued to plague her.  She has had another 2 episodes since the last one noted on this blog.  She complains her head hurts a few days of the week and is still taking the migraine suppressant.  There is still nothing more we can do except hope she outgrows it soon.

This is an example of Kimber's temperature reading while in Spontaneous Hypothermia, this is one of her higher readings.

In the Fall of 2015 Kimber gave us a bit of an SVT scare.  She woke in the night with a very, very high fever and her heart rate was in the 170's, but it was not in her PJRT rhythm so we just watched and waited for the Motrin to kick in and bring the fever down.  Once her fever was under control her heart rate slowed to the 150's for the rest of the night and early morning when her fever broke her heart rate dropped back to normal range.  She spent the day quite under the weather but no SVT.  We took her to visit the Dr. when other symptoms became apparent, she was a new to us Dr. and she panicked and gave us a good lecture for not taking Kimber to the ER the night before with that heart rate but we assured her we felt she was fine, she still insisted we were in the wrong and actually made me feel like maybe we'd done something wrong so I called our EP who laughed and reassured us that our judgement was trustworthy and he felt as long as the heart rate came down with the fever reducers then she was fine and a visit to the ER was unnecessary.  He still didn't wish to see her until March, YAY!

We made it an entire year between the last updated Cardiology visit and the next one!  We saw the EP for a yearly, yes that's right YEARLY!, visit in March 2016.

At Kimber's March visit with the EP he explained that he didn't want to wean off of medications, he still could see the PJRT on her EKG, I tried to talk him into it but he wouldn't go for it at all.  Instead he said Kimber is ready for a catheter ablation, she finally hit the weight requirements and we are cleared to schedule it whenever we feel we can.  Talk about terrifying!  I've prayed for this day to come but I never thought it'd actually be here and now I'm scared to do it!  We want Kimber off the medications, so, so badly, especially since we are more likely lately to miss her afternoon dose than we ever have been, she misses the afternoon dose of Propranolol about 3-4 times a week because we're busy, we forgot to bring it with us, my alarm didn't go off or I didn't hear it, or my alarm did go off but I wasn't in a position to run and grab her and the Propranolol and I completely forget afterwards.  Her EP said it's not a very good thing that we miss doses but he said it is a sure sign it's time for an ablation, and he really laughed it off and said "let's get it scheduled so you don't need to worry about it anymore".
But here it is nearly September and I have not yet scheduled the surgery...
1.  Because I'm scared.  Yes that's the #1 reason and I know, it's ridiculous.  I just keep putting it off though.
2.  Because of the baby.  Some, maybe most, won't understand this.  Baby brother is 15 months old now, but he's still breastfeeding 5-6 times a day, I can't in good conscience leave him for an entire day without me, he's still not eating enough food or drinking enough from a cup to satisfy.  But I can't take him with me, a toddler in the OR waiting room, and then in recovery, would be disaster.
3.  Finances.  Enough said.

Kimber starts Kindergarten tomorrow!  *Sniff* I'm having a hard time with this.  We got a 504 plan for her (helps give exceptions for school, makes the teachers and staff aware that she has a health issue, etc.).  I have a detailed, written medical plan of action for the school nurse, front office/principal, teacher, district, and bus drivers, things like symptoms to watch for, how to care for her if she has an SVT or hypothermia episode, the fact that she cannot go long without food or drink because of her Propranolol, special instruction to try getting her into the lunchroom first thing for breakfast to stock up on some calories, allowing a snack and water bottle on the bus in the afternoon to get her home so she doesn't pass out from low blood sugar (breakfast at home will be at 7:00am, she won't get home for lunch until 12:00 or 12:30, that's 5+ hours between meals without these special allowances).  We saved up and bought a FitBit Charge HR for her after extensive research and finding an unbeatable deal on one, this will give me peace of mind knowing I can check her daily heart rate when she gets home and her teacher and aides can see her heart rate right there on her wrist all day, I'm working on getting it insured if possible in case it's lost or stolen.  Despite our constant worry about SVT my main concern is Kimber having a Hypothermia episode while at school.  It seems that is more likely than an SVT episode.  I keep having to tell myself I need to breath, everything's going to be OK.  I'm so happy she gets to go to school like she wants to but I'm really struggling with the thought of keeping her home with me.

6 Month Cardiology Checkup

I can't believe it's already been 6 months since our last visit with the EP Cardiologist.  Time is sure flying.

Can you believe it was 2 YEARS in December since Miss K's last known SVT?!?  We didn't celebrate it yet, it's been way too crazy the last few months and we completely forgot :(, hoping to have a cake for her soon though :).

First off the appointment went very well.  Miss K climbed right up on the scale without complaint, even stood perfectly for her height measurement.  And when it came to getting the EKG done she completely shocked me!  Just last appointment, 6 months ago, she screamed and cried about having the "stickers" put on her and I had to hold her while we did the whole EKG.  Today I asked her if we could put the "stickers" on her chest and she said "yes!", she let me put her on the exam table without any complaint and she laid right down and lifted her shirt up.  She was so good, she held perfectly still for the EKG, she complained that the blood pressure cuff hurt her, which is not normal, but I think the nurse had it on a bit too tight, and she didn't like having the stickers taken off by us, she insisted on doing it herself and that was just fine, she pulled all 13 of them off all on her own without tears.

I even got to take a quick picture of Miss K today, something not likely to happen in the past :)

The EP Cardiologist came in and said everything on her charts looks great.  He listened to her heart and said she sounded wonderful.  He was very happy with her today.

Having 3 kids in the office together makes talking very hard so I didn't get to really ask a lot of info about Miss K but I did get a few things clarified.  The first thing he said was that she hadn't gained enough weight to worry about medication dosing, I told him we were going on 2.5 years on the same doses and just over 2 years SVT free and we both agreed this is a great sign and that there is no reason to change her medications.  My only regret is that I didn't get to ask him why we couldn't try lowering them, or even try dropping the Digoxin, he didn't even go the direction of mentioning it himself which makes me think the PJRT must still be showing it's ugly self on her EKG, but I didn't get to ask him if this was the case with all the chaos of my 3 kiddos running around the room :(.  I did get to ask him my main question.  I have been wondering about the Catheter Ablation with Miss K nearing age 4.  In the past he has mentioned she'd likely have one around age 5, we're so very close to that age and I couldn't stand not asking him about it a little more in depth.  So we talked about when and why to do one.  He said he has done them on kiddo's Miss K's tiny size but only in dire circumstances where it was deemed quite necessary.  That's just fine with me, I am most definitely not asking him to do one now.  He said he really wants her to weigh 15 kilograms (about 40 pounds) and be age 5 or older.  He actually mentioned that height is more a factor to look at than weight, so say if a 5 year old is not 40 pounds but she is at average height or taller for a 5 year old then an ablation would be more than OK to consider.  But Miss K is so teeny tiny, she's most definitely not going to be 40 pounds around age 5, and going off her current height it's very unlikely she'll be "average" at that age either, she's very short compared to her older brother when he was her age (i.e. when Big Brother was 3.5 years old he had to have a 4T size pant to accommodate his length otherwise he'd have "floods" or "high water jeans"...Miss K is age 3.5 and she is still in a 2T pant because 3T are WAY too long).  Doing an ablation on a teeny tiny child presents risks, mostly a huge risk of not getting a vessel or two ablated because they were too small to see, thus guaranteeing a return of the SVT episodes sooner or later (likely sooner), but if we wait until she's quite a bit bigger he'll be much more likely to successfully get every little vessel that is causing the SVT's and thus preventing further SVT episodes at all in her future.

So, we keep up with the medications as they are.  No plans for an ablation in the immediate future, the EP Cardiologist says around age 7 may be a better estimate for Miss K.

And the best news?!  He officially said "I don't want to see you for a year!", the first time he's ever said those words :).  We don't have to go back in 6 months :).  This is a huge step for Miss K, we've been waiting for him to say "don't come back for a year" rather than "come back in 6 months, unless you think she's doing OK then you can wait a year".  We're so happy to hear this :).

A Spontaneous Hypothermia Condition...

Episodic spontaneous hypothermia: a periodic childhood syndrome OR Spontaneous Periodic Hypothermia and Hyperhidrosis:  a Possibly novel cerebral neurotransmitter disorder.

As if Miss K really needs something else going on with her.  Seriously, why my little girl?!  It's not fair.  A few weeks back I posted about a crazy little episode (Find it Here) Miss K had, when she woke up cold as ice, body temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit, sweating profusely, heart rate in the low 50 BPM's, listless and pale, in a room that was at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  Since then we've been to her EP Cardiologist who did not agree that her symptoms could be heart related in any way (Read Here), I was concerned and put on my Mommy Advocate, Research Guru Pants and started combing the internet.  It took a few tries to find anything worth looking through, my first search of just symptoms brought up a whole list of websites to comb through, none of them making much sense to me, I changed the search to include her age and gender as well as all symptoms and just 3, that's right just THREE, websites came up, all 3 made more sense than I wanted them to.  I found a diagnosis.  But my diagnosis was, obviously, self diagnosed, as well as found on "Dr. Google", I'm not a fan of self diagnosing especially through Google searches so I printed everything I found  to take to our Pediatrician a few days later when we went in for Miss K's 3 year Well Child Exam.  I'm beginning to really like our new Pediatrician.  He compliments me constantly on what a great advocate I am for my daughter, and he is always thanking me for being so informative, knowing so much about my daughter's condition, and for giving him new stuff to research (not that our old Pediatrician wasn't the same, he really was great about that stuff, I'm just happy to have found another one who is of the same mind).  So when I brought the information about Spontaneous Hypothermia he did not reprimand or belittle me at all, he thanked me, he read what I gave him right then, and he decided we needed to research it further from a medical standpoint because it all made sense to him, he felt there was a strong likelihood that this was what Miss K had experienced.

Since that visit with our Pediatrician Miss K has complained of her head hurting a handful of times, and on those days she wakes up seemingly fine and full of energy but within an hour or so she goes downhill pretty quickly, telling me her head hurts and laying around on the couch all day, her naps on these days vary between unusually long and unusually short and miserable.  We've had these types of days many, many times in the past 2 years but until recently she's never complained of anything hurting her, I assume this is only because she couldn't tell me what was hurting because she was too young to understand.

Yesterday I had to take Miss K in to the Pediatrician yet again, this time for what I suspected to be a Urinary Tract Infection or something along those lines.  This is her second possible UTI :(.  I was pleasantly surprised when the Doctor came in and immediately wished to talk to me about my findings about Spontaneous Hypothermia.  He explained that this condition is Migraine related, it's a type of Migraine that typically affects children but can sometimes affect adults too.  He explained that he's almost positive Miss K has a rare Migraine condition that we've never caught symptoms of before because she's taking Propranolol, which is not only a heart Arrhythmia and Blood Pressure medication but also a Migraine suppressant, he feels the Propranolol has been suppressing any and most signs of Migraine.  When I told him about her past off days and her added complaint of her head hurting it only confirmed his suspicions.  He has requested some medical journals not available to the public and is going to research them when they arrive, he also has a friend who is a Pediatric Neurologist, supposedly one of the top PN's in Utah, he highly recommends her, once he has researched the journals he plans to contact this PN and ask her opinion, he says he's more than sure she will wish to consult with me and Kimber as soon as possible and he suggests we do so.  He talked about starting her on a Migraine medication immediately but I told him I'd rather not just yet, I want to be sure we're treating what we think we're treating before pushing yet another medication into her tiny little body.  Though his main concern is the future, when we do finally get to take Miss K off of all her heart medications and have a, hopefully, successful catheter ablation done, we will be taking her off of the Propranolol, which is likely suppressing any Migraines she may be experiencing, this could mean trouble for our little girl, she could end up slammed with major, unbearable, Migraines due to being without the Propranolol.  We all know this is not happening for at least 2 years but it will happen and we do not wish to put our daughter through such pain and discomfort :(.

To say I'm scared would be an understatement.  This isn't right.  It isn't fair.  We'll keep updating as we know more.

As far as the main reason for our visit yesterday goes...that's another thing of bad news :(.  Miss K had blood in her urine but all other in office tests came back negative so he's sending it in for a culture to see what is going on.  She's obviously struggling, she's using the bathroom at least 15 times in a 30 minute period and started complaining her back hurt the day before, she cringes when she tries to potty and she barely dribbles each time :(.  If the culture comes back with bacteria growth then we'll know we're treating a UTI or other infection, she is currently on an antibiotic to clear up whatever is bothering her.  But if the culture grows nothing we will have to go back in and do another urine test, if there's still blood then there's something else going on that we'll need to investigate.  And on top of all this she's constipated, which, if she does have a UTI, may be the cause of it, so she's been put back on a daily dose of Miralax, something we haven't had to do since she was just over a year old.

 We can use all the prayers we can get right now.  Our little girl is dealing with some tough issues :(.

It Seems I Spoke too Soon :o(.

Miss K had a breakthrough SVT episode this morning :o(.  Her first one in 3 months :o(.  Since January she's been quite good at having an episode once every 3 months, I should have been prepared for it instead of surprised this time.

Since last Thursday (9-13-12) we have been dealing with allergies, poor Miss K is miserable and can hardly breath through the congestion :o(.  She was VERY congested last year starting a few days after coming home from PCMC, around this same time.  We hoped, along with her Pediatrician, that it was not fall allergies but instead a reaction to being out in the open with all the dust and pollen that she was not used to due to being hospitalized for so long in a VERY sterile environment.  No such luck.  Our first adventure into an open area packed full of pollen and fall changes and Miss K woke up the next morning unable to breath and sneezing every 5 minutes.

So today the SVT could have been caused by any number of things.  I seriously doubt it is due to the Amiodarone being fully out of her system though and I doubt she will ever be put back on it again for any reason.  I also don't think she'll need her Propanolol dose adjusted, she hasn't gained hardly a few ounces since the last adjustment, but we'll see what she does in the next month before she goes back to see the EP Cardiologist.  When she had her episode she a) was having a moment of extreme congestion and was being forced to breath from her mouth constantly, b) had just tripped over a toy and hurt herself causing one of those "fun" crying so hard she forgets to breath moments, and c) had just gained the hiccups from the crying, and not normal hiccups but the painful kind that sound like the poor kid is belching a huge bubble between hiccuping.

I could feel her heart with my hand, it felt fine that way though maybe a tiny bit fast.  So I checked with the stethoscope to find that she was indeed in SVT, though I'm not sure if it was True SVT (True SVT is a heart rate over 210 BPM) or if she was just beating a little too fast for her normal heart rate as I didn't take the time to count it out but it surely didn't sound fast enough to be at 210+ BPM.  I cradled her and blew in her face, the little stinker smiled and giggled through the Physical Maneuver lol and I was sure it wasn't going to work but she surprised me, when I listened with the stethoscope again she was beating at her normal heart rate.  It took a mere 5 seconds from finding her in SVT to getting her out of it.  I wish I was brave enough to wait it out and see if she could come out of it on her own, but I'm just not.  I still fear she is still more likely to get stuck in it the longer she's allowed to keep that rate and that I'll end up taking her to the ER for help getting her out of it so I jump on the Physical Maneuvers as soon as I know she's in SVT and don't give her little heart a chance to try converting on it's own :o(.

I am disappointed, even though I shouldn't be surprised and should never have gotten my hopes up.  I was looking forward to trying to take her off of the Propanolol, or at least bringing her down to 2 doses a day instead of 3, within the next 4-6 months but reality has hit today and I'm realizing this is most likely not a possibility for at least another 12 months if not longer :o(.  Giving her the Propanolol really isn't the real issue...the real issue is that the longer she has to have the Propanolol and is actually having breakthrough SVT, no matter how often, the more likely it is that she will be getting a Catheter Ablation in the near future and that actually scares me to death.  I know some will say I shouldn't worry and that their child or other children they know have had one and did great but I also know what I have been told by the EP Cardiologist and what I have read about Ablations, they are not invasive therefore not as dangerous as say Open Heart Surgery is but they are still dangerous in that the surgeon could cauterize the wrong area or could miss and hit a vital part of the heart causing serious damage.  It terrifies me.

1 more month until Miss K's EP Cardiology appointment and hopefully you won't be hearing from us again until then, at least not bad news anyway ;o).  Here's to hoping!

Miss K is 1 Year Old!

I can't believe how fast time has flown.  My teeny, tiny 5 pound 12 ounce baby girl is now a chubby 17 pound 4 ounce one year old :o(, I love to watch her grow and change but I also just want her to stay little forever.  We feel so blessed for all the prayers we have had answered and all the love and support we have had from Miss K's very beginning.

In the past year we have dealt with a lot starting with Miss K's heart condition, her 4 days in NICU after birth, her 3 weeks in PCMC after her release from NICU, seizures, herniated umbilical, monthly and every other month Cardiology appointments, constant and painful blood draws, medication 4 times daily, Thrush, Yeast Infections, Eczema, constant constipation from her medications among many other minor side effects (see also Amiodarone Side Effects), and more.  But we made it through it all!  Through everything Miss K has always been happy and smiling, nothing can get her down!  She is our light, she brings so much happiness and love into our home.

So onto her Cardiology check up today :o).  Miss K's EP Cardiologist was impressed with her today, and he is happy with her progress.  He asked me if it was OK if we stopped giving her the Amiodarone, of course I responded with a resounding "YES!" and he laughed and told me to stop giving it to her.  We are supposed to keep what is left just in case but she does not need to take it anymore.  It will take at least a month for it to run out of her system completely and could take up to 2 weeks before we will truly know if she is done with it.  He says that occasional SVT episodes while off the Amiodarone, as long as they are short and she is coming out of them mostly on her own, are a good thing.  It will teach her heart that it doesn't need the Amiodarone anymore and hopefully help it to not depend on it anymore if it needs that help.  And NO BLOOD DRAW today (see Side Effects)!!!  We were so happy to just leave the exam room and be gone instead of heading down to the dreaded lab :o).

The EP Cardiologist also talked about taking her off of the Propanolol sometime in the next 6 months O_O.  He smiled and told me he completely understood when I told him "I'm more than fine with taking her off of the Amiodarone, I know she'll do great, but the day you actually are serious about taking her off of the Propanolol I'm going to be scared to death and may try to talk you out of it."  He said the parents who's child was in SVT 30 minutes to a day tops and never deal with it again are always a lot more eager to get rid of the medications than the parents, like us, who had to go through weeks in the hospital trying to get their child to stay out of SVT for at least a few hours/days.  He told me he understood my fears of ending up right back where we started, which really isn't my fear, I know that if she isn't ready to be taken off the Propanolol we won't end up in the hospital I'll just be on the phone with him getting the OK to start giving it to her again and she'll be fine once it's back in her system.  It's the fear of her having SVT period that makes me hesitate, I really don't want her going into it at all and knowing that the Propanolol is what is keeping her out of it makes me very hesitant.  But it is exciting to hear him talk about trying to wean her in the next 6 months after having him tell us that she will not outgrow the PJRT and that she will end up taking the Propanolol until she can have the Catheter Ablation at 45-65 pounds.

We have some great parties planned to celebrate Miss K's first birthday :o).  She is going to feel quite spoiled.  Tomorrow she will officially be a year old and we will have a small cake with her grandparents from both sides and a few really great friends who adore her.  This coming weekend we will have a HUGE birthday bash to really celebrate her birthday, and her big brother's who's birthday is in a mere 2 weeks, this party will be with my whole family.  And in 2 weeks we will have another HUGE birthday bash with Daddy's family to celebrate both Miss K's first birthday and her big brother's 3rd birthday yet again :o).

Just a little look back on how far we have come with Miss K:

August 8, 2011.  Just mere minutes after birth.  Those purple little feet and hands make me so sad.

About an hour after birth once they figured out why her coloring was off, now she's nice and pink though looking sad with all that stuff on her :o(.

Almost 24 hours old, still nice and pink and doing well :o).

6 days old and day 2 at home and doing great!

7 days old, hours after being admitted to PCMC.

One of the first days in PICU at PCMC.

PICU

Home?  You mean this isn't home?  And I get to see this place called "home" tonight?!?

Day 4 home from PCMC and nearly 1 month old.

2 months old.

3 months

Always smiling at 4 months

5 months, it's amazing how most of the time blogger will turn my photos for me but then just once it doesn't and I can't fix it.

6 months

7 months, her famous cheesy toothless grin.

8 months, one of my favorite smiles :o).

Our sweet 9 month old

Quite an energetic 10 month old

11 months, nearly 12 months.  Sorry, the pics end here since August has barely begun and all my photos are on the camera and not accessible right now.