Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A little piece of Heaven



We got to “Kangaroo” for the first time tonight. It was absolutely the most amazing thing. “Kangaroo” is a way to hold newborn preemies, where they remove them from the incubator still attached to all the monitors, and lay them on one of the parent’s chest skin to skin. We’ve heard that it does wonders for the babies, so we had high hopes going in to it. When we went in tonight, Kamryn’s oxygen was turned up to 65%, which is the highest it has been. Up until the last couple of days, she had been on between 21% (room air) and 30%. I decided that Kamryn needed her mom, so they got Kerri ready and sat her in a recliner beside the incubator. Then they disconnected all the wires and IV’s and laid her on Kerri’s chest. Now, there is a monitor that shows how much oxygen is actually being circulated in her blood. They try to keep it between 85 and 95. It was riding at around 88 when we arrived. While they were getting Kamryn situated after laying her on Kerri’s chest and reconnecting everything, her monitor started beeping. I looked up, and it was actually reading above 95, almost as soon as they placed her on Kerri’s chest. They turned down the oxygen supply on her, and before long, she was setting off her alarm above 95 again. Over the period of about an hour, Kamryn’s oxygen was turned all the way down to 34%. She was still consistently alarming on the high side, but the nurse noticed the IV in her head was causing swelling, so they had to take her away and put her back in the incubator to remove the IV and put in another one. Now keep in mind Kamryn’s oxygen need had been on the rise the last few days. We were absolutely amazed at the way she responded to being held by her mom. They are concerned with her maybe becoming sick, so pray for that. Now, meanwhile, I got to go over and hold Taylor the same way. She also did very well with it. I think I may have enjoyed it more than she did, but she seemed to enjoy it as well. We ended up having to leave soon, because they were admitting another baby, but we were on such a high after leaving. God is so good.

8 comments:

Chita said...

Wow! How wonderful! I know it was thrilling to get to hold your daughters - for all of you! I'm sure it was 'heavenly' as you said. May God continue to strengthen you physically, emotionally, and spiritually through these roller-coaster days. Many Blessings, Chita

Hilary said...

What beautiful pictures and a beautiful story. I'm so glad you were able to hold your babies. We are all still praying.

Emily said...

That is truly amazing! I'm so happy that you both got to do that! It really must have done wonders for both of you as well as your girls. We are still praying all the time & love getting to hear the amazing things God is doing in both of them!
Kevin, Emily, Eli & Joshua

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you got to hold the girls for a little while. . . know it meant the world to you. We're keeping you guys in prayer. . .

Blessings,
Garrick

MillerMissions said...

I pray that you two will feel God's warming embrace renewing your souls and that as you hold your girls, they will be renewed in their souls and even their very bones will feel God's life flow through you to them. He is alone is worthy of ALL praise for His endwelling health which breathes into Kamryn and Taylor even now. We love you so much! Much love,
David and Glynis

Woods On Mission said...

Oh how I love kangaroo care! I found it really helped me bond with Evie when I struggled to have one with her in the NICU days. I wish I would've done it more often to strengthen that bond in the early NICU days. I didn't ask more often because I didn't want to be a bother to anyone and I was scared of the word NO. So my advice to you is to ask a lot! Even if they say no, maybe next time. But if they say yes it is one more time than if you never ask. We are keeping you all in our prayers daily and can't wait to see you in Costa Rica!

Shirley Conner said...

Ted & Kerri,
We are thrilled you have gotten to hold Taylor and Kamryn. It is also good news to hear they are holding their own and beginning to eat. Know our prayers for all of you continue. We love you very much.

ashley c said...

guys that is so neat. i'm so glad ya'll finally were able to hold them. it sounds like they are doing much better now. thanks so much for the update. we are still praying.