Ashton Family: March 2010

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Hospital Experience

So yesterday was a stressful day, probably more for me....I was a basket case! So we had a pretty normal morning, got dressed, got kids fed, got the house picked up,etc. Then we loaded everyone up around 10:45 and dropped Reighlyn and Keegan off at my sister's house who is such a doll to offer to watch them pretty much all day. Then Dad, Mom and Kairington headed down to Salt Lake. We needed to be at Primary Children's Hospital at 1:30 to get checked in and everything. But before we could do that, Mike had a meeting with a client in downtown Salt Lake at 12:30. The original plan was for us to drop Mike off at his appointment and then Kairington and I would go get some food;but when we got into town and we saw how busy it was and how much construction there was, I opted to just stay put. So we found a parking spot right across the street from his appointment, Mike went to his appointment and Kairington and I just chilled in the car. While waiting for Mike, Kairington and I decided to get some lunch, well at least for Mike and I; Kairington couldn't eat until after her procedure later that afternoon. Once the appointment was done, we were off to the hospital....I think I got more nervous with every street we drove closer to the hospital. We got all checked in and had all of her vitals and stats taken. Then it was off the the pre-op waiting room to wait for the Dr's to come and talk to us. I thought for sure Kairington would just be screaming since she hadn't eaten since 9am, but she was such a good baby; very calm unless a nurse tried taking her. She is deciding that she doesn't like strangers very much. The hardest part of the whole day was handing our baby girl to the Dr and watching him walk away with her to get her set for the procedure. I started tearing up, so we just had to walk away quickly so I didn't loose it completely. Then it was off to the surgery family waiting room, where we waited while she was with he Dr's. They had to put her under so they could check everything out. After about 1/2 hr the Dr came and gave us the run down of what she found. She said Kairington was doing great and was just sleeping away in post-op. She said that her lungs looked great, nice and pink and healthy. She said her trachea was nice and pink but small, but that there was nothing that can be done about that. Her larynx also looked great she said, no floppy cartilage like they thought it might have been. Then she said she did find why she is having sleep apnea, she said that her adenoids and tonsils are WAY to big for her. I guess there was an ENT surgeon in the OR next to her and she had him come and look and he said that yes they were way to big and that he would do the surgery to remove them for us. She said loves this ENT and would trust her own kids with him. So it looks like the next step as far as Kairington is concerned is surgery....which is SCARY!! They said since she is so small she will have to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days depending on how she recovers. We will find out on Monday when all of that will happen when I talk to the Dr.
After talking to the Dr, I went down to post-op to see my little baby girl. She was just waking up and wanting to eat...good thing I came prepared with a 6oz bottle for her and promptly gave it to her. She was still sleepy and didn't even open her eyes until Mike came back to be with us and her bottle was mostly gone. She gave Dad a quick smile when she saw him...she loves her dad. Usually with this procedure, you can go home within 30 minutes of the baby waking up, but since Kairington has sleep apnea and we had a 2 hour drive home, they wanted to make sure she was completely awake and having no side affects of the procedure before they would release us. So I think she was done with her procedure and everything around 4 and we didn't leave until 7. She was such a good baby, in good spirits and just chilled with mom and dad. She didn't really like having all of the wires on her, but she is kind of use to it with her sleep monitor she is always on.
So all in all everything went well and I am so relieved. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated on the future for Kairington.

Kairington at the house that morning..all smiles!

Kairington not wanting to get changed!

Kairington thinking that getting her vitals checked and held by a stranger SUCKS!

Life is good again, the nurse left and she has her mom Pre-op

Kairington and Dad Pre-op

Kairington & Dad before the procedure -Pre-op

Kairington waiting for the Dr - Pre-op

Kairington - Post-Op

Kairington Post-Op

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Yet another update for Kairington

So Kairington had her doctor appointment with the Pulmonary Specialist this week down in Salt Lake. Well the doctor was not happy to hear about how much she is still not breathing at night, but said her lungs sound good so that was a good thing. The bad thing is she is pretty sure she has OSA, or Obstructive Sleep Apnea. She is thinking that it might be her adenoids are to big, in which case they would need to be removed via surgery. Or that the cartilage around her larynx is too floppy, is which case some might have to be removed or Kairington would have to be put on oxygen at night to help keep her air ways open until the cartilage hardens as she gets older. Another thought is that her acid reflux is so bad that she is getting acid into her lungs. So with so many reasons why Kairington is having the issues she is having, the doctor made a to -do list. First was to order an oxygen test for two nights. Along with her apnea monitor she already has, she needed to wear a monitor on her foot for two nights to test her oxygen levels, check we finished that last night and now need to wait for the results. Next was to contact the insurance to see if they would pay for a sleep test, check, her office is checking into that. Next would be to have her stop taking all acid reflux medication to see what her body does with no medication, check, she has been off medication for a week and seems to be doing good....no major throw ups yet! Finally would be to have a bronchoscopy performed. This in-tells Kairington being put under and a scope being put up her nose and all the way down to her lungs to see if and what is obstructing her sleeping and causing her to stop breathing. So that is what we are doing tomorrow actually...we are heading down to Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital to have a bronchoscopy done at 3pm tomorrow. I am a nervous wreak the closer it gets, but I also know that something is wrong with my baby and this will help get us one step closer to finding out what and hopefully fixing things. So thanks to my wonderful sister, Ana and her husband we at least get to leave our other two children here....I am hoping that 2 less children will equal less stress in the waiting for....we will see! I will update once we are home tomorrow night. Please keep my precious baby girl in your prayers!

Seriously Keegan???

So I don't know if Keegan thought that he could fly or what,but either way he found out that gravity works very well in our house. I have told Keegan and Reighlyn millions of times not to jump on the couches, but do kids ever listen, really...NO!! So yesterday evening I was up doing dishes and saw the kids jumping on the couches and I told them if I saw them do it again, they would be in big trouble and counted to 3 for them to get off the couch....did it work...NO! So I was on my way down to discipline and was in the process of chasing down Reighlyn when BAM! Keegan's head connected with the floor!! He instantly started screaming at the top of his lungs and I ran to pick him up. His head had a good sized goose egg on it right away. It took a bit to get him calmed down and of course wanted nothing to do with ice on his head. So I turned to get him some Tylenol...and of course we are out.Ugh, so we had to pack up and go to the store to get some, so the kids and I stayed in the car while Mike ran in to Wal-Mart to get some. I thought maybe he would have a bump for a while or maybe even a black eye, but this morning he just had a bruise where he had hit. Luck kid, he hit the floor hard.

Keegan after "flying off the couch Wednesday night"

Side view of Keegans head Wednesday night

Well no worries, he made up for the fact that his bump went away so fast. Today while I was putting laundry away up stairs Keegan was dancing to a old birthday card I found(it is one of the cards that plays a song when you open it). Well for some reason, Keegan feels the need to dance with his eyes closed. The next thing I know, I here BAM followed by screams. I come running down stairs and Mike comes running upstairs from work. Well lo and behold, Keegan hit the exact same spot and has an even bigger goose head!! All I could say was seriously Keegan, seriously?! At least I had Tylenol this time! I guess he is like his mother...I ran into quite a few things when I was little. I have many pictures to prove it!

Keegan after dancing into a wall Thursday

Closer view of his head after meeting the wall head on!

Kairington 4 months old

So we took Kairington to the doctor for her 4 months check up on Tuesday and everything is looking good for the most part. She is weighing in at 14 lbs (59%) and her length is 25.5"(88%). I think I could go as far as saying it seems she gets her height from her dad since he is 6'5" and I am only 5'5". Kairington is such a happy, calm baby. She can just sit and calmly watch her brother and sister for hours, that is until one of them decides to try and include her in their fun...then she lets out a warning cry. This cry lets mom know its time to pick her up where she knows she will be safe; once in my arms, she usually will go back to watching and laughing at her siblings. She is smiling and laughing all the time (she actually had her first laugh for Mike while we were in Iowa). She is also rolling over from her belly to back and sometimes from her back to belly, but that has only happened a couple of times and usually only when she is mad. She loves watching her Einstein(the way we made it 1000 miles in the car), but mostly she just loves to be talked to. Her new favorite thing to do is buzz her lips and make spit bubbles. When she makes her spit bubbles, she laughs, but Keegan is pretty sure she is "messy" and quickly goes to find a burp rag or towel to "clean up" the baby;such a helper. Kairington has also started on rice cereal...she enjoys anything, not a picky eater at all.

Kairington enjoying her first rice cereal meal

Wright Family Pictures

We thought we would take advantage of the situation with all of us being together for the first time in two years and knows it wont happen again with Melia leaving on her mission at the end of this month....which means...FAMILY PICTURES! Every one's favorite thing to do, especially with a lot of little kids to try and get to look and smile together....fun times....I think we actually got some good ones though. A huge thanks to Amy Gleisberg for coming and taking our family pictures...your awesome!

Reighlyn, Kairington & Keegan...I am pretty sure this is how Kairington feels most of the time!

Kairington

Kairington smiling at mom

Kairington looking sad...she doesn't know whats going on...I just woke her up for these pictures...what a mean mom, right?

Keegan on a pink horse...I know, but he is smiling SO CUTE!! No worries I am going to get the picture printed in black & white!

Keegan is all smiles in the rocking horse

Reighlyn laughing at Uncle Jonathan

Reighlyn's turn on the horse...this was what got us through the family pictures...the thought of riding the horse!

Audrey's turn on the horse

The MEN of the family....we need to get a couple more kids that are boys to even things out

The Ladies...our numbers are strong!

The Wright Family!

This picture I think shows our personalities the most....I think its funny!

Ok, now we are all smiles! The original six!!

Grandpa Wright and his 7 CUTE grand kids!!

Thayne & Audrey(3 yrs)

The Gleisberg's : Ariana, Jonathan, Adien(11 months), Addison(4 yrs), & Kileigh(3 yrs)

The Ashton's: Mike, Kjersta, Kairington(4 months), Reighlyn(3 yrs), & Keegan(2 yrs)

THE WHOLE CLAN!

Wright Family Game Night

So we decided to all get together and play some games while we were all home...kind of a practice for when we are in Colorado. The Gleisbergs were awesome and offered to keep Ariana's kids that night and my kids went to bed at 7, so it was nice not to have TONS of kids running around or trying to "play" with us. It was pretty quiet as far as that was concerned...Thayne's little girl, Audrey was there and then Kairington was up for a little while, but for the most part you wouldn't have known that there were any kids around. We had a full house that is for sure...the group consisted of: Dad, Garth, Melia, Mike, Myself, Ana, Jonathan, Thayne, Sarah(his friend), Tasha, Chris(Tasha's bf) and then of course Audrey and Kairington; but no worries we all got around the table to get in on all the fun games. Before the games began, we all enjoyed some Papa Murphy's pizza, then headed for the games. First we started to the night out with Apples to Apples. While the games got started, Tasha and I ran to the grocery store for some beverages and candy and goodies to much on. Melia also made some marshmallow brownies and Sarah brought some brownies and cookies; we had plenty to eat that is for sure. After many, many rounds, we decided to switch games. While switching games, Dad decided to call it a night and Garth, trying to get back into the groove of things called it a night. Dad went to his bed to go to bed, Garth not so much...he made himself quite comfortable on the living room floor, flat on his back. All and all we had TONS of fun....the Wrights know how to have fun!