Prayers!

I ask everyone if they can please say a little prayer for my Haylie girl tomorrow as she is undergoing some extensive testing to see where she stands with her Kidney Reflux and her belly button issues. They will be performing a renal Ultrasound and a VCUG at CHOC of Orange to determine if she has out grown her condition (which we are hoping) or if she needs surgery to repair it. Here is a little background information to how it all started...

Back in December of 2010 when Haylie was 6 months old, we noticed she had developed a low grade fever of 101.5 and wasn't acting herself. John and I had decided to take her over to Kids Doc as it was a sunday night and have her checked just to make sure she didn't have an ear infection or some kind of other illness. We were sent back to be seen but the Doctor said she didn't see anything wrong and it could either be 1)A Virus or 2)A UTI. She didn't feel the need at that point to collect a urine sample as it was only day 1 of her fever so she told us to go home, watch her for a couple days and if it hadn't gotten better to bring her in to see her primary Doctor. Days passed and she didn't seem to be getting any worse but wasn't getting any better either. By Wednesday afternoon I knew something had to be going on, not only was she still not acting herself but her fever went up to 104.7. I took her right in and they immediately catheterized her to get a urine sample and sent us over to the blood lab to have her blood drawn. By this time it was already after 5, the lab was basically closed but squeezed us in, and all we wanted to do was go home. As we were waiting to get her blood drawn, I get a call from her Doctors office saying that she indeed does have a UTI and we needed to head over to Kids Doc to get a shot of Rocephin as she needed immediate medication put into her body. She also mentioned we would hear the results of her blood work in about 1-2 days. The days had passed and by Friday I hadn't heard any results on her blood work so I went ahead and called the office. I spoke to a nurse who reported that everything looked fine, Well apparently that was not the case. That night I get a call from from her actual Doctor telling me that not only did she have a UTI but somehow the infection has moved to her blood causing her to have Urosepsis. They again sent us over to get another shot of Rocephin at Kids Doc and to Mission hospital to have more blood drawn. Before I could even get my sentence out as to where the lab was, they asked me for my name and said the Doctor had called and she will need to be admitted. I was so emotionally and physically drained that by the time John got back from parking the car I was in tears. We both had no idea what to expect and how serious this really was. We got settled into her room, an IV was started and we were told the Rocephin would be administered every 8 hours. I had in my mind Ok we will be here for 1-2 days no big deal but by the time day 4 hit all I wanted was to take her home and be normal again. I think I even asked the Doctor can we please go home but it didn't hit mean until she said "I really don't think you know how serious this is, Your daughter could have died from this." At that moment I knew I needed to put my selfishness aside and abide by their orders. We needed to get down to how this all came about so they took her back to have a test called a VCUG done...This is where they insert a catheter, inject die through the catheter to fill the bladder and as she urinates they can see on a screen if the urine is completely going out of her body or if it is cycling back up through her kidneys. The urine indeed was going back up through her kidneys and she was labeled as having stage 2/3 Kidney Reflux. Stage 1 being the best and stage 4 being the worst, so she was right in between. We were released from CHOC 5 days later after there was no trace of infection left in her body and referred to a urologist who would be the one to monitor her condition and keep her on Medication twice a day to prevent any infections from happening. Dr Khourey, the urologist took a look at her films/CD of the VCUG and mentioned that first off not only does she have a Kidney Reflux but she also has something going on with her belly button. He explained that when a Baby is a fetus there is tissue connecting from the belly button to the bladder but when the baby is born its suppose to absorb into the stomach...Well hers never did (which could be a linked to everything else going on) and if it isn't taken care of by the time she is an adult it can turn to cancer. He definetly thought she needs surgery to repair this but wanted to wait a year to see how her reflux has done so he could possiably do both operations at the same time. He believed that her reflux can either get better and she grow out of it, get worse, or stay the same; if she has grown out of it, we can move on but if it has stayed the same or gotten any worse then surgery will be needed for that as well. SO...with all that said this leads us to tomorrow. The tests will give us answers to what further actions need to be taken and so I ask for you to pray for my little girl. I have no idea on how everything will go, But I'm leaving it in the hands of God and I know he will get us through this. I hope I didn't talk your ears off, just wanted to give you some background information to what has been going on, thank you all for your prayers and will keep everyone posted.

A letter to Haylie

My Dear Haylie,

Ive been wanting to sit down and write you a letter for a while, and now Ive created my new blog, now it is the perfect time than ever. Oh sweet sweet girl where do I begin, the moment your Daddy and I laid eyes on you, we loved you more then you can ever imagine. Your first breath definetly took ours away. I wish I could say you got a lot of my features but Id be lying. You are the spitting imagine of your Daddy with those big chubby cheeks and contagious smile that melts our hearts everytime. You are growing up so fast that sometimes I wish time would stand still for a moment, It seems that you were just growing in my belly and now we are weeks away from your Second birthday. How did this happen and where did that time go? A lot of the time when you aren't looking we love to just sit and watch you play and it amazes us how smart you are... especially when it comes to out smarting the baby locks. Your testing abilities are at its highest but at the most trying times we need to step aside and think it wont be like this for long, one day we will miss this. You already have the biggest, loving heart for everyone you know but especially for your little sister. Gracie watches every move you make and as we know she will be right there with you in a couple months, we hope that you wrap her under your wing to love and teach her then, just like you do now. I hope you two grow up to have the kind of relationship my sister and I had, that relationship is indescribable and you will see one day that when the whole world fails, you will have each other to pick one another up. She will be your one true friend for life, just remember that. I can't wait to watch you bloom into a bright beautiful young girl and watch you spread your wings and fly but right now all i want to do it hold on to this moment. I continue to look forward to the good night kisses and you crawling into our bed at 1 in the morning, reading books to you over and over and over again, you mimicking me as I sing to you your favorite songs, helping me empty the dishwasher even when sometimes your help takes twice as long, you calling for "ba-ee" (Barley) to come eat out of your hands when you should be the one eating, wanting to hold gracie or shove her Paci in her mouth as she is screaming...There are so many things I look forward to, but the most important thing is watching you grow into a bright, beautiful young girl and watching you become you in your own unique kind of ways. I love you so much and I hope you never forget this!

Love,
Mommy

New Blog

Back when we were living in the Netherlands, I had decided to start a blog http://johnandkacie.blogspot.com in which I was giving readers a glimpse to what it was like living in a different country. Now we are back home I have decided to create another blog where I can post all my feeling, pictures, daily activities and so on. I titled my new blog, "A Blessed Life" because I feel truly blessed to the life God has given me. I have an amazing, hardworking, loving husband who I appreciate so much and two beautiful healthy daughters. Cant ask for anything greater then these 3 special gifts, Id say I have a pretty blessed life. Stay tuned