Some Pictures of the family!

Quarterly Update!

Obviously I haven't been doing daily, weekly, or even monthly updates.  Ooops, life gets tougher busier when you have two kids. Between playing Wii, paying the neighborhood kids to mow my yard, and surfing the net working real hard, changing diapers, and so on. Add a job and all the other daily activities and updating the blog becomes a lower priority. Since the last post, June 16, a lot has changed.  June 16th I wrote how Keylan was back from the hospital after his two day stint.  He basically had reflux and couldn't handle his food coming back up.  Keylan would simply stop breathing.  Since then he has gotten much better.  We saw a doctor in Denver who prescribed some stuff and it helped out.  We also switched formula (double the cost).

In July Keylan's cousin Sofia, Aunt Wendy, and Grandpa Chuck came by for a few days.  Later in July Aunt Steph and Uncle Brian came by for a few days.  Keri and I started work.  I work Sunday's through Wednesdays and Keri works Friday and Saturdays.  We have Thursday's off together to go to Dr. appointments, grocery shopping trips, and so on.

Keylan slowly came off oxygen.  First during the day and then as time went on he came off at night too.  Last week we took Keylan up to Aspen to test out the higher elevations and he did fine.  Keri took him up there last week for a few nights and he did fine.  Keylan is really growing.  Over 13 pounds at his last Dr's visit.  Cayden remains a lightweight at 24 pounds.  We figure another 6 months Keylan will weigh more then Cayden.

Keylan still spits up quite a bit but he seems happier about it.  Keylan is really getting his smile on and he seems to be happy most of the time.  Unless you forget to feed him.

Ok, the next post will have some pictures attached.  Hopefully I can update you a little more often with shorter posts.

Keylan is back home!!!!

So yesterday we were discharged around noon.  No more apnea episodes and Keylan managed to impress the doctors.  We did end up asking for an apnea monitor.  After discharge we went and dropped off some prescriptions then went to the oxygen company to pick up the monitor.  Back to Walgreen's to pick up the medicine with a stop to Taco Johns we were on our way home.  Pretty uneventful trip home.  It was also a pretty uneventful night.  The apnea monitor lets us know when Keylan's heartbeat gets low or high and when he slows or stops his breathing.  So far it has been a good "peace of mind" tool when we are sleeping at night.  Uneventful day today.  We had carpet installed so it was an eventful day outside of Keylan's concern.

All is well for now.  I'll try and put in a word or two in the next few days.  I think I am way overdue on pictures so I will get on top of those as well.  

Keylan is in the Hospital!

For some of you this is a surprise!  Last night, June 13th, all was well in the Glassmire home.  My mom had been there for about eight days visiting and was due to go home to Michigan tomorrow.  At about 1030pm Keylan was hungry so Keri started to feed him.  I hurried to bed knowing that I would be awake in a few short hours feeding Keylan.  He usually eats every three hours.  We usually set an alarm and wont let him go past four hours without eating.  Either way I was going to wake up in three to four hours.  It didnt take me long to fall asleep.  Sleep lateley has been more of a privledge to life rather than a requirement.

At some point only about an hour after I went to sleep I was woken by my Mom, "Rob, Rob, Rob" I was having flashbacks of when I would sleep through the alarm clock and was late for school.  I am suriprised that I didnt jump up and grab the nearest backpack and jump in my car.


Really what my mom was tellling me is that Keylan is having difficulty breathing.  This was not good.  I threw some clothes on and ran into the living room where I saw Keri holding Keylan.  She was holding Keylan and he was a lifeless little boy.  He hadn't been breathing and Keri was trying to get him to breath.  Just before I arrived he had taken a shallow breath.  Something was very wrong.  Within minutes Keylan started coming around.  He was very lethargic and slow to respond.


I later learned from Keri that she was holding Keylan after he had eaten and she didn't feel that familiar breath.  She eventually looked at him and decided that he wasn't breathing.  Multi tasking Keri turned up his oxygen, stimulated him a little bit, causing an eventual breath.  The episode probably only lasted 30 seconds however Keri said it seemed like a hour.  Nobody will really know how long it really lasted.  Shortly after Keylan's first breath his when I came out.  


Of course this started a world of what if's.  What if Keylan was sleeping?  What if he was in his swing? What if? What if? What if? What if?  Keri and I have both been in situations where we have seen a one month old baby not breathing.  We both agreed Keylan looked just like the babies we had to work on during the course of our jobs.  Keylan was lifeless and pale for that short time that seemed like hours.  What if?


Anyways, during the next few minutes we discussed self transporting to St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction vs. self transporting to Grand River hospital in Rifle vs. ambulance transport to Grand River.  Initially our first instinct was to self trasnport to Grand Junction.  Grand Junction is where Keylan would end up anyways.  Problem with Grand Junction is that it requires a 45 minute drive in which about half of it has no cell phone reception.  If the "holding my breath" episode occurred again we would have to rely on ourselves and not 911.  With Rifle our only issue was that he was going to Grand Junction anyways.  We were thinking we could cut out the middle man.


At some point Keylan began serously crying.  This was great.  Keylan's crying let us know he was alive and breathing.  He was put in his carseat where it was determined he was again lethargic and slow to respond.  At this point Keylan made our decision for us.  He was removed from his car seat and I called 911.


Because of our jobs from this point foward until the ambulance picked up Keylan to transport him from Rifle to Grand Junction we only dealt with people we knew.


The 911 operator was Gina, wife of Brent who works with me.  Gina and Brent had just been over to our house a few days ago giving us a gift for Keylan.  Gina even held Keylan for several minutes.  I told Gina what was going on and that we wanted an ambulance to take Keylan to the hospital.  Fortunately we can see the firehouse from our back window and it was only a matter of time until the ambulance arrived.


Meanwhile while we were watiing for the ambulance to get there Keri had called Grand River E.R. and the doctor answered.  The doctor spoke with Keri until the ambulance arrived.  From the ambulance and assisting fire engines were several paremdics, EMT's, firefighteres that both Keri and I recognized.  Keri often deals with these guys when they bring in a patient to the ER and I see them alot because I will go out to medical calls and assist them when they need it.


Here they are helping us.  About 20 minutes later Keylan was in Rifle hospital.  This is the hospital that Keri works at.  Keylan did fine during the transport.  Keri got a big hug from the nurses and the doctor.  As we expected they contacted the pediatricians down in Grand Junction and made arrangements for Keylan to be transported to St. Mary's hospital.  About an hour drive.  I then left Keri and Keylan and hurried home.  We knew we would be spending at least the next 12 hours at the hospital so I grabbed as much stuff to make us comfortable.  Soap, shampoo, razors, deadorant, clean clothes, phone chargers, and of course the computer.


I set up my mom with the van and the car seat for Cayden.  It was about 2:00am at this point.  I told Mom to get some sleep as Cayden would be up at his usual 7am.


Keri had texted me and told me that they had left Rifle.  If I left now I would be fifteen minutes ahead of them.  I wanted to meet them right at the door with time to spare.  Otherwise I would get stuck at some security desk, deal with somebody that tried to look up my name, determine that there was no Glassmire in the hospital, and then have me sit for an hour while he figured out what was going on.  Well I knew better!


I met Keri and Keylan at the ER.  We were a direct admit to the pediatric unit.  We made our way up there while the nurse did her initial checks on Keylan.  A little while later at around 430am the on call pediatrician came and and assessed Keylan.  Keep in mind Keylan has been having no issues or symptoms since the original one with Keri.  In fact he was sleeping like a baby in his crib.  He was putting on a good show for the doc, Keylan: "see Doctor I am a perfectly healthy baby and my parents are whack jobs.  See I am OK."  The pediatrician said that most likely this is a simple case of apnea after eating probably due to the acid reflux.  Sounds good but what if it happens again?  The doc said that he was going to do a study where Keylan drinks some dye and it shows up on the x-ray.  The purpose of this was to watch the simulated food as it traveled down the esophagus, into the stomach, and then into the small intestine.  The radiologist would be able to tell if the anatomy of the body was correct and that the food was indeed going into the right places.  The pediatrician guessed that it would turn out normal.  He also told us that Keylan would be monitored through Tuesday Morning.  So a little over 24 hours in the hospital.


Keri and I were able to get a couple hours of sleep and at around 800am I woke to the pediatrician talking to Keri.  I dozed  a few time during this conversation but it didn't sound like his opinion of what happened had changed.  Our fear was that the doctors would write this off as acid reflux.  It sounds like our fears are coming a reality.


At around 0845am a tech arrived to take Keylan down for the X-ray.  Both Keri and I followed in a haze.  We arrived to radiology Keri wore the big X-ray apron and stayed with Keylan while I sat back behind the barrier with the radiologist and techs.  Keri and the other tech fed Keylan a bottle with the dye and I was actually able to see the computer screen as the dye went in and down into the stomach, then into the small intestine.  Pretty neat stuff especially since the radiologist said everything looked normal.


We went back to the room with the plan that Tuesday morning we would be sent home as long as there were no other apnea episodes.


Eventually Mom and Cayden came down to see us.  Keri's dad also came down.  With the exception of the early mroning test the day has been pretty uneventful.  It is now 7pm and we are running on cat naps hear and there.  We were told that the on call pediatrician would be doing rounds after office hours so we are tied to the room untill then.  Not like we had big plans to leave.  Fortunately my mom was hear so she can watch Cayden while Keri and I stick with our every other routine regarding the feeding of Keylan through the night.


Thing we are going to bring up with the pediatrician.

• If we are going home can we be prescribed an apnea monitor?
• Can we see a pediatric gastrointestinal specialist.  Basically a deeper look into his reflux issue.  

We really don't want to stay in the hospital however we definitely don't want Keylan to play "hold your breath" anymore.  

As always no news is good news.  I will try and update the blog tomorrow after discharge or if for whatever reason no discharge the details why.  

1st Pediatrican appointment 6lbs 11 oz

Well the first few days/nights have been uneventful. Except for being awake all night and all day. Keylan just isn't adjusting our schedule and we are definitely not adjusting to his schedule. I am however getting better at online poker at 2am while holding Keylan.

Today I picked up Cayden in Glenwood Springs from Grandma Dot and brought him home. This was his first time home in about 4 weeks. When we entered the neighborhood he immediately recognized the place. Cayden was so happy to see Bandit, Mom, Dad, the cats, and all of his toys. He was also happy to see his brother keylnannaklenelenen (Keylan as he pronounces it).

After only a few minutes we packed up the man van and headed down to Grand Junction. Our first time down to GJ since Keylan was born. Our first stop was to see Dr. Gray. Dr. Gray was the one that diagnosed Keylan's kidney issue while he was still a fetus. It was his call to deliver Keylan. Also working that day was the ultrasound tech that was scanning Keri and first saw Keylan's kidney. She made a comment that while we were all there on April 22nd, Keri's dad Bob had said something to the effect of "I wish Keri would make up her mind when this baby is coming out." The ultrasound tech said in her own mind she was thinking "its coming out today."

Dr. Gray was happy to see that everything was going good and wished us well. Then it was off to the pediatrician. Dr. Zind saw Keylan and said he was looking good. Nothing really to report. He weighs 6 pounds 11 ounces. 3 or 4 ounces up from when he was discharged on Saturday. Dr. Zind didn't offer any solutions to Keylan's odd hours and spitting up 24/7. We are scared to set him down in the crib as he tends to spit up even hours after his last meal, choking on it making us very nervous parents. Of course when he was at the Doctor's office he was sound asleep, flat on his back, and with a full tummy. It seem as if our kids always put on a good show for the Doctor's until they get home. We are trying different things like feeding with only formula for a few feedings and so on to see if that will make a difference. We are also going to try the pack and play as a crib tonight and see if that makes a difference. We used it for at least the first year with Cayden and it proved to be really nice. When travelling it was easy to pack up and Cayden didn't have to change beds. We only changed the location of the bed. Let's cross our fingers and hope it works.

It will be the day when Keri and I cheer that we only have to wake up three times throughout the night instead of pulling shifts and staying awake all night.

The picture is of when we first brought Cayden back to the house. Keylan was on the floor and Cayden was so happy to see his brother.

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!

It has finally come! We are home with Keylan. It started earlier this week when the Doctors and staff told us they were going to shoot for Saturday for a discharge date. We started to prepare. I went to Target and got newborn diapers. Picked up a few things and tied up a few loose ends.

Friday morning we woke up and cleaned our room at the Ronald McDonald house. There requirements are that the guest clean there own rooms upon checkout. This saves them lots of money. Our problem was that if we were being discharged Saturday we didn't want to have to worry about cleaning the room and making it to the hospital in a timely manner to get discharged. So we cleaned up on Friday, checked out, and then checked into the Holiday Inn a few miles away. As a special treat we made sure to order room service Saturday morning. A perk I could get used to if I was a millionaire.

Saturday if was off to the Hospital for our last time. I packed the van up nice and tight with all of the stuff we had brought down over the past month. Cayden was ready to go and so was Keylan. At about 11:00am we were discharged. We walked down to the van and Keri politely told me that she didn't like where she was sitting and that Cayden needed to sit in the way back and that she wanted the seat next to Keylan. I had it set up so that Keri was sitting behind Keylan and could reach over to him and give him his pacifier and make sure he is OK. We had even tested this seating arrangement out a week ago when we went to the Zoo with Cayden. Keri said "oh yeah this will work." Needless to say Keri didn't like it so when she demanded the change in seating arrangements I followed her Uncle Tom's marriage advice from our wedding four years ago. I simply said "YES DEAR."

Well for those of you that don't know when you have a mini van packed tight with you stuff and you want to put a forward facing toddlers car seat in the way back seat you need to attach a buckle to the rear of the seat. This meant everything came out of the van. Fifteen minutes later we were out of the parking garage and headed west.

After a quick stop for lunch and coffee for the ride home we headed up into the mountains. Keylan was prescribed oxygen mainly to get over the mountains however he will continue to use oxygen until his pediatrician weans him off.

Once we got to Vail Keylan was a fussy and hungry little boy. Cayden had slept up to his point. We stopped at McDonald's for Caydens lunch (he was already asleep when we stopped in the Denver area) and went to a park only a few blocks away. Cayden loves playgrounds so he and I played while Keri fed Keylan. After about a half hour we were on our way again.

Our next stop was in Glenwood Springs where we met Keri's step dad Jim. Grandpa Jim took Cayden up to their house for the weekend allowing us to get Keylan settled in without having to split our attention with Cayden. This would prove to be very helpful later on the next day.

Then the final leg of the drive and we are home. Our friends Megan and Jason had been watching Bandit while we were gone and they had dropped Bandit off at the house before we had come home. We let Bandit out and I have to say I have never seen a dog smile so much. He was very happy to see us. We set Keylan up in his bouncy chair and took on the task of unpacking the essentials, cleaning up, doing laundry, and getting situated. We still have a lot to do but we are making dent's here and there.

Overall things went really well on our trip home. Our first night was the usual sleep deprived kind of night when you bring a newborn home. Keylan ate around 9pm as usual. Keri fed Keylan around 11pm and I was exhausted. At one point while Keri was feeding Keylan in the bedroom I dozed off only to hear Keri waking me up. I changed a diaper, gave Keylan his pacifier and tucked him in. Keri and I then jumped into bed hoping to get some sleep. WRONG!!!!!!!

Keylan fussed. Finally I got up and sat with him in the living room with our new lazy boy style chair. I watched TV and finally around 230 am it seemed as if Keylan was asleep. WRONG AGAIN DAD!!!!!!! Keylan is hungry. I then fed Keylan until about 315am, held him upright so he wouldn't spit up for about 15 minutes and then laid him to bed. Now he was going to sleep. Well it was a deep sleep on Keylan's part. He grunted and made baby noises however he slept. Keri woke up at around 6 and fed him. At about 9am both Keri and I woke up and here we are now. Still getting our house put back together.

The picture is of Keylan in his swing that Cayden passed down to him. Hopefully there will be more pictures to come. With Cayden it was hard to find the time to post blogs. I imagine with Cayden being at the house it will be just as difficult. I will try to get something out once a week and facebook that there is an update and attach a link. If you don't have facebook I can add up to 10 email address and it will automatically send you an email telling you there is an update. Let me know if you want that notification.

Thats it for now.

Love Rob, Keri, Keylan, Cayden and Bandit. (The cat's too!!!)

Almost there!!!!!!!!!

OK, Keylan is doing great. He has been improving on his feeds and today they removed the feeding tube. Keep in mind he has to continue to eat otherwise the tube goes back in. We won't really see it as a setback as we are fully capable of taking Keylan home with the feeding tube. We did it with Cayden.

Today Keylan did have a blood draw and it was determined that Hematocrit was low. They will give Keylan epogen in order to get it back up to where it needs to be. If that doesnt work there will be a transfusion of blood to make sure it goes back up. Sorry I'm not very informative however I don't really know what I'm talking about. Anyways the docs don't seem to be concerned at all and we are kind of shooting for a discharge date on Saturday. It will kind of depend on his hematocrit levels.

Sorry no pictures, I need new batteries and they are in the car. Of course when we are in the car I'm not thinking about batteries and when I am in the room I don't want to go to the car. I'll get some pictures soon.

Cayden is doing well. Toys and Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Train are his form of entertainment for now.

That's it!

A long over due update!!!

Ok, today is Friday May 14, 2010. Keylan hit his gestational 36 weeks today. He is three weeks and one day old. One more week and Keylan would have been considered a full term baby. We have big plans for Keylan in the next couple weeks. We are hoping that as he matures he will "click" and figure out feeding. Currently we are using three ways. Breast feeding, bottle feeding, and tube feeding. The majority is through the tube however we are shooting to reverse that in the next few weeks.

Keylan gets tuckered out pretty quick so we have to let him take breaks. For instance at the 0900 feeding we do not tube feed him. Usually he doesn't eat all of his food from nursing or bottle feeding so the rest is tube fed. Then the next feeding at 1200 we just leave him alone and let him regain his energy for the 3pm feeding. We repeat the process throughout the day. Keri and I then leave around 1030 or 11pm and return at around 8am. During the three feedings at night the night nurse will usually bottle feed him once or twice.

Since last Sunday (mothers day) Cayden and I have been really busy. On Monday we just hung out at the hospital all day. My dad came down for a short visit and took Cayden for a nice long walk. Here at the hospital in the main entrance there are several red flyer wagons for patients and parents to use to tote around kids, diaper bags, and other stuff. They even have a little IV pole and often times you will see a patient being toted around with their meds dangling from the pole. Anyways, there are probably up to 100 floating around the hospital. Well Cayden loves these wagons. Cayden wont let you pull him or even touch the wagon. Cayden has to do it all by himself. Of course he doesn't pay attention to other people or objects and usually takes up an entire hallway and crashes into things.

Well when Dad was taking Cayden for a walk he called me and told me to look out the window. Sure enough from four floors up I see Dad and Cayden on the sidewalk outside.

On Tuesday Dad, Cayden, and I traveled to the Royal Gorge. A huge canyon in southern Colorado. A while ago they built a suspension bridge over the gorge and somebody had a good idea to capitalize on that and make it theme parkish. It turned out to be a really cold day and we didn't get to enjoy the trip as much as we would have if was 70 degrees but it was still a fun trip.

On Wednesday Cayden, Keri, and I just sat around the hospital all day. It had snowed in Denver a little bit and outside activities diminished rapidly with the colder temperature.

On Thursday Dad and I drove Cayden to meet Cayden's grandma, Dot, in Edwards, CO. About a 2 hour drive from the hospital. Cayden went with Dot and Dad and i drove back down to the hospital.

That leaves us with today. Keylan is doing awesome and like I said before we have big plans for him in next couple weeks. Everything will hinge on his eating improvements. No idea on a time frame for leaving however it will be one of those things where the doctors say "lets give him a couple days and get you guys outta here."

That's it for now!