Cute video

Not much to report. Kaitlyn is doing well. She did have her first ear infection, but she's great now. I have a hard time getting back here, I update on Facebook all the time, I just seem to forget I have a blog anymore! But I do have an adorable video!

Latest surgery

Kaitlyn had her second umbilical hernia repair surgery last Tuesday. She did great, and the staff at the Children's Hospital were wonderful! They kept us updated during her surgery so we knew what was going on and the nurses were right there all the time. Kaitlyn did have a few problems with oxygen levels and high blood pressure post surgery, but with a little extra oxygen given to her and time to sleep, she recovered well. The nurse said it was probably from the anesthesia and pain medication she'd been given, plus her crying when she woke up. She was back to acting like herself by the day after surgery and doesn't seem too bothered by the site. Hopefully this one sticks!

Been awhile

We've had a LOT going on recently, so I'm sorry there have been no postings. I seem better about getting pictures up on Facebook, but all of the videos are here. I finally sat down and spent some time getting things loaded, so there are a bunch of things in this post.

Let's see... in the past month, we've learned that Kaitlyn has to have surgery again for her hernia (it came back) and we went to Mississippi for a wedding. The trip was good. Kaitlyn did pretty well flying. We were even told she was great on one flight. She was fine napping a bit on them, others I just worked to keep her entertained. She was a party girl at the wedding! I got a few video clips of her below dancing. She didn't want to stop and was having a blast.

She will be having repeat umbilical hernia repair surgery on the 28th of July. We took her up to Children's in Omaha for this consult. He is sure the first one didn't work because of a weak abdominal muscle which couldn't hold the original stitch. He will do this one horizontally instead of vertically. He said it will be harder on her this time around. Last time it took her 2 days to be back to normal, so we'll see what happens this time.

She has had her first encounter with her wading pool (and a few more since then) and she loves it! Splashes all over the place. Hopefully things will settle down a bit now so that we can take her out there more. She's also been to the Children's Zoo here in Lincoln and we hope to be there again soon, too. It's been a crazy summer so far.


Where are we going?

Me and my Godparents:

Hydrating before the dancing begins:


Whee!!

Daddy and I waiting for music:

You're tired already???

Dancing queen!

First time getting in...

I'll do it!


My pool!


Splash splash!


Bathtime!

Smile!

Too cute.

I love baths!

March of Dimes walk

Today was the March of Dimes walk, and we did have fun! The bad news is that, due to the storms in the area, the actual walk portion ended up being called off at the last minute. The weather looked good when we arrived at 12:30, but the rain really hit at 1:30 and there was a good amount of lightening in the area at 2pm, when the walk was scheduled to start. Some people still walked, but we didn't feel comfortable with it (something about lightening and walking next to a lake), so we decided we will go back and do the walk on our own another day. We still had a good time, and they planned on keeping going with a party in the tent, but Kaitlyn was getting fussy and bored so we headed home instead. They announced that altogether $80,000 was raised. Team Zuchegna raised $525, which surpassed our goal!!!!!

I am disappointed in St. Elizabeth Hospital, because they pulled their sponsorship from the March of Dimes because of the fact that March of Dimes supports stem cell research (which I did not know). It is a Catholic hospital, which I'm guessing is why. They pulled sponsorship from the American Cancer Society for awhile, too, for the same reason, so the NICU nurse there we were speaking with said she hopes they can persuade them to change their minds about the March of Dimes, too, since it is only a small portion of what they do. I am proud of the NICU nurses at St. E's, they got together and formed their own team under another sponsor.

Kaitlyn got to meet a couple of mascots. She loved Homer, the Saltdogs mascot, and also really liked the Runza mascot and Lil Red of the Huskers. It was a good time with a lot of friendly people, and the booth with the NICU pictures and memory boards was very moving. Seeing that was harder than I thought it would be.

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Got a picture with Runza Rex! I really liked him.

Decided to walk around and check things out.

Daddy and I were having fun goofing off!


Mommy got me to do some table dancing.

Walking off with Daddy to check more stuff out.

I entertained myself with my stroller quite a bit.

We made all sorts of new friends!


I was swimming in my March of Dimes shirt, but man I'm cute.
Alright, it's over, time to play!

Recovery

Kaitlyn seems to have completely recovered from surgery without complications. She had her follow up appointment last week and that went well. She is now walking everywhere and it's very rare to see her crawl at all. Won't be long before she is running. She says a few words now, so everything is "done" or "that," sometimes down or doggie come out, too. She loves playing with her Little People toys. She likes playing outside, but isn't fond of grass yet.

We have our March of Dimes walk on Sunday, so I hope to get pictures up after that. I know it's been awhile. We've either been busy with our toddler or trying to get the yard in shape for spring. There is a lot more to this yard than our old one!

Surgery is done

Kaitlyn had her umbilical hernia repair surgery this morning at 7:30am. We were at the hospital at 5:30am where she got checked in and given a "cocktail" of medications to help calm her so she'd be ready for the anesthesia. The doctor stopped in at 7:20am, and she was taken back. The surgeon came to talk to us at 8:30am and said that everything went well. The only complication they had was that they had a difficult time getting her IV in, so she had 4 sticks before it worked. She didn't fight the anesthesia at all. She was crying once she got back to our room after an hour in recovery. It took awhile to calm her down, but after some juice, naps, and milk, we headed home. We were here by 12:30pm, and after lunch everyone got a nap. She was rather fussy all day, but after dinner tonight she was much more like herself. Giggling, playing with toys. :) She'll be kept quiet for the next couple of days (well, as quiet was possible) and we have to keep an eye out for possible complications, but so far so good.

Kaitlyn had her 1 year developmental appointment yesterday and did great. She is right on for where she should be right now. She showed off with her favorite game, "that," where she points at stuff and wants to know all about it. She had fun playing with the toys and toddling around. She's still mainly crawling, but will take about 4-5 steps on her own before giving up. She goes back in 6 months.

We're still on track for surgery Friday morning. We'll be at the hospital at 5:30am for her surgery at 7:30am. I will update as soon as I can. Chances are that my Facebook page will be the best place to look first, since I can update that from my phone pretty easily.