Big News and Steps Forward

Morgan is now 16 days old!!!

The past week has been a pretty good one for little Miss Morgi. She is doing quite well, her breathing is improving a lot, in fact, her oxygen levels are just 2% above regular room level and they have also been able to back her off a bit on her pressures as well. With Morgan's ventilator it gives her pressure whenever she inhales to help her breathe. Since her Kidney's are squishing her lungs so much it's difficult for her to take breaths on her own. The ventilator just helps her with a little push of pressure every time she takes a breath. The ventilator also helps her hold in a little bit of pressure after she exhales to help her keep her lungs open. It's great that they have been able to back off on these pressures. It means that she's getting stronger and closer to being able to do it all on her own.





















Some other really great news is that Casey and I both got to hold Morgan on Wednesday night. We are able to hold her now about once a day if she is in fact having a good day. It's a bit of a process to get her into our arms but wow, what an awesome feeling to finally get to hold your baby girl for the first time.

The other big news is that on Tuesday morning on or around 9:00am they are going to perform surgery on her to remove one of her Kidney's. They will be removing her left Kidney which will hopefully help relieve some of the pressure on her little lungs and also make room for her dialysis. At the same time as her kidney removal they will also be inserting what is referred to as a G-tube. This is a feeding tube which goes directly into her stomach and pokes out of her side. This will be much better then having a tube in her nose for feeding. Much more comfortable for her as I'm sure we can all imagine.

After her surgery they will be keeping a close eye on her other kidney. They are hoping to be able to keep it in as it will help out immensely with her dialysis and make things much simpler for her throughout that process. They may need to remove it as well which would mean a second surgery for her and could possibly be as soon as the end of the week. Thankfully if they do have to remove her second kidney it should be a much easier surgery for her then this first one.

They will also be giving her a catheter a few days after her surgery as well. The catheter will be for her Peritoneal Dialysis. This is the type of Dialysis that Morgan will be going home with. Rather then the traditional form where they actually filter her blood through a machine, in this process they actually will be putting fluid into her Peritoneal Cavity which is in her belly. The fluid will stay in for a certain amount of time and then pumped back out. This process will be repeated for a determined amount of time, usually throughout the night while she sleeps.

This is very much so a scary time for Casey and Myself, but we both feel very comfortable with her doctors and her staff. We view it as a huge step forward for Morgan and a big step towards being able to take her home. Her team of Doctors and Nurses are beyond outstanding!!! Casey and I are so very grateful for all of them. We were able to meet her surgeon, who has been given amazing praises from her Specialist Dr. Jenkins. Dr. Jenkins assures us that hands down there is no other doctor in the states, or in the world for that fact, that he would rather have do this surgery for her.

Morgan wasn't able to dress up and go trick or treating this year so her big sister took on the responsibility of helping her out. She went out and has promised to share her loot with her sister as soon as she is able to. She had a really great time going out for Halloween here in Boise. She has been doing really well with all of this. She loves her sister so much and also is waiting as patiently as possible to be able to take her home. Her oldest sisters are also very much so looking forward to getting their new little sister home. Diapers and babysitting are in all of their very near futures!!

We are not sure as of yet when we will be able to bring her home. We don't believe we will be home for Thanksgiving this year but are definitely looking forward to being able to spend her first Christmas at home.

Once again a big thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers. Will be updating again on probably Tuesday evening or Wednesday to let everyone know how her surgery went.