Katie's Life In Pictures - CVICU: Back on the Vent

At this point in Katie's life, she had spiked a fever and was having to work harder to breath. This led the doctors to discover that she had a staph infection (regular, not MRSA). They put her back on the vent and started a four week course of antibiotics. It was really difficult to see her put back on the vent after she had been making such good progress. In retrospect, it is such an amazing miracle that she was able to survive such a serious infection and eventually get well enough to come home. We believe that this infection probably put a lot of stress on her heart and ended up weakening it some, but she was an incredible fighter and was determined to visit her earthly home at least for a little while before going to her eternal home.

Katie's Life In Pictures - CVICU: Post-Chest Closure

These pictures are from the period of time after Katie's chest was closed and before her staph infection was discovered. She was recovering quickly during this time. She moved from the ventilator, to CPAP, to the high-flow nasal canula in what now seems to be a very short time. Lines were starting to come out. I was able to hold her, although it took 2 nurses and about 15 minutes to get her into my arms with everything that was attached to her. I can see from her chest bandage, dated 3-14, that the last picture here was only a week after her chest was closed. She was starting to take bottles and one of the doctors described her as "one of the best feeders I've seen."

Katie's Life In Pictures - CVICU: Post-Surgery, Pre-Chest Closure

We are not posting many pictures of this time because it is too painful. This is in the few days following her surgery before her chest was closed. One of her nurses, Jessica, put a little bow on her head that looked so sweet. She was able to start sucking on the paci again as soon as she was awake.

Katie's Life In Pictures - CVICU: Morning Before Surgery

Katie's Life In Pictures - NICU

Katie's Life in Pictures - Birth