It's times few and far between when I have a chance to be online these days! But, my little people are all sleeping and I keep thinking Kai is going to wake up and want to eat, so I don't want to lay down because he has a wonderful knack for knowing the exact second that I get warm and start to feel drowsy and that's when he wakes up! :)

Just thought I would update everyone on his progress and what's going on. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. They mean so much to Sam and I.

We went back to Iowa City on Tuesday for a follow-up with Dr. Pitcher, the pediatric surgeon who did Kai's surgery. He was VERY pleased with Kai's progress and said everything looks great. The stiches all fell out like they were supposed to, so I was glad they didn't actually have to remove them. He said the placement is perfect and the healing looks great, so that was wonderful to hear. HOWEVER, now we had to start dilation of poor little Kai's bum. SOOO not a fun thing! Basically I have to put a little metal thing into his bum morning and night. I almost cried the first time I had to do it, and Kai was not pleased either to say the least. Dr. Pitcher made me do it with him watching the first time. I started and then stopped and told him I just couldn't do that to poor Kai. He just smiled and told me it was either that or another surgery down the road. I did it. Every time I do it, it's a little less traumatic and Kai is tolerating it better too. Dr. Pitcher said before too long it won't even really bother him much at all. I think I've said it before, but we are really pleased with Dr. Pitcher. He is very easy to talk to and is a very "real" person. It makes this whole process a lot easier when you completely trust the person running the show! And not just Dr. Pitcher either-I need to keep telling myself that-"This whole proces is much easier when you have faith and just put your trust in the ONE who is running the show!" I have to admit, it's not always easy, especially when I see my sweet baby in pain, but I'm trying.

We head down to Iowa City again in 2 weeks and every 2 weeks after. Each time they will increase the size of the dilation tool until it's where Dr. Pitcher thinks it should be. I was worried it would be a long process-like several YEARS of dilating, but he said probably just 3-6 months, so I can handle that. Plus, when you go to a clinic like that and see how much worse things could be, it really makes you count your blessings and realize this is VERY do-able

Other than that, Kai is a model baby. He is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen and one of these days I will get some pics of him up here and on Facebook. He hasn't got the memo about sleeping good at night yet, but he's getting there. He tolerates the "love" he is constantly surrounded with VERY well. Claire is CONVINCED that he needs his pluggy at all times, so we are working on that he actually does NOT need it ALL the time and when he does we do not just SHOVE it in his mouth. Poor kid! :) He gets about 400 million kisses a day and the SECOND he makes a peep from his bed, I hear about it and 3 little people are there INSTANTLY to see if he's awake! :) To say they are in love is an understatement, but I wouldn't want it any other way. It gets a bit challenging at times, but overall, it's nice they love him so much. He's very calm and has proved he can sleep thru the chaos that is our house, so we are pretty sure we'll keep him. :)

I hear the tell-tale little squeaks and grunts :) that there's a little man starting to wake up, so will wrap up for now. Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers.

Update on Baby Kai

What a whirlwind few days of life my little man has had! For those who don't have Facebook :) Kai Geordon Brandt was born on April 7th at 4:33 PM. He was 7 lbs 7.9 oz and 20.5 inches long. Seriously, he is the cutest baby ever. To quote a very special Granny "It's not biased, it's just the truth!" :) Shortly after Kai was born, they found he had low blood sugar. He wasn't really wanting to eat and was very sleepy. Nothing could really get him to eat, so we, per a dr order, had to give him some formula. It broke my heart, because I so badly wanted to nurse him, and in my brain, even one formula feeding would screw all that up. Thankfully, it didn't but he still just wouldn't eat very good. I was a little concerned, but figured that he was just sleepy from being born and would come around eventually. We were laying in bed the next night and I remember laughing as I was changing Kai's diaper. I told Sam that he sure had a funny little butt. When he would poop, it wasn't the big yucky meconium poop that my other kids had. It was just little tiny spots in the diaper. I mentioned something to the nurse and she said that's just how some babies are and that was that. Saturday rolled around and preparations were being made for us to head home with our precious little man. The doctor came in to give us info about Kai's circumcision, which was the only thing stopping us from going home. He said I probably won't see you again unless I have a problem and headed out. Sam went in to shower and I was talking to my mom on the phone when the dr came back in. My heart sank and I told Mom that I would have to call her back. The doctors words were something to the effect of "I did not do the circumcision and plans are in the works for you to head immediately to Iowa City. I have talked to the doctor there and they are expecting you." Turns out his funny little butt wasn't very funny at all. Basically, Kai was born without an anus. Seriously??? I didn't even know that could happen, but apparently it can! The little hole that he did have was something else I guess. We had to come to Iowa City because they don't have the capabilities at Covenant that they do here. So, here we are-on our way to Iowa City with my brand new sweetie, not a clue in the world what was wrong with him. I'm tired from being up at night trying to get him to eat and those lovely post pregnancy hormones are flowing like crazy and my mood swings are just as crazy. I tore a little during Kai's birth so that discomfort is there as well. LOVELY!! When we got here, on the of first things they did was of course, put in an IV. I absolutely HATE IV's in me. They hurt me like crazy and I was seriously just about hysterical as they were attempting to put his in. They wouldn't let me feed him once they knew we were headed to Iowa City, so of course he was a little dehydrated which makes it hard to start and IV. They had to work FOREVER to get it in and I will never in my life forget standing there with my head buried in Sam's side sobbing and listening to my baby whimper. It was all I could do to now grab him and run, even though I knew that wasn't an option. It was horrible. The pediatric surgeon, Dr Pitcher, came to talk to us later and upon examination, decided to go ahead and do surgery immediately to basically make him an anus. Things kind of went into high speed from there and before we knew it we were walking with him in a little oven looking thing heading to the OR. Again tears were shed as I had to turn and walk the opposite direction, but I was very comfortable knowing he was in good hands. Dr. Pitcher is really wonderful and we like him a lot. The staff here is all fabulous and we can't say enough about the care that Kai has received here. Kai's surgery went really well. Dr. Pitcher reassured us that everything went perfectly. From the way I understand it, the insides were pretty much intact, and they just had to cut a little hole and do a few things at the very end of the inside if that makes sense. Dr. Pitcher said they have a special tool that they use to find the perfect spot in the muscles, etc, so his little bum hole is now right where it should be! Kai hasn't seemed like he is in much, if any pain. They keep on top it with tylonel, and he seems to be doing great. The kid is a pooping machine now! All that meconium must have been backed up but it's all coming out now! I know your opinion of poop changes once you have kids, but I am seriously THRILLED everytime I smell that stinky smell! :) We have to stay at the hospital a few days for several reasons. Kai is on antibiotics to ward off infection from surgery, and that is via IV, so we have to stay here for that. The neonatologist, Dr. Morriss, said this morning that he wanted a CBC to see if Kai needs 3 or 5 days of antibiotics. 3 days would mean that we get to go home tomorrow, so please pray that he only needs 3. Kai is also having a whole bunch of tests done today as well. Basically, Dr. Morriss said that when there is any abnormality of this type, they do a whole bunch of other tests to make sure it's not part of something bigger. So far today, Kai has had a chest x-ray and a echocardiogram and we're waiting on an ultrasound of his renals and his spine. They are also hoping to get him off his IV fluids today, so they have been checking his glucose levels as well. That poor childs heels look like pin cushions but he seems to be tolerating it well. He is nursing very well which I am more than thrilled about. Sam and I spent the night last night at the Ronald McDonald House here in Iowa City. I desperately needed to soak in a bath tub and my poor ankles are no longer. I have never swelled this bad in my entire life. My feet and legs are huge. My mom and the wonderful nurses here convinced me to spend the night there last night to take care of myself too. It was absolutely awful to leave him, but I feel MUCH better today and he did wonderful during the night. The RMH is such an awesome place. I'll have to take some pics and blog about that in a post all it's own. Volunteers bring in food and such, so it's been wonderful to not have to eat at the cafeteria. The food there is mostly fried and honestly not very good. It's can get kind of pricey too, so this has been such an answer to prayer. This morning we had Panera bagels (donated by Panera) for breakfast and I packed up sandwiches, fresh veggies and cookies for lunch. Sam and I would like to thank you all for your prayers during all of this. We have to have our cell phones off, so if you have called or text us, we do get it and we appreciate it. Keep praying and we'll try to update when we can.