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This site is for our two boys, Braden our little trooper is three and our special little miracle Kayden is six months.  Please take a moment to read more about Kayden below and feel free to browse our family photos before you go.

Kayden was born June 19,2001.  We had no idea before he was born that he had anything wrong.  Immediately after he was born they had him off to the side, everything seemed fine except that I thought it was taking a long time for them to hand him to me.  They called another doctor in and I could see them using the Abu bag on him as he wasn't breathing.  It was discovered that he had a smaller jaw that caused his tongue to block his air way.  They had to pry his mouth open with a piece of plastic and tape it to his face, while doing that they also found a cleft palate. Kayden was taken by helicopter to children's three hours away.  We arrived a few hours later and  were told that he had Pierre Robin which is were the jaw does not grow all the way forward and that he would need a trach in order to survive.  They told us that his jaw would be fixed by six month's of age and the cleft by one year, then everything would be fine.  A couple days later we were told Kayden had VSD, a small whole in the heart BUT not to worry because it would go away on its own.  So even though we were very sad for our child we new he would be ok so we went on to start classes on how to care for his trach. 

Three long weeks later they did routine chromosome checks and found out that our little one had TRISOMY18, an extra half of an 18th chromosome and that it was translocated to the 13th.  They told us that this can cause 101 different problems including the ones he already has.  They said most babies die by two months of age, while only 10% live past a year, if that was not enough we were told that they would be surprised if he did not have severe mental problems.  WOW, what do you do with that?  WE were so afraid, all I could say, besides cry, was when can he come home, we just want him home.  So, they had to run test to see what type of g-tube to give him since his jaw was to tight to take the bottle.  He would only take about 5cc by mouth.  During the test they found that it also caused him to have malrotation, his bowels and intestines were twisted the wrong way.  They had to go in and fix that, take out the appendix and place the G-tube all at the same time.  Kayden was only three weeks old but came through with flying colors. 

He got to come home when he was 2 months old but one week later he got tracheal bronchitis and had to go back.  While there, they found a hernia in his testicles so had to do surgery on that too.  We were there for three weeks, he got sick a few more times so back and forth we went.  It was all trach related problems as an open air way makes it easy to get sick. 

Kayden just had his jaw surgery on Nov 29th and they had to place bars on his face that are bolted to his jaw, those bars come out next week and then shortly after the trach will be gone.  We have waited for this moment for a long time. Kayden weighed 4 pounds 11ounces at birth and now weighs 13 in a half pounds.  He is doing so well, he tracks things with his eyes, he can hold himself up, he laughs, he now eats more by bottle and started to eat some solid food too.  Best of all he can now sit by himself for up to 5 min at a time.  With only a half of an 18 instead of a full he has a better chance, they just don't know how much.  In a way it is a good thing because they really have no clue and Kayden keeps surprising them.  No one can believe how well he is doing. I'm sure he may end up being slow at some things but you can already tell he won't be as bad as they once thought. 

I am so proud of my little angel, he has been so strong.   What  a little fighter he has been!  He has brought us so much joy and every day is better than the last.  Kayden has made me a better person.  My husband's name is Frank and we also have a little three year old boy named Braden. Braden has been a little trooper through all this.  He is so smart and has learned so much about Kayden.  He knows how to work the equipment and knows what the trach is and everything.  It is so amazing what he has picked up on, he loves his brother so much he has been with us every day through this with Kayden.  We never once had someone take him.  Braden even got to see Kayden be born because it happened so fast that not even the doctor made it.  The nurse had to do it all. 

The reason that Trisomy babies don't always make it past a year is they don't have a good immune system and could stop growing at any time.  They are normally very small, don't grow very well and have a lot have heart failure.  But Kayden is growing just fine and while he is still small he has tripled his birth weigh.  This last visit to the doctor they found another heart problem called SSP.  A very uncommon problem, they said that it could go years before he would need surgery on it but one day he will need it fixed.  At the same time the doctor said he does not see this as a problem for him as long as they watch it close so they know when to repair it.

I thank God for my strong boys every day and try not to think of what might happen but to see all the good that has.