Katheryn’s Story And It’s a Beautiful One

While Katheryn might be the youngest, she already has such a story to tell. I think I have been holding off telling her story because it isn’t always easy to write and re-live some of the things we have been through.

Surprise! You’re Having Another Baby

Katheryn is our final baby, she was a very happy surprise. Just like the others, her pregnancy progressed very easily. I will say being 38 and pregnant is not something that I recommend! I went back to the same OB that delivered Benjamin and was so happy with our care. I went into this one knowing that I would be having a fourth cesarean but started making plans for a family-centered cesarean. I think it really helped me mentally. At 34 weeks I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia again and but on hospitalized bed rest. After two days of this and my blood pressure not leveling out and spilling more proteins it was decided that Katheryn needed to be born right then. Her cesarean was uneventful she even had a normal APGAR score, but then in recovery things went downhill. 

A NICU Stay

When I saw things went downhill it all started when Katheryn couldn’t maintain a normal body temperature. Then it was time to check her blood sugar level since she was a premie this was standard practice. The first glucometer read a 3, so the nurse got a second one and this one read another super low result, so she went and got a third glucometer and again a super low result. So they took a sample to the lab to get a more accurate reading. Her blood sugar only read less than 10. Since her APGAR was normal while the low blood sugar was worrisome it did not mean an automatic admittance to the NICU. 

She was still having very low body temperatures and so the decision was made for everyone to go up to our hospital room, but she was to go to the nursery and spend some time under a warming lamp. We all went upstairs, got to my room, and got transferred to my bed since I still didn’t have much feeling back yet. Since she was still not able to maintain a body temperature it was determined that she needed to go to the NICU. To say I was heartbroken would be an understatement. The NICU would be her home for the next 12 days. We battled jaundice, a yeast infection and finally, she was ready to go home.  

Just Like Her Siblings, But Different Somehow

Bringing her home was such a happy day. None of the other kids had gotten to see her outside of through pictures and FaceTime. She was so tiny but already such a fighter. Katheryn continued to grow and surprise us all, she always seemed to be very petite and again wasn’t hitting developmental milestones just like her siblings. I called Early Steps right away and she qualified for both OT and Speech. 

So Many Doctors

I started noticing that her breathing didn’t sound quite right and that she would have spells where parts of her extremities would turn blue and purple. Our family doctor sent us to Cardiology where she went through a battery of tests to be told that her heart was fine and she should just grow out of it. She didn’t grow out of it though. Our doctor agreed that her breathing never sounded great so we got sent down to Shands to see a Pulmonologist. That is where we finally started getting answers. After a series of x-rays, swallow studies, and a visit with an ENT and she was diagnosed with laryngomalacia. I did some research and found an amazing group called Coping With LM. They have been such a source of comfort when things seemed so scary. October of 2020 took us into the ER for a repair of that. She hasn’t had many swallowing problems since.

A New, But Different Diagnosis

At a follow-up with her Pulmonologist her doctor asked about development especially her speech because she noticed that even with interventions at the age of 2 Katheryn still wasn’t speaking much or moving much. Katheryn’s doctor asked if we had seen Neurology before and since we had not she referred us to Neurology where we saw Benjamin’s Neurologist. She ran some tests, did an MRI (where we discovered some mild white matter thinning). At her follow-up to go over the results of the MRI and some other testing she was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and some major motor delays. This was actually not a big surprise because I had been talking with our Speech Therapist about it for a while. You can see on her face when she is having such a hard time getting her words out. She knows what she wants to say but can’t make her mouth say it.

She Is Going to Change the World

Even with all these big things that seem like the cards can be stacked against her she is one tough cookie! She is so sweet but just as stubborn! The perfect ending to our family.