Pictures from Houston Trip. February 5-7.

On on way to Houston. This was in Lewisville,Tx. Yes we were driving in the melted ice/snow trying to get out of the area before the next expected snow hit.

Kaden having fun at the Houston Zoo!



Children's Museum in Houston, Texas.

Kaden at Texas Children's Hosptial

Playing the games in the waiting area

He didn't want me to take pictures of him. Ha.

His theory..."If I close my eyes they can't see me!"

Mom stop... lol...With the lil bunny "Houston" he was given in the waiting area.

Ok just one mom...
My precious baby boy.

And we wait some more...

Smiling with Houston along with Daddy in the background.

My brave lil man.
Lovely EKG time...He doesn't care for this too much.

Pictures from Kaden's 5th Birthday Party!!

A LOT has happened since last post...

Sorry for that. :( I told myself I was going to stay on top of this and well things come up, things in life get switched around where it makes it difficult to get on here and type out a post. Unless I do small ones and well that's never possible for me. Ha. Where to begin??

January 19th: I went to the baby dr to see if we could find out if we were having. They couldn't tell because well, this lil one is stubborn! She doesn't like to show off for anyone, unlike Kaden did. She wouldn't move for ANYTHING so we could tell. So they told me to come back in 2 weeks to see if they could tell. Well we didn't know it, but my dr had already called a specialist for the baby to check it's heart and everything out. Well they happen to call me while I was in the waiting room waiting to see my doctor asking if I could make the appointment the very next day. Since Derek already took off for that day I called them back asking if there was a way we could make it down there that same day. They were able to work us in thank goodness! So far, everything looks perfect with our little one...and we also found out while we were there that...we would be having a precious little GIRL!! We couldn't believe it. One boy and one girl...How lucky were we?!? Kaden had been wanting a little brother up until that morning when I asked him what he thought the baby was going to be a little brother or sister...and for some reason he said sister. So needless to say when I told him that he was going to have a sister he said,"I know momma". He's SOO excited for his little sister to get here!

I'm now 29wks along soon to be 30wks on Saturday, but come Friday it will be 9 weeks exactly until we are able to hold our lil princess. They are doing a mandatory c-section since I had Kaden by c-section and they are going to take her a week early. As of last Thursday...little Miss Bethany Kate...weighed 3lbs 1oz. She is in the 63% and is measuring a week ahead than her due date. They are guessing she is going to be a 7lbs 13oz little bundle of joy since she will be a week early, but said if she went to term specialist would guess 8lbs 4oz and my OBGYN was guessing 8lbs 8oz. So we will see. :) I'm starting to go every two weeks now. I'm also still going to the specialist once a month. At the last appt he said he's pretty certain that her aortic valve is 3 leaflets! Praise God. But we go back late April for another screening.

Now on to our lil man....

February 5th: we were Houston bound. With having to replace a wiper blade arm, along with having to get a new tire to replace our other new one... yes it was 2 months old and it blew out on us on the way to Houston and it was after hours but thankfully it happened in a town where my mom's cousin lived and they helped us out since they knew someone who owned a tire shop and they were willing to open it just for us to get us a new tire so we could finish the 3 hours we had left to make.

The next day we took Kaden to the Houston Zoo as well as the Children's Museum.

Then the next day, February 7th, we were on our way to Texas Children's Hospital for them to check over our lil man. From the echo, to ekg, to x-ray, to being listened to by the cardiologist on staff, Dr. Fraser's nurse, to Dr. Fraser himself. We found out that surgery would chances are be this year. The Good note on that is he thinks Kaden would be the perfect candidate for a repair, but we were still left to pick the back up option in case they got in there and seen they coudln't do a repair for whatever reason which would lead us to having a ROSS for a back up. We orgninally thought they were going to do surgery late March/early April because Dr. Fraser didn't want me having to take care of a newborn on top of a child recovering from open heart surgery. BUT on February 28th...Kaden's 5th birthday. I got an e-mail stating to call them. So when I finally got a hold to them they said they had some disagreements about the timing of the surgery since he isn't showing any symptoms (not that we want him to) and that his left ventricle didn't have a MAJOR change from November to February but there was some change. SOOO now we're left with we know it will be sometime after I have the baby which is scheduled for June 3rd and recovered from the c-section. They did want to see him back so they could get another look at him. So April 3rd we will be Houston bound yet once again for his appointment on April 4th. So please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip, that I'm not in too much pain being that I will be 30 weeks prego traveling 5 1/2 hours one way, and most importantly we get Good news that surgery won't have to be for a while longer!!

February 28: My baby boy turned the big FIVE!!...I will post pictures in another post...

A few weeks ago, I called Kaden's cardiologist (the one he usually sees regularly) to double check if it was ok if he played t-ball. It was late far as sign ups go, but since he wasn't having surgery I didn't want him to miss out on it. They were able to work him in so that's why I called to double check. We were given the ok to do so, but she asked me if Dr. Fraser ever mentioned about putting him on a medicine for his heart. I told her well he mentioned it but that's as far as it went. So needless to say Kaden is now on a heart medicine. He has been since last Friday. It's called Enalapril. Thanks to the wonderful pharmacy they made it where he absolutely LOVES the taste of it. So I don't have to fight him to take it Thank goodness! I doubt it will show anything when we go on the 4th but prayerfully it will do it's job and at LEAST buy him another year without surgery so we can enjoy our new PINK bundle of joy this summer and family of 4! So please pray it works in our favor!!

Another prayer request. My wonderful and amazing Mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on the 21st of this month. Could this be God's reasoning why Kaden didn't have to have surgery?!? Who knows. But God is the one in control. She is doing good. We are still waiting on one more result which we should find out tomorrow. If the lymph nodes they took out are cancerous or not, if they are then they will have to go and remove the whole breast. BUT the dr said it looked good from what he could tell, but you can't be 100% sure until the test results come back. So we will wait...nothing new right?!? and pray that we receive Good news in that area as well, but if not we still know God is in control and he can bring her though this as well as the family. So I will leave with this...Its something I made yesterday...

Thank you all for the prayers and please keep them coming! God is Awesome and he brought us through many many hard times and I know he won't let us down now. Take care and May God bless you all!

With love from the ♥,
Kaci Insall

Going to meet with Dr. Fraser.

That's right...We will be Houston bound February 7th possibly 6th if we decide to stay the night in the hotel to avoid getting up around 4-5 am and heading to Texas Children's to be there by 10:30 am. It will take is 5 1/2 hours but that isn't including traffic SOOO we might stay the night.

We will have to have Kaden there by 10:45 to check in and paper work...yuck!
He will have the echo around 11-11:15.
We will see the cardio on staff...a woman. at 1:30.
Then they set us up to meet with Dr. Fraser by 3:15. :/
And said we should be headed home by 4.

So it will be a long day then another 5 1/2 hours back home. I'm nervous of course but anxious to meet the man that will be opening my son's chest one of these days hopefully not soon. Hopefully we will get a better picture on when surgery will be although I know it's not telling with heart kiddos.

So please keep Kaden in your prayers. Pray for a safe drive for us as well as a safe return...Poor Derek will be driving.. I don't do city driving...I'm a small country girl. lol.

And of course we will have to allow time for restroom breaks considering my Doctor wants me to stop every 2 hours to get out and stretch for the baby. It will be an interesting day but will be well worth it. :)

May God bless you all!

With love from the ♥,
Kaci

Sorry for the WAY overdue update….for that reason...It's LONG!

I just usually get on long enough to check e-mails and face book…post a few status or updates, comment on some friends status, post if anyone I know is needing prayers…just never make it far enough to check blogs or carepages…

PLUS there has been quite a few changes around here….
Most of you might have known if you followed us on carepages or whatnot…but we’ve been trying for another one with no success and once we found out the news of Kaden’s cardio situation back in August we put on trying for another one on hold after a year and half-two years.


August was a crazy month…


12th - Cardiologist Appointment. : we got the news we never wanted to hear. My baby’s aortic valve was now leaking more…there was talk about surgery…Soon. We left knowing we HAD to make a decision for a surgeon knowing that we will one day…sooner than we thought…would have to hand him over and trust him…but most of all trust God…that our little boy would be ok.

23rd- Our baby boy started school…It took a major adjustment on Kaden…ok Mommy. Kaden did/is doing wonderful. But I was now stuck at home…in silence.


September was calm for the most part…


2nd - Mommy’s was on cloud nine…My baby boy came home with a Good leader on his folder. Knowing he was having fun…being good…Loving school…I could rest and know he was ok.


9th- We made the decision all heart parents NEVER want to make…We decided after much research…The Surgeon we would have operate on our precious baby boy would be Dr. Fraser at Texas children’s in Houston. Yes we knew we would have to drive 6 hours south but distance was never a concern when it came to the best surgeon to repair our son’s Aortic Valve. It was comfort to know though we wouldn’t have to go out of state like we were considering…it helped knowing other heart parents who had experiences with Dr. Fraser and his staff and hospital…just made it feel right when we came across him and started considering him. Now.. We wait!…nothing new there!


17th - We welcomed my brand new niece into this world…

Chloe Bell Thomison

7lbs 10.2 oz 19 ins

Proud Auntie! :)

We spent the rest of the month…Packing. And packing. Moving packed stuff in storage…..packing some more. Lol….My poor wonderful husband…having to do most of the moving by himself you will soon to find out why…


October was yet another crazy but exciting month..


Don’t know the dates for sure but We decided to start looking for a house…
Then We decided on one…
Paper work time!


13th - We found out something that would change our lives forever…not just mine…or my husband…or even for Kaden on that matter…but for all of us…

That’s right…When we stopped trying…That’s when God blessed us with this other miracle…We decided we weren’t going to tell Kaden until we got out of the area where chances for miscarriage goes down…. I was shocked…I cried. Derek I talked about when we got pregnant we wasn’t going to tell anyone until later. BUT that didn’t happen. Derek brought the test home.. I told him not to get one cause test after test it showed negative and I decided I wasn’t going to get one until weeks into missing period…because I frankly just didn’t want to see another negative. Well needless to say he got one…and yes I was further into the missed period than the other times but STILL didn’t think I was because I wasn’t keeping up with dates…we weren’t trying…didn’t think it was possible. Needless to say he talked me into taking it…It was a two test box…So he wanted me to take one that after noon when he got home and if was negative I could take the next one in the morning since the better time to take it is in the morning…well…I took it….Waited…and waited…and waited some more….


Derek was outside at time playing with Kaden. I was stuck in the bathroom waiting which seemed to be FOREVER knowing it was going to negative just knew it…but there was still that “voice” in the back of my mind saying “what if”…3 mins later. As I was watching it go across. I was thinking this CAN’T be true…what if Kaden had surgery when I was having the baby…That soon left my mind…I was standing there in shock. Went in the kitchen where the box was explaining it at…to make sure. About that time Derek walked in and said well…I just simply told him…well we’re pregnant. It didn’t hit me until I was on the phone with my mother….Took a while to tell her huh?!? Can you tell I was excited?!?…How did I tell her? Well I took a picture like the one above on my phone…texted it to her and nothing else. She responded back with “are you serious?” So I called her. I then began to start bawling…I was SOO happy finally…finally…after all this wait…I was pregnant. We then went to Derek’s mom’s house later that evening. Since she couldn’t receive pictured text… I had taken pictures of when Kaden smashed is thumb in the car door…(poor thing still hasn’t healed completely yet…waiting for the nail to fall off) I took 2 pictures of it…then the picture I took of the test was right after that. I just told her there was 3 pictures so just keep going until you see the third one…. She was “WHAT? Are you? I’m going to be a mee mee again!!”…

Kaden would soon be a big brother…

we were getting a new house

with THREE bedrooms not just two.

God had a plan from the get go.

I was just to stubborn to understand that.

We were getting a new house just in time because 8 months from now we were having a new BABY!!! PS: I still took the other pregnancy test in the morning…and it was still positive!!!!

A weird family fact…My sister was 2 weeks pregnant with her first one….Makalya…when I had Kaden and never knew it…….When she had her second…Chloe…I was two weeks pregnant with this one… and never knew it….YES, God I know you had a plan! Lol..


23rd- We moved in with mom…while they were getting our old house 14x70 pulled out and getting the area ready for our new one to come in…18x76. Yes we have sooo much more room…until baby 2 comes along. Haha…


30th - We took Kaden to Zoo Boo. Something we’ve ALWAYS done since his first Halloween. He loves it and we don’t have to worry about spiked candy. Since we live out in the country it’s kinda hard to even go trick or treating…He had a blast…as IRON MAN!!
Pictures to come soon… those were on my mom’s camera since mine was in storage…


November never slowed down…


3rd- I went to the baby doctor the first time in 5 years…not just for a check up but because there was a little one inside me!! It just confirmed what we already knew and the typical first appointment… My official due date would be June 11th….I would go back the 24th day before thanksgiving for a check up and the first ULTRASOUND!!!!


10th- we finally had electricity hooked up to our new house thanks to my wonderful uncle Jeff… It’s nice being part of a big family…there’s always someone there to help. Derek and my brother who just happens to be a plumber hooked up all the stuff in that department.


11th - We FINALLY got the go ahead to move in! Once again Derek did most of it expect my cousin helped him move the big stuff in. We finally got to enjoy our bigger home…so much space…so much wall space that looked empty…


12th- 21st….was spent rearranging…praying…moving… Praying…Unpacking…praying for Good news…

21st- Kaden found the pregnancy flyer thing that had every stage of pregnancy on our kitchen counter…He asked what it was. I told him it’s a baby inside peoples tummy like Chloe was in Ashley’s (my sister) tummy. Then the lil’ smarty asked if there was one in me.. I said well do you want one to be….He said “yes”, “so there can be two kids”. “so it can grow up like me”…relieved that he wanted a baby sibling, I asked what he wanted it be. He said girl. Lol. But it has since been changed to a boy. He wants a baby brother. So we shall see..


22nd- We took Kaden to the cardiologist for yet another check up… on a Good news note… his leakage was stable…. His heart size didn’t increase any although he has grown some… BUT (there is always a but)…We were asked when the best time of the year would be best for surgery…. What?!? Why?!?….was going through my head… We proceeded to say the Summer so it wouldn’t affect Kaden’s schooling. Then my jaw dropped… knowing it’s a possibility…She started talking about THIS summer…All my worries of having another child while having a heart child was starting to come true…. Dr. Pearse (Kaden’s cardio) was talking about this summer MAYBE…She’s basically leaving it up to Dr, Fraser to see what best time he thinks is time for intervention… We take him back in March sometime the week of Kaden’s spring break so he doesn’t have to miss any school that way she said if surgery needs to be scheduled for this summer they will have time to do so…So we may being having a baby June 3rd since they want to take it a week early considering I had a c-section with Kaden. Then possibly 2 weeks later if not sooner we might be heading down to Houston for Kaden’s surgery while our new baby is 6 hours away and me having to pump all this time. AGH… Yes, I know God you have a plan…. So with that being said…We are praying. Hopeing his Surgery won’t be until Summer ‘12 so we can enjoy this summer as a family of FOUR! But if God sees time…then we will just take one day at a time…
(I talked to his cardio about me being pregnant while we were there and they want to do a fetal echo on this one to make sure all is good. This should happen sometime this month)


24th- Our first Ultrasound with baby # 2. Kaden was out of school for Thanksgiving holiday. So he was able to go with us to see his baby sibling for the first time!

                                                     11weeks 4 days
Isn’t it cute? It was standing on it’s head the whole time but did make some movements for us. Heartbeat was strong. This pregnancy is so different from Kaden… I have morning sickness and headaches!!


25th - Thanksgiving!!! Needless to say we have SOO much to be thankful this year. Not to mention just in the week leading up to this day. We got Good news some what with Kaden. Our little bean is growing and right on track with a STRONG heartbeat. New house. God has been doing wonders in our family just this past few months!! God is SOO Good!

December was a calm month…


Considering our past months. It was spent…me being sick. I started watching my nieces in November as well as my sister went back to work. Having a blast with them…but still miss my baby boy!

25th- Was a wonderful Christmas! We are always busy running to different places but its was wonderful. They brought my papaw home from the nursing home. First time in 2 years. He’s did and is doing wonderful. He has since caught the cold, He’s amazing. We had a great time with family. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Spending time with family together celebrating Jesus’s birthday! Doesn’t get much better.
Pictures to follow later don't want to make it too long! lol.
January has been calm…so far.


This past year had its up and downs. But doesn’t every year?… Nothing much has happened so far. Kaden started back school on the 3rd it took mommy readjusting again. I’ve been watching my nieces off and on. On the 19th is the day we are waiting for… at least I am. We go to try to find out what this little trouble maker is. Trouble maker? Yes very much so…


With Kaden it was an AWESOME pregnancy it really was. Never had a problem until 3 weeks before he was due I developed High blood pressure and well they ended up taking him that night. With the one. HA… I’ve had morning sickness from day one. Thought it would go away after my first trimester. HA again. I get sick every morning. I don’t have an appetite for anything! Ok maybe just biscuits with jelly and Chicken noodle soup. Sad huh? Lol The thought of food makes me gag. Every time I eat something… I know as soon as I stand up I will start gaging... It never fails. I have these HORRIBLE headaches every day or every other day. Just was told it was hormones. Really?!?…and smellss are the worst! I never…repeat never!…had a problem changing a baby’s diaper… but with me watching Chloe I gag almost to the point throwing up when I change her diaper or if she spits up and some food when I cook it gags me lol. Needless to say I’m ready for this kiddo to get here…. I will be 18 weeks tomorrow! Almost half way there! Woo hoo!

Kaden ask every day just about if we can cut it out yet. He is wanting it to be here. He’s excited. The good thing is… his last day is June 2nd. They will probably take the baby the 3rd. Talk about timing!…once again… Yes I know God. Haha…

Funny story. I think God must have listened lol. But when Kaden was born. I said soon after I didn’t want to have another one until he was 5 and wish it was in the Summer so it will be far from Christmas…Well as time when on. He grew. I longed for that baby back. I wanted another one…BAD!…So we began to try when Kaden was 3. Well…Kaden will be 5 years and 3 months and some days old when this one gets here….and well…it will be in the summer… I think I got my way. I just wanted it sooner. Impatient? I say so.

I said this was long. I wasn’t joking. Now for all of you who made it this far. Thank you for keeping up with us although there are periods in-between I go with out updating. Life gets a hold me to me. I don’t stay on the computer long. But I love you all. I thank you all for keeping Kaden in your prayers. I just ask you do the same for the other little one. We go sometime at the end of this month I’m guessing to do a fetal echo. :/ Praying everything is ok there. I hope you all had a wonderful new years! And I hope this year will bring each and everyone of you so many blessings! Just don’t forget to thank God for them! Thanks again. May God bless you all!

With love from the heart,
Kaci - Mother of soon to be 2

And the Doctor is….

We’ve chosen to use Dr. Charles Fraser down in Houston, TX to perform open heart surgery on Kaden. We’ve sent well Kaden’s cardiologist sent his info down to Dr. Fraser’s office and they received it on Tuesday. So we are one step closer for Dr. Fraser to review Kaden’s info on his heart. :/ I feel comfortable with him doing the surgery, but it will be Kaden’s first open heart surgery. Now we don’t know when it will all take place. We are suppose to take him back November 22nd to his cardiologist for another check up. If his valve (aortic) is leaking more then I believe she said that she will send us to Children’s soon after, may be a few days, to have the TEE done. Which is where they sedate him and do a scope down his throat to get pictures like an echo cardiogram so they can see what exactly his valve is looking like. They did this when he had his catherization back in April ‘08. Then we will go from there.

They originally didn’t want to see back for another 6 months, but since in his previous readings (5/09 11/09) he was fighting so much they couldn’t get a good stable reading. So they wanted to move his appointment up to 3 months so we can hopefully get a good reading like we did on August 12th.

The thing that has got me worried is my common sense lol. Weird I know, but they base his aortic valve leakage on a “z score”. I don’t know if you heart parents are familiar with this or not but the normal range is from -2 to 2. Ok so..

May of 09...he was fighting them soo bad they almost just didn’t do an echo. Ha…anyways his z score reading then was 1.9.…so almost over. :/

November 09...he was fighting but not near as bad. And his z score was -.2. So it dropped a lot since May.

August ‘10...he was awesome. He didn’t fight whatsoever laid there and took it with no problem…they mentioned it was the best reading they ever got…BUT his z score reading then was a 2!!…

So here is what I’m thinking. I may be totally wrong but this what common sense is telling me. Heart moms correct me if you know different. I was thinking ok since he was fighting them soo bad I would think his leakage would be more since his heart is beating faster therefore there would be more back flow.
Hmm…and when he wasn’t fighting AS bad it went down. So it was -.2 when he was fighting but not to much and a 2 when he was still, his valve must be leaking quite a bit more. But then again like my husband said it could also be that they weren’t able to get a clear reading since he was fighting…..
And another question that just popped in my mind was… I don’t know if this has anything to do with it or not…but he has been sitting up in all the appointments prior to this last appointment in August then he was laying down…would that have anything do with the increase????? Ugh. Looks like I’ll be calling his cardiologist tonight.

Any who beside the point lol. I think we will be looking at surgery within the next 3 years. We’re still praying for a miracle of course but we’re also getting ourselves prepared in case God decides to heal him through surgery. Thank you for all the prayers. Thank you for all the comments. Thank you for just being there listening. Or reading lol…
Take care and May God bless you all!!

With love from the ♥,
Kaci

PS: pictures coming soon from our trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo. :)

Proud Momma!

Kaden is LOVING school...once he actually gets in there and away from mommy that is. Kaden ALWAYS seem to love school when I pick him up, but from the time I wake him up to dropping him off is another story. He started in last Friday by whining when I first wake him up to crying by time we are ready to walk out the door and crying/whining the whole 10 minutes it take to get to his school. Making mommy feel bad and leaves me thinking is this the right time to put him in school since it isn't required right now?!?...

Well starting Tuesday I kept him laughing and smiling by being silly. Hey I'll do whatever it takes to keep him happy until I drop him off. What do I do may you ask?!? HA...remind you Kaden is 4 ok and loves cars. Well as soon as we get off our gravel road onto pavement..yes we live out in the country..I put the sunroof window back and he "thinks" we are going fast because he hears the wind coming from it. Then as soon as we get on one of the main roads that lead to the school...it has a lot of curves...I start being silly by waiting for cars or trucks to pass us (it's a two lane road)...when we don't see any cars I say.."Here car car car..."then if a truck comes I act like I'm scared and say "I didn't say you truck", then vice versa. Sometimes there are times where there aren't cars for a while and I act like the road is mine and be silly by singing crazy songs and then once we see a car I act like I'm mad lol. It keeps him laughing. I only have to do for about 8 mins by the time we get on the main road....Crazy?..Yes. but it keeps my baby happy so I'll do what it takes! Hopefully it won't last for long! HA...

So to the title of this post...I'm a proud mommy for more than one reason of course but today is one in particular... Kaden gets a sticker everyday if he has a good day. Well he has received one since day one. :) but today..not only did he get a "nice work" sticker there was "Good leader" written right above it!!... For those who know Kaden in person. He's SHY! but he gets that from his mom and dad both. We were shy when we were younger...I've come to learn from his Sunday school class and now it's looking like he is now in school... once he becomes comfortable with his surroundings he blossoms. :-) He of course wouldn't tell me what he did other than eat lunch and play on the playground, but I'm proud to see that on today date! I'm tempted to e-mail his teacher and ask how he's doing and what did he do for her to write "Good leader" on his folder. Until then I will continue to be a proud yet "silly" Mommy.

I will update later on the doctor we chosen to use for his surgery so stay tuned. :)
Thank you all for checking in on us. Please keep all the heart, cancer, and sick kiddos in general in your prayers! Take care and May God bless you all!!

With love from the ♥,
Kaci Insall