Monday, June 2nd - A Day at the Spa

We arrive at 11:30 am and find Dot and Kristen taking care of our little fighter. Kinley is sleeping on her side while Dot and Kristen give us the update from last night.



Update: Poop. That's right, poop. Kinley had a poopy diaper overnight. We were surprised to hear this since Kinley has not had anything go through her stomach since she was born. Her dirty diaper is her meconium, this is waste that every baby creates in the womb, but doesn't get rid of until after birth. This may be why Kinley required three doses of morphine and versed last night, but her morphine and versed drips remain the same. She received another round of platelets, but no extra RBCs. One new thing we found out about Kinley is that she gets an oxygen challenge each morning. This is a test used to help determine when Kinley will be ready to come off of ECMO. They compare the oxygen levels that Kinley produces to the levels her ECMO machine produces. We want her scores to be in the 300s, but this morning it was only 246. This is a good number, but not quite high enough to start talking about an end date for ECMO. Kinley has been doing such a good job of getting rid of her CO2 that they turned down her CO2 settings.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time for Kinley's spa day to begin. Before we arrived she had already had her hair washed. Around 12:00 pm she was moved onto her right side to keep her from laying too long in one position. This move really helped with the shape of her head. She also received her first hairdo. Kinley now has a pretty pink bow in her hair. She modeled it very well so we could take pictures. She is so photogenic.



To continue her day of relaxation, Mommy read Kinley her first book. It was "Hello, Big Jay!" A story of the KU Jayhawk and his adventure through campus. FYI - Kathy went to KU and I went to KSU. Don't worry Wildcat fans, we also have "Hello, Willie!" A better story of Willie the Wildcat and his adventure through campus. "Rock, Chalk!" and "Go Wildcats!"



To round out Kinley's spa day, she received a full body massage from Kristen. Kinley loved every second of it. She did not get fussy once and seemed even more relaxed when it was over.

We stayed through the shift change and came back to visit Kinley and her night nurses. Tonight Kinley has Melissa and Emily. Melissa was one of Kinley's nurses on her first night here at Children's Mercy. During the shift change Kinley had another poopy diaper. She is now wide awake and looking around the room. We are pretty sure that Kinley has her days and nights backwards because she seems to always be more active at night. Kinley's breath rate is a bit elevated, most likely because she is wide awake, but she may also be working on processing another poopy diaper. To make sure that she does not become agitated, uncomfortable or too active she is given another round of morphine and versed. Before we leave, her breath rate is back to normal and she is sleeping peacefully.