Kasen Colt

After everything my husband and I had gone through to get our daughters into the world, we were content with our family size. So it came as quite a shock when I found out I was having yet another child. So much so, in fact, that I was convinced it was just a false positive. When the doctor confirmed that I was in fact going to have a baby, I tried to prepare myself for the roller coaster of emotion I was about to go on. We found out relatively early on that we would be having a boy (much to the dismay of my husband) and so I convinced myself that this time things would be different. Armed with even more experience I approached this new pregnancy as if it were a final battle. I was going to do whatever it took to keep this little guy in my belly and out of the NICU. I had the cerclage again, but this time I added progesterone injects and contraction monitors to my arsenal. I had two bouts of preterm labor, one of which was due to a bad stomach bug (I had literally thrown up to the point of labor). All was looking good, until at 35 weeks I decided to finish my Christmas shopping at the mall rather than from the couch like I should have.  Within 24 hours my water had broken and on December 21 2006 Kasen Colt was born. Although he was only slightly premature, he had trouble breathing on his own. He was moved to the level 3 NICU on Christmas Eve in order to be intubated  and given surfactant. Although Kambre had been very ill, she had never been to the level 3 NICU so this was quite a blow. Twenty days after Kasen was born he was released from the hospital on a apnea monitor and in a car bed because he couldn't keep his oxygen saturations up. Since that time Kasen has grown in leaps and bounds. He is now a robust 4 year old. He still has some breathing trouble due to allergies, but he may have had those anyway due to genetics. Kasen is yet another reminder to me that our only limits are those that we set for ourselves and nothing is impossible.