Lil Miss Prissy

Loving on Kayne

Valentines Day!

Walking!

"what? i can't help that im so cute."

pretty girl

sitting in her chair and reading

hooray for cupcakes!

in the dishwasher...again :)

Doing Well

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers during Sarah Kathryn's surgery! She is doing GREAT. The 2 weeks that she couldnt eat much and had to wear the arm restraints went by quickly, and she didnt let it slow her down no one bit. She is now drinking out of a sippy cup...AND WALKING!!! so grown! And no more sneezing food out of her nose! i know we are all happy about that.! :) ew. We go back March the 6 for her post op. check and then we will see what the future holds for us. She is already learning new sounds and can now say "da da" without it sounding like 'ya ya". She is such a trooper..and will continue to do wonderfully.
THANK YOU for everything.

Chicago Aquarium

Ups and Downs

This is right after surgery.. :(

This is the morning after (fri. morning).

This was later in the day...sweet baby, having to try and play with the arm restraints on. :(..

Hi everyone...the surgery went well and Sarah Kathryn is doing a little better tonight. The first 24 hours or so after surgery were quite an adventure. Thats a nice way to put it. God doesnt give us more than we can handle thought, right? (although i was beginning to wonder) When we first got to see her after surgery..it broke my heart. she was so swollen..and confused. She didnt sound like my baby, she didnt act like my baby, she didnt smell like my baby... i wanted to fix it for her so badly. That is the hardest thing, to see your child hurting and scared and there was nothing i could do but hold her. And boy have i done that. I sat in the chair in the I.C.U. for at least 6 hours before she let me put her down. She was so mad and confused! She was moaning and crying from about 2 (when it was over) till about 8. She just could not get any relief and was fighting everyone that tried to touch her like a wild bull. (she gets that attitude from me..) Needless to say..i havent gotten much sleep...and neither has she.(clay wasnt allowed to stay in the icu..so i was sooo glad to see him this morning!)
Today got better and better as the day went on. The swelling got worse b4 it got better, but seems to be going down some. She is trying to figure out how to crawl w/ the arm restraints..she HATES those..but who wouldnt. She keeps wanting to hug her little glow seahorse she sleeps with and gets frustrated when she cant. She played some in the playroom today and had a good time. She looks so sad all the time bc she cant close her mouth yet from all the soreness and swelling...but clay managed to get a few half smiles from her later in the day when he gave her kisses. She has been a total daddy's girl ..(as always) and reaches out to him whenever he comes into the room. I know how she feels..he just has a way to make a girl feel safe. And we got to all come back to the hotel tonight...YAY.. ! im laying on a REAL bed ! :) i have a good feeling about tonight.. i think she will do fine.She is tired of being in that hospital room! we all are. She had a bath tonight and was loving it..and acting like the sweet SK we all know. She is sleeping now..and i hope that last a few hours so i can get a little rest. I feel like an old lady..dozing off anywhere.. whenever i get still enough. :) So all in all...SK is doing better and better as time goes by. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Im sorry i couldnt text you all back or answer all of your calls, but i got them, and thank you! We will find out tommorrow how the surgeon thinks her mouth is looking..and when we will have to come back next month. GOOD NIGHT.....ahhhh.. a REAL bed.

After Surgery Pictures

Post Surgery Details

Ok..Tracy is with our little angel tonight..so I am trying to be as creative as Tracy...anyway.. Sarah Kathryn is doing good. The medicine they gave her during surgery is making her feel bad so she is uncomfortable as it is wearing off and its hard on her trying to get some rest. Tracy is comforting her though and she is getting SOME sleep. She has a string through her tounge that provides a way to clear her mouth in case she chokes (not common). Her little face is swollen and her cry sounds so different from the little voice we all know. The doctor says that some of that is from the swelling and some will be because there is no hole now. All in all the doctor said it went great and she should be a little more awake tomorrow. We have pictures after the surgery but I left the camera at the hospital with Tracy so the ones on here are all I could post tonight. Please keep all of us and especially Sarah Kathryn in your prayers tonight and tomorrow as she deals with the pain and the arm restraints. (keeps her hands out of her mouth). We thank everyone for your continued prayers and we will post again tomorrow.

Clay, Tracy and Sarah Kathryn

Leaving for Surgery

waiting for the doctor

Sarah Kathryn started the day with lots of fun. She played in the play room and this helped take her mind off not being able to eat. Tracy could only feed her up until 5:00am Today.. Sarah Kathryn wasnt to happy when she woke up but she was wonderful considering the circumstances.

checked in

Well today has been for the most part…Boring. We met with our nurse/ nutritionist/ surgeons all for about 5 min. each. They rest of the day has been spent sitting in our room for most of the day. They do have a big open play area, and Sarah Kathryn loves that! So I’ve had plenty of down time to let my nerves get the best of me. We came in this morning to the hospital expecting to have a final checkup and do some paper work…but we when arrived they took us straight to her hospital room. I really wasnt expecting her to stay tonight, and we were planning some fun "last night ' things to go do. If you know me…I hate not know what to expect and this through me for a loop! My brain needs time to think and plan and process things.
SO….needless to say..i packed nothing for me to stay ..and only a small diaper bag for SK. Way to go, Me! I had to send clay with a list of things to bring back for me from the hotel. Who knows what i endend up with. Oh well. I doubt anyone her cares if my hair gets washed and my clothes match. ( but i do :))
Everyone is SOOO nice and helpful here. I packed tons of stuff for SK but they provide just about everything...food, formula, diapers, wipes, snacks, videos, toys...all i needed to bring was clothes for her . This is definately a place that will make you take a min. stop thinking of your own situation and thank God for all your blessing. Seeing the other children here breaks my heart. I realize how lucky we are .

They told us her surgery is going to start about 10- 10:30, and will last about 2 and 1/2 hours. She will stay the night in the ICU for tommorrow night then moved back to her room the next morning hopefully. I have a 'cot' to sleep one..but it is a chair. that doesnt recline. Comfy! But that's ok, i'd sleep on rusted nails to be next to my sweet baby. Only one parent can stay at a time . Im not liking that rule. Clay should get to stay till 8 every night...but the weather is awful here right now..and he will have to leave before dark tonight bc the roads are icy and its supposed to get worse tonight. BOO! I need him. So tommorrow is the BIG DAY..im excited and nervous for her. excited that she wont have to sneeze out anymore chunks of rice, chicken, magazine(haha)..or whatever she eats. But nervous that she will feel scared or be in pain. The dr. assured me many times that she will be in no pain. She will be grumpy and drowy from the pain medi...but no pain.


Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
Tracy, Clay , and Sarah Kathryn Branch

Surgery Diagram :(

Cleft Palate Repair:Closure of cleft palate with pushback palatoplasty. A) Two mucoperiosteal flaps are outlined. B) Flaps are elevated off the hard palate. C,D) The abnormal levator muscle insertion to the hard palate is identified and cut free. E) The nasal lining is closed as a separate layer and the levator muscle reapproximated. F) The palatial mucoperiosteal flaps are closed in a V-Y fashion.

Surgical treatment of the cleft palate is best accomplished in one surgical procedure before the child reaches 12-14 months of age. The cleft palate is surgically closed by elevating two muscoperiosteal flaps. The levator muscles are elevated, redirected and repaired; and a three layer closure of nasal mucosa, muscle and oral mucosa accomplished. Surgery under general anesthesia usually lasts about 2 hours. Special precautions as those after the repair of the cleft lip are necessary for 2-3 weeks. We prefer that the child be weaned from the bottle and pacifier prior to the palatal repair. No hard or crunchy foods are allowed for 3 weeks post operatively.

Guess who is in the suitcase?

Someone is being awful nosey in my suitcase...

I guess she wants to make sure we dont leave w/out her!

Aha!! Cha-ching! Found the baby food.! who's in the mood for some late night snackin on some chicken and rice mush?

Plane ride to CHICAGO

Clay, stuffin her full of animal crackers!

waiting for our plane

Holding daddys hand for the take off

She was waving bye-bye to the airport

We are in the WINDY CiTY..BRRRR.

Hi everyone.! To all that may not know...we (ME , CLAY, and SK) are in Chicago this week for Sarah Kathryn's cleft palate repair surgery. (and it is FREEZING HERE!!! snow everywhere) We go to the Shriner's Hospital tommorrow @ 10:00 am for her last consult w/ her team of doctors and maybe be checked in? im not really sure what to expect. But i will let you know as soon as i can what their plans are. She did really well on the flight up here (as usual , she slept most of the way bc my smart hubby plans the departure time right at nap time..what a guy!:) But unlike our usual warm and very accomodating treatment from the folk w/ Amer. Airlines....we were meet at the front desk with a lady who seemed to be mad at the world and with a flight attendant who almost made us take Sk out of her carseat on the plane bc she didnt know if our carseat was FAA approved. Are you kidding. So ...even if it wasnt.. she was assuming that is is 'safer' to take a baby OUT of a car seat..and just flop around in my arms the whole time. Needless to say, she stayed in the carseat. humhp! ANyways...the flight and all was pretty uneventful besides that.
Surgery day is Thursday the seventh. Even just typing that , my stomach gets yucky. Up until this week..ive havent worred too much about it. I havent really LET myself think of it. But now... im a mess. A WORRY WART. Clay doesnt understand...he is MR. Cool guy. ( I think he is prob. just as scared as me...but knows i need him to be the strong one right now) IT is not that i dont trust her doctors...I think they are wonderful! I just dont want her to hurt...or be scared.. or wonder why i cant fix it. I know she is going to be fine! She is a little firecracker and will prob. be ready to race around getting into everything in no time. But im still nervous! So thank you , thank you.. for all those who are praying for my sweet lovie, Sarah Kathryn this week.! ill keep you all posted and try to put pics up too.
MIss you all!
love,
Clay , Tracy, and SK


Also, To help you better understand about what cleft palate is compaired to a cleft lip. and about surgery, recovery and the team approach( like we are doing) ...i found a great webpage that give you all that info..in a nutshell. check it out...
(click on the link )
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/patients_consumers/procedures/CleftLipPalate.cfm?CFID=94251935&CFTOKEN=50683233

Happy Birthday Sarah Kathryn!!!

What a difference a year makes.... it goes by so fast!


HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY to my sweet sweet baby! SO GROWN. I cant believe how a year has FLOWN by... she is still my'tiny" baby though...no matter how old she gets...or how grown she thinks she is...she will always be my baby. She even took a few steps on her birthday..she must have know what a special day it was! We had a little b-day bash for her at the church and friends and family came. She had a good time..for the most part. A big party for a one year old is a little ridiculous...but you HAVE to do it! :) It took her awhile to not be scared of her cake....(she grabbed the candle instead of blowing it out....always tryin to grab the spotlight haha!) but she loved it ..eventually. He favorite thing about the party was the balloons and wrapping paper. Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts! She is truly spoiled by you all! I will put the pics of the party up soon..there are LOTS...so i will have to have a big chunck of time to upload them all.