Happy 1st Birthday Baby Boy

Today, the sun shone brightly on a clear warm southern California day. Today, a day when a family should have been preparing for their friends and loved ones to join them in celebration of their baby boy's first birthday, they gathered to celebrate his memory instead. Today we remembered the day Kane Joseph Parthemore entered this world by participating in the Walk to Remember.

Today, we were saddened to witness the gathering of 50 families who come together to take the steps their babies never will. Today, we were humbled by the outpouring of support shown to the familes who will forever live with their grief. Today 15 of us we were happy to show up in support of John and Aundrea to remember the day their son came into their world and left an irreplaceable impression in their hearts. When in support of another friendships multiply joy and divide grief.

The organizers of the walk announced each baby by name and invited the family to present them with a rose and balloon. After the 3 mile walk was complete the families released their balloons as a symbolic gesture of once again releasing their baby's free spirit to heaven.

John and Aundrea were also given a candle to light in memory of their son tonight at 7pm and let it burn for 1 hour. I have a heavy heart when I think the one candle they should be lighting would be found on top of his first birthday cake.

Today, I am once again reminded God has a will we musn't question no matter how far his actions are outside of our own realm of understanding.

Highlights from the 2011 Walk to Remember:

Memorial Mass Monday, November 8th at 10am

Kane's Memorial Mass will be Monday, November 8th at 10am at St. Joseph's Catholic Church located at 17080 Arrow Blvd., Fontana, CA. 92335 (Northwest corner of Arrow and Mango).

After mass there will be a gathering at Lydia's (Aundrea's Mom's) house.

In lieu of flowers Aundrea and John request donations be made to Loma Linda University Children's Hospital Foundation PO Box 2000 Loma Linda, CA. 92354. Please note the donation is being made in memory of Kane Parthemore.

Thank you.

The Wings of an Angel

It is hard to find words significant enough....

Kane Joseph Parthemore passed away today. Breathing on his own in the arms of his father, and his mother at his side he left this world peacefully. Kane was 19 days old.

Aundrea called me around 11:30 am to let me know they were going to turn off the machines today. There was nothing more his doctors could do for him, the tears in his lungs were a major set back, and after four days with no improvement his doctors felt he wouldn't bounce back but continue to decline.

For the first time he had a bath, and was placed in a cute onesie with little doggies on it. Mom held her handsome boy for two hours while he was on the ventilator. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins were by his side to say their goodbyes and tell him they love him. When Mom and Dad decided it was time they were left alone with their son. Johnny held Kane as he came off the ventilator while Aundrea stood by his side. She said, he was by her side when Kane came into the world, she felt it was only appropriate she stood by his side as Kane was called to the Lord at 5:22pm.

Chad and I just came from their house, they want tell everyone they are holding up OK, and wanted to thank you for your unending love, prayers, and support. There will be a funeral mass for him at St. Josephs, I will post the details as I have them.

While his life may have been short, the imprint he left on all of our hearts will be everlasting.

With love, Nicole AKA Kane's nina.

Update- Revised

9am

Kane is very sick today, coming on the heels of a few bad days, today is the worst yet. Johnny and Aundrea were called by the Doctor around 6:30 am this morning. He has a tear in his lung. They have had to switch ventilators and put a tube in his chest to allow the air a place to get out of his body. They are having trouble keeping his oxygen levels up.

I will post more later as I know more. Aundrea is a little overwhelmed with texts and calls today. I know I have not posted in a few days, but I will post again later today, please hold tight and pray for him.

Later....10pm

On the 28th doctors found a hemorrhage in his lung, they had to change his ventilator, up his oxygen and start him on blood pressure medicine again. He had a fever and his blood pressure and heart rate were elevated. He was also given another blood transfusion.

The morning of the 29th he had a good night and his numbers were back down and blood gasses were coming back good, as a result his oxygen was lowered. That afternoon Aundrea said he was having a good day, numbers were stabilizing again, and oxygen was lowered again. The next few days he remained stable, not better or worse, just maintaining.

The evening of November 1st he continued to maintain, the hemorrhage had stopped and his numbers continued to stabilize. They also gave him meds that reduce swelling so he wasn't puffy, and looked better.

The news of the lung tear was received early this morning, by this afternoon his blood pressure was low and oxygen was up, two hours later, his heart rate was high, blood pressure low, and oxygen levels were OK. Dr's don't know what caused the tear, and are extremely worried about little Kane.

Tonight, he has a new tear in the same lung. They are putting in another tube that will allow the air from this tear to get out of his little body from this tear. I am not sure what happens from here, and what will happen if these tears persist. They are going to discuss what his prognosis is with his team of doctors.

He is strong and his body is fighting for him. Continue to pray for his strength and remain faithful this is a mere bump in the road for him and things will start looking up from here!!!

Texts from Aundrea

This picture was taken today, to grasp how small he is the green towel is a standard sized wash cloth. He is small but he is mighty, and handsome too!!!

October 28th- 4:31pm, text from Aundrea- I think he has put on weight. I will ask tonight. I am doing better, hoping next week I will feel up to driving and start spending more time with him during the day

October 28th- 1:25pm, text from Aundrea- Well they took away the new machine for the blood gas. One doctor added it without consulting the other doctors so the other doctors had it removed. They said it wasn't giving them all the information they needed and drawing blood is accurate for what they need.

October 28th- 9:14am, text from Aundrea- Kane is doing well this morning. He had a good night and his numbers are good and stable this morning. They added a machine to him to monitor the blood gas so they don't have to draw blood each time they take blood gas


October 28th- 8:30am, text from Aundrea- Yesterday was a down day. He was up and down on oxygen, blood pressure was up a little and blood gas during the day was not as good as it has been, but by last night his blood gas was back to being good and he was doing better with overall numbers, he even pooped a little yesterday, we were so surprised!!


October 27th- No News


October 26th- 10:01am, You guessed it... text from Aundrea!- Blood gas from last night came back good. His levels are good and have been stable (blood gas, oxygen, heart rate, blood pressure). His sedative is starting to leave his system. He is opening his eyes a little more. They are positioning him with towels under his arms and legs as it is helping his levels. Keep Praying!


My response: That is great news!! Any word on when they will do the surgery?


Aundrea: Not yet. He still has a ways to go since he is still on oxygen and both ventilators... we are just happy he is making progress!!

More Good News!

Today Kane's doctors reduced his ventilator settings to see how his body would respond, and so far the response has been positive!!!!

This comes shortly after they took him off of his blood pressure medicine and his sedative medication yesterday. The sedatives were causing him to retain fluids, so they started reducing them Friday, and have since continued. The fluid retention was making him look bloated all over.

Johnny and Aundrea have not had much physical contact with Kane since he was born. It is not good to rub the skin of pre-term babies so the most contact that is allowed with him is to hold your hand with some pressure to the top of his beanie covered head. So it is a big deal when I say, Aundrea was able to change his diaper Saturday, and Johnny was able to hold him while his bedding was changed. For most parents these are common activities, but for Johnny and Aundrea these days are milestones!

Kane is 1 Week Old... & 1 Day Today!

Kane Joseph Parthemore the day he was born, 10/15!

Instead of sitting at home blogging about Kane last night, I went and visited him instead! I missed the blog for his one week birthday, but it was more worth it to see his cute little face!

The first part of my visit was with Johnny and Kane, mommy was busy pumping. Johnny is with Kane a good part of the day, he has familiarized himself with all of the equipment, sounds of the NICU, medications, doctors and nurses. With a brain that functions on needing to know the mechanics of how everything works he has asked many questions about how the machines work and the care his son is receiving and the readings of the machines.

Johnny educated me on how they switched out the ventilator because he wasn't responding well on the first one. He seems to be responding better on the second machine, while they have increased and decreased his O2 levels he seems to be more at ease on the new ventilator. He also showed me the blood pressure, heart rate, and medication monitors, what they want them to read and where they are hooked up to Kane.

Aundrea came in after she was done pumping and while we were visiting and admiring Kane's cute button nose one of his Dr's stopped by for a visit. He said he is happy with how Kane has been responding, and still rates his condition as stable. He said with some hesitation, "just to remind you, he is stable for a very sick baby." He placed a great deal of emphasis on the fact that while Kane is showing signs of improvement he is still not well and he cannot predict when he will be ready for surgery. The last thing he said before he left was,"only God can predict that."