Day 6- August 30th

It's hard to believe that Kenron has been in the NICU for 6 days. His biliruben numbers were back up again so they put him under the bili lights with his cute little batman mask. This new mask has adorable eyelashes drawn on. Fun! Doctors decided they were going to try to wean him off of his IV today. They stopped his hydro-cortizone (for his thyroid) and he is still doing great off the oxygen. He is still on his caffeine but they lowered his antibiotics today and started giving him electrolytes with his vitamins and minerals. His feedings are up to 25 ml today and he weighs 3 lbs 10 oz. The nurses said he slept very well during the night and pooped 3 times. When Dana went in to change him this morning he peed all over her, his bed and himself. Kenron had his head ultrasound done today. This test is done on all preemie babies to make sure they do not have blood in their brains. Test results should be back in the next day or two. Dana was able to try to feed him today! He knew exactly what to do. The nurses weren't sure if he got any milk or not because he is so small but this was definitely a big step for him. Dana, Grandma Karen and

Aunt Brit were all able to spend the day with him today.

Day 5- August 29th

Kenron is such a little fighter. He's only been in the NICU for 5 days and he is making leaps and bounds- he must be pretty excited to go home. He's managed to keep his food down for 24 hours. No more throwing up! We're all so proud of him. He's also stayed off the oxygen and he's doing incredibly well. The doctors took him off his biliruben lights for his jaundice and they will check again in the morning to see if his biliruben went down. If it did he will probably be able to stay off the lights- we'll wait and see what the doctors say but for now he is enjoying having his eyes uncovered and being able to sleep in the dark. Kenron weighed 3 lbs 9 oz. this morning and he is currently getting 13 ml. of food, nurses said they would probably be increasing that today because he's done so well with his feedings. Kenron moved rooms today which means he gets to hang out with even more great nurses and make more baby friends. The nurses said the rooms don't necessarily determine how healthy the babies are- they are just kind of randomly selected. But we take it as a good sign if they think he is healthy enough to move! Todd had to go back toDuchesne today. It was so hard for him to go. He had to go back to work and get the house prepared for a baby. He plans on going back every weekend until they get to bring him home.Kenron got to meet a lot of fun people today including some of Dana's friends Stephanie and James and Megan and her husband. He also continued to visit with Grandma Julie and Grandma Karen. These Grandma's sure can't get enough of this sweet boy. Kenron also got to see Great Aunt Korine again and this time she brought along Great Uncle Ron. For one so tiny this little guy sure is loved.

Day 4- August 28th

Kenron is growing so much stronger every day. Today he threw up a little in the morning so they are continuing to watch his feedings. Later in the day he was doing so much better so they increased his feeding to 13 ml. Dana got to wash his hair for the first time today. They put soap on his head and then she scrubbed it with a tiny toothbrush. The difference was amazing. His hair looked so much longer. His biliruben numbers went down so they are hoping his jaundice is clearing up. They removed his UVC cord from his umbilical cord. He was awake and moving around more. He really liked stretching his leg. Every time someone put it in his blankets he would work his way out and get comfortable again. He loved draping his leg over the blankets and letting his nurses know that he was too tall to be squished together like that. The doctors were so impressed at how well he was doing that they decided to take him off his oxygen and see how he could handle it. He was able to breath on his own and they haven't had to put him back on it. Todd and Dana were able to hold him for the first time today. Kenron has been so popular lately that the doctors wanted to limit his visits so he could get some rest- but he did get to see a few people today. Grandma Julie and Aunt Dayna spent a few hours with him and Grandma Karen and Aunt Brit spent a few hours with him as well. Great Aunt Sommer (Julie's sister in law) came to see him too. He loves meeting all these new people!

Day 3- August 27th

Kenron had such a good day today. He has a healthy appetite so they increased his feedings to 4 ml of mommy milk every three hours. They increased his feedings and will continue to increase them as long as his body can handle it. Kenron was awake more today and opened his eyes for short periods of time. Todd and Dana both got to see him with his eyes open and even Grandma Karen, Grandma Julie and Aunt Dayna got to see them. They are beautiful blue. The doctors reduced his oxygen to 1/4 liter and considered taking him off oxygen to see if he could tolerate it. They got him down to 1/8 liter but he wasn't quite ready to breathe on his own so they upped it back up to 1/2 liter. He is still under the bili lights- his biliruben was up a little bit. He was a bit concerned about his chubbyness so he worked hard to lose 4 ounces and is sitting at 3 lbs 12 oz. Doctors said that was normal because of all the fluids he was receiving. They took out the IV in his head and he looks so different! Grandma Karen and Aunt Brit got here from Montana today and they were so excited to be here. They got to spend most of the day with him and Kenron was so happy to see them. Great Grandma and Grandpa Wilkerson and Great Great Grandma and Grandpa Workman stopped by to see Kenron today. They were so happy to be there and couldn't stop smiling Grandpa Workman made sure all the nurses knew this was his first great great grandson. Aunt Kari and soon-to-be Uncle Dusty came and visited as well. Kenron was very popular today. Kenron pooped for the first time today and Dana got to change his diaper. It may not seem exciting to some of us but for Kenron this was a huge accomplishment. Dana was so proud. Todd is content to let Dana do all the diaper changes. The doctors had a few concerns this evening. Kenron threw up and his belly was a little bloated so they decided to hold off on a feeding and see if his body would digest the food on his own. He was a little swollen so they straightened the bed and let him lay on his back for a while. All in all he is doing great. Todd and Dana are doing well. They are still staying in the complimentary room next to the NICU which has worked out to be such a blessing. Kenron really needs his mommy and daddy and he does so much better when they are close to him.

Day 2- August 26th

Kenron developed Jaundice today. They have him under the bili lights

and he gets to wear a cute little mask. Todd says he looks like baby batman. The doctors started him on caffeine to help him breath better. He started to suck on his binkie. The nurses said he was very wiggly today. He cried and moved around a lot. He has the cutest cry. He recognizes his mommy's voice and he latches onto her finger as soon as she sticks her hand in the incubator. They started to feed him 2 ml of his mommy's milk every 3 hours. He weighs 4 pounds today. Aunt Dayna and Grandma Julie spent the day with him and Auntie Lisa Allred came up for a visit and gave him his first preemie clothes. Todd and Dana got to stay in the NICU complimentary rooms which are next door to the NICU so they are only a few seconds away.

Day 1- August 25th

Kenron was so brave and spent his first night in the hospital with his great nurses. He was doing so well that they took him his ventilator. The doctors were worried about his low blood pressure so they put him on medication. He gained three ounces since he was born but

they said most of the weight may have been from the large amount of fluid that they had given him. Todd and Dana got to the hospital at 7:30 and spent the evening with Kenron.

Kenron had his first NICU visitors. Aunt Dayna and Uncle Jack, Aunt Kimberly, Grandma Julie, Aunt Kari, Cousin Sharilynn and Great Aunt Korine all came to visit him. Dana got to change his diaper for the first time and took his temperature. Todd and Dana got to touch his hair for the first time. He has a full head of black hair. Todd, Dana and Kenron are all doing great. Tired. But great.

Birthday

Tuesday started off just like any other day. Nothing out of the ordinary was meant to happen that day. Dana didn't feel well after lunch so she sent a text to her boss saying she couldn't come back to work. She was planning on lying down and sleeping this off. About 3'o clock Julie picked up Todd and Dana to take them over to Roosevelt for a stress test. Everyone wanted to be reassured that this was nothing to be concerned about.

Dana was hooked up to the monitors for 3 hours. They rested and talked while the monitors showed that absolutely nothing was happening. The nurses decided to check to make sure Dana was not dilated before they sent her home. Everyone was pretty laid back- not expecting much to happen. After the nurse got a second opinion they informed Todd and Dana that she was actually dilated to a six. They listened while they told them they would be life flighting Dana to Salt Lake immediately where they would monitor her and they would hopefully be able to slow down labor and prolong delivery. Todd and Dana were terrified. Dana asked for a blessing and Grandpa Weight and Uncle Aaron gave her a powerful priesthood blessing. After much discussion Dana decided she wanted Todd in Salt Lake to meet her when the life flight helicopter landed. Julie offered to drive him and they headed out immediately. They made it to Duchesne before Kathy (Julie's step-mom who was staying with Dana at the hospital) called and told them that life flight had landed, checked Dana and discovered that she was dilated to an 8. They had no other option than to keep her in Roosevelt till she delivered.

Another life flight team was called to transport the baby as soon as he was born. They sped back to Roosevelt. Dana wasn't experiencing much pain and declined an epidural. They broke her water and she continued to chat with everyone until she was dilated to a 10 and they told her she could start pushing. She pushed for 45 minutes and Kenron Zane Wilkerson was born at 11:09 p.m. on August 24th. He weighed 3 lbs. 15 oz. and was approximately 17 inches long. He screamed loud to let his mommy and daddy know he was okay and then they whisked him off to the nursery where the life flight team stabilized him for transport.

On his way to the helicopter they stopped at Dana's room so she could say hello. She held his hand and told him how much she loved him. Deron and Todd gave him a blessing and then they were able to help lift him into the helicopter and Todd, Deron and Julie watched him fly off. Dr.s decided they would release Dana the following day. Todd stayed to look after Dana and on August 25th about 2:00pm they piled into Julie's car and sped to Salt Lake where the little family could be reunited once again.

Kenron Zane Wilkerson

There are many who have asked about Todd, Dana and Kenron. Facebook and email is great but we thought it might be easier and more fun to update everyone via blog. That way you can stay updated constantly and Todd and Dana will have everything documented.