Surgery #3

Today was surgery #3 everything went well. Layla is sleeping peacefully at home right next to Mommy! They did another urince culture during surgery and hopefully her kidney infection is gone. The Doctor said that there's a higher risk when doing a double implantation verses a single (Layla had a double) for the reflux to come back in her kidneys. I believe the chances are pretty low but with Layla unfortunately has been that low percent more often than we would like. So we aren't completely out of the woods yet. She still has her duplicated collecting system and the upper pole still has pretty low function. We have to go back to urology in 4 weeks for an ultrasound. I'm not 100% sure but I believe that ultrasound will tell some what if the surgery fixed her reflux. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! You guys are awesome! 

Plan of action

As long as Layla drinks more today since she hasn't been urinating very much we can go home this afternoon! They are fixing to come in and give her first shot of 6. We will have to come to Vanderbilt every day this week to get a shot of antibiotics. But at least we will be home! Layla misses her big brothers, sissy, and her four legged siblings Mia, Tyson, and Sweet Pea! Here's a picture of her waking up this morning. Smile on her face and donut in her hair, I'd say that was a good nights sleep! 

Hospital Dinners

After a long day of no eating or drinking Layla couldn't decide what she wanted for dinner so...

Whatever Princess Layla wants Princess Layla gets... 

Hamburger, fries, bread sticks, nachos and cheese, chocolate chip cookie, and hot chocolate for Dinner.

Kidney infection

We are back in the hospital , until she's 48 hours fever free and taking her antibiotics by mouth. :( 

She has a kidney infection and will need IV antibiotics. Please continue to pray for our little angel! Thank you for all your thoughts and

prayers during her surgery and recovery, it's going to be a long road for Layla. :( 

In recovery!

Sweet Layla is in recovery after a very long and hard 5 hour procedure! Thank you lord!! 

Being girly 💅

Since Layla is awake we decided to have a little fun girl time. A girl needs her lip gloss and hair bows! 

Fever 😷

We just can't seem to catch a break... Layla spiked a fever tonight. So per the on call doctors orders we will be heading to Vanderbilt Urology first thing in the morning. 😩 since she has the stents in it more than likely means that it's a UTI. I'm praying it's not gotten into her kidneys. Because a kidney infection is the very last thing she needs right now. So please keep your fingers crossed for my sweet baby tomorrow! Here is an updated photo of her incision I had forgotten to share... 

Rough recovery

We've been home for 6 days now and Layla is refusing to take her medicine. So not only is she in pain, her bladder keeps having spasms because she's not taking her meds for it, and she's at risk for an infection because she won't take her antibiotic. We have literally tried every single thing trying to trick her into taking her medicine every day. Out of 5 children she's the only one I've not been successful at tricking. I really don't know what else to do. She's in so much pain she stays up all night long hurting. I've been using the Tylenol suppositorys and that's with her fighting me every second. They are not helping at all. 😥 hopefully soon she will give up and give in! As for now it looks like it's going to be a long road to recovery. We've got 4-6 weeks with the stent in 😩

Home & Recovering Well

We have been home for 2 days now and Layla is recovering well. She's pretty sore and she's still bleeding a lot. But she's able to get up, walk around, and play. She's one tough and brave little girl! She doesn't know it yet but she's my hero. I couldn't imagine after going through everything she's been through smiling everyday like she does. We are going to take her dressing off her incision in 2 more days. And her follow up is in 4 weeks where we schedule her next surgery to remove the stent. Thank you all for following along and praying for my sweet girl! It literally means the world to us! 

Layla says Thank you

Layla says thank you to everyone that sent her a get well soon card! She loves them! 

Not a very good morning

Layla hasn't had the best night or morning. She was up most of the night in pain. And she started vomiting around 4am, so far 4 times. They won't give her any nausea meds until the doctors come by to see her. This morning was the first time I've heard her cry since her surgery 😢 she cried 3 times this morning and broke my heart. She sat up on her own and ill never forget the look on her face, she was hurting and she was scared. It seemed as if it's the first time she really felt her incision in her tummy. Hopefully she didn't do any damage to it when she sat up like that. The look on her face and the way she cried seemed like she could have. Please doctors come in soon and take this cath out so she's got 1 less thing to hurting her. 😫 

Moved to a bigger room

We finally got out of the overflow unit and into a bigger room. Layla is awake now and she's ate a few chips and cheese dip. (Yummy!) the doctor is going to come by in the morning and take her cath out and see how she does. If she's eating & drinking, walking, and her pain is manageable we will go home tomorrow late afternoon! Yay! Let's see how well she does...

Send a free Ecard!

Layla would Love to hear from everyone praying for her! If you'd like to send a free Ecard they will deliver it directly to our room! Click the link, pick out your card and type your message! Please send to:

Layla Stinson

Room 3306 

http://www.childrenshospital.vanderbilt.org/interior.php?mid=1985

In our room

We are moved into our room where we will be spending the remainder of our stay, nice over flow room with no fridge, shower, or couch. 😔 But that's the least of my worries right now. She just woke up for maybe 5 minutes long enough to say she's hurting, take medicine, and a sip of sprite. She's back asleep and in my arms. I won't sleep a wink tonight because I hurt for her, as a mother your child's pain is your pain. We talked to the doctor after surgery about his findings. He said that her ureters were so tiny he couldn't even get a cath in them. They were no where near normal size so that is the reason why she needed a stent in. She has a very tiny bladder, and her kidney had some sort of crud in it. It appeared to be like a crystallization of some sort. The doctor said he had never seen anything like it and did not know what it was or could have been caused from so he sent it off for a culture. :( please god don't let it be anything serious! Thank you all for praying and please continue to pray throughout her recovery! 

2nd Update

Layla is still in surgery. They had to put a stent in her ureters on the side with the duplicated kidney. Because the ureters were so tiny, there's a high risk of the urters swelling and obstructing the kidneys. To prevent that the stent was put in. The down side is she will have to come back in 2-3 weeks to have another surgery to remove the stent. My heart is literally tore in two right now! I was not expecting this, I thought this would be the last surgery my sweet girl would need. Please continue praying!! 

Update...

Just got an update from the O.R. Nurse. Layla is doing good, everything has went as planned so far. Thank you Jesus! They are working on the last and most difficult side with the duplicated kidney now. Another hour and a half to go...

So far so good...

Layla went back for surgery around 12:45pm we just got an update and she's doing well! Hopefully my baby will be out of surgery within the next 2-3 hours! Continue to pray please!!! 

Waiting...

Waiting... Just finished talking to the doctor. Please continue praying for Layla! 

Please pray for Layla tonight!

Please say a little prayer for our sweet Angel tonight! In the morning we will head to Vanderbilt for her surgery! :( Please Lord be with the doctors and nurses in the operating room tomorrow! And wrap your arms around my baby while she's in there! Please heal her and let this all be over with quickly!

Information for tomorrow! (Surgery Day)

The urologist office called today and gave us our instructions for tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 10am

, surgery is scheduled to start at 12pm and end around 4pm. Only Clear liquids until 8am so she's not going to be a happy camper in the morning. My anxiety level is through the roof and I so do not want my baby to go through this tomorrow. I know that this is out of our control, and I am carrying a really heavy heart right now! Please say a prayer tonight for our sweet little Layla! Tomorrow is going to be one of the hardest days of my life that I've had to endure as a mother one to many times (15 to be exact). God I know your arms will be wrapped tight around my angel in the operating room! 

Oh My! How much we love our baby sister!

"The sentence that made my heart stop"

Off to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital (story of our lives) to talk to Dr. Thomas about what's next for our gorgeous Layla Brooke. Leyah (our 7 year old daughter) has never had another UTI since her reflux diagnoses so we took her off antibiotics and opted out of a 2nd VCUG. So what the urologist had to say was yet again the most shocking news. And here goes "the sentence that made my heart stop" ...

"Layla needs to have surgery to have the reflux repaired." 

Doctor dear Lord no! Why my baby?! I left the office that day with the heaviest heart and it still remains that way. Layla needed to have another surgery to repair what the 1st surgery caused. This surgery would consist of her having a c-section cut, they would need to detacht all 3 of her ureters and reattach them in different places and that repairs the reflux. While they are in there they decided it would be best to go ahead and cut out the ureterocele (the blockage in her bladder). I wish there was a way they could avoid cutting her stomach open. :( the thought of her having a c-section scar so early in life breaks my heart. Our boys have had such bad issues with scar tissue in the past so this makes me especially nervous. Her little belly is so precious to me and it will forever be changed by this surgery. :( I will be posting before and after belly pictures of course this may take a while because ill need to wait for her incision to heal. But I want to remember her sweet belly as perfect as it's always been and I'd like to be able to show her those photos. Please Lord let this be the last surgery Layla and all of our children! Oct 22, 2013 is surgery day. Please keep our precious Angel in your prayers! 

UTIs & 2nd VCUG

Just as we thought we were in the clear... Layla got 4 UTIs since her surgery. One of the risks from the 1st surgery she had was it could cause her to get VUR (kidney reflux). We had a VCUG done at 2 weeks old that confirmed she was not born with reflux. But since she had gotten a UTI after surgery we knew that there was a pretty high possiblity that she could have been one of the "few" that her prior surgery had caused reflux in. So here we are, Layla's 2nd VCUG which I must say again is the most traumatizing test. :( this VCUG was a lot harder than her first because this time she was 20 months old. Terror and pain in your little girls face is something as a parent you NEVER want to experience! This test does just that and I remember the past experience I had with Leyah (our 7 year old daughter) when she was 18 months old and had this very same test done. :( I wasn't expecting the results we had to hear that day. Our urologist was out of the office that day but they would not let us leave without talking to another urologist that was in office. Layla had gotten grade 3 reflux and not only was it in both her kidneys but also in the 3rd upper pole that only had 75% function from her 1st surgery. I could not have been more upset and frustrated. But I knew everything was in Gods hands and he would protect our little Angel! So we started antibiotics that day. And scheduled an appointment to come back and talk to out fabulous urologist to discuss what was next for Layla.

Layla's 1st Surgery

At 3 1/2 weeks old our sweet baby had to have her 1st surgery. This surgery was done to poke holes into her ureterocele (blockage in her bladder) in order for the urine to flow through better. It will never flow 100% normally but this would help. The doctor said that this wouldn't make the ureterocele go away it would be there still but it's at least going to help her urine flow a little better. He let us know that Layla may possibly need more surgeries in the future to poke more holes in the ureterocele if they ever grew up. Also with her duplicated collecting system if anything was to ever happen to her kidney function then it's a possibility they would have to operate on it later in life. It's just a waiting game. We spent 1 night in the hospital after this surgery. After wards Layla had to see her urologist every 6 months to have an ultrasound done to keep an eye on the ureterocele's function. Little did we know this would not be the end of Layla's journey...

VCUG Time

So here we are back at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for Layla's first VCUG ( a test done to see if she has kidney reflux ) . This test is one of the hardest and most traumatizing tests I believe all my children have ever had to go through. And both my girls have had to endure it.

:( they basically strap them on the X-ray table, place and cathiter, drain a solution into the bladder through the cathiter, wait on the baby to urinate, and then take X-rays during urination. And the die will light up on the X-rays so they are able to see if there is reflux present. The VCUG comes back completely normal! Yay!!! There's no reflux! 

Layla's kidney function test

At 2 weeks old we took Layla to Vanderbilt  Children's Hospital to have her kidney function test done. She had to have a scalp IV because her veins were so tiny so that is what you see in the photos on her head. Once the test was complete We were sent home to await our urologists phone call about the results. The urologist called the next day and it was the most shocking phone call I've ever had. He said Layla's 3rd kidney only had 75% function, which doesn't sound to bad considering its an extra kidney basically. But then he told me that he would need to operate on her ureterocele as soon as possible. She needed holes poked in the blockage to help urine flow through. And before surgery she needed to have a VCUG done to see if she had Kidney Reflux (VUR) which is what her sister Leyah had. So we scheduled the test and the surgery for the very next week. 

Welcome to The World Layla Brooke

July 5, 2011 one of the best days of our life! We welcomed Our sweet Angel

Layla Brooke into this world! Such a blessing she has been to our little family! Once we got settled in to our room Layla had to be taken away to have an ultrasound done on her kidneys and bladder. We knew from ultrasounds done during my pregnancy that Layla had something called a Duplicated Collecting System and a ureterocele. If you don't want to take a lot of time googling those, here's a simpler form. Duplicated Collecting system is basically 3 functioning kidneys 2 of her kidneys are attached together like simeze twins. All the kidneys have their own seperate ureters that connect to the bladder. And a ureterocele is a blockage in her bladder. Our Amazing urologist who has taken care of all 4 of our other children came after hours to the hospital to meet Layla and speak with us about a plan for Layla. We then scheduled a test at 2 weeks old to see how well Layla's kidneys were functioning. This began Layla's Story...

Layla's Story

We have so many absolutely amazing people who have followed along and prayed with us during some very difficult times for Our Family. Altogether our 5 children (so far) have had a grand total of 18 surgeries. And 5 days from now Layla will have her 2nd surgery which will be 19 total altogether for our babies. We thank each and everyone one of you from the bottom of of hearts for all of your sweet thoughts, gestures, and prayers! 

This blog was made for everyone to stay informed during Layla's procedure, hospital stay, and recovery. Thank you for following along! 

Here's Layla's Story...