Our Miracle Child

DISCLAIMER: This story contains graphic pictures and text.

Wednesday night, March 7th, 2007, at about 6:45 pm Kate fell through the second story bedroom window (in our house) on to the driveway below. Rob was in the room with her, but had his back turned to her, changing Andie's diaper. Kate had seen the neighbor boy, Mackie, across the street and climbed up into the window seat to wave and say hi to him. The window had been open for ventilation since it was a beautiful day and I had been painting in our room earlier in the day. As she was waving she must have leaned on the screen, and fell through. I was in the kitchen at the time, and heard Rob yell something. I went in to see what was going on, Andie was laying on the bed, and both Kate and Rob were gone. I found out later that Rob had jumped out the window after her.

Rob brought her inside (he realized later that he shouldn't have moved her), and I asked Rob if I should call 911, or if we should just drive her to the emergency room. Rob didn’t answer me and just looked at me like I was crazy. I asked him again if I should call 911, and he said yes. Later I found out that he had yelled “call 911,” as he was going out the window after Kate.

I called 911, and stayed on the phone until a police officer arrived. The 911 dispatcher asked me several questions, address, telephone number, what the emergency was, and such. Then she started asking me questions about Kate, was she conscious, was she moving, ect. Then she told me to go outside so the ambulance and police officers could make sure they had the right address. As soon as the officer pulled up, I waved my neighbor, Sabrina, to come over, and I handed Andie to her.

Kate was rushed to the Emergency Room at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center here in Provo.
They checked her out, gave her some pain medication, and decided they wanted to do a CT Scan. Right before they moved her to do the scan, she started vomiting. At first it was a deep red color, and my first thought was, “She must be bleeding internally.” That was the first time I started crying. Rob just held me and told me that everything was going to be okay. The doctor explained that she had some abrasions on the inside of her mouth, and she had probably swallowed some blood which can make you nauseous. The pain medication could also have made her nauseous.

They moved her into the room to do the CT scan.

Then they moved her back into the room in the ER while we were waiting for the results. During this time, many nurses and doctors were coming in and out of the room. I recognized one of the nurses as Jamie Skousen who had lived in Batesville while I was in high school. I used to babysit her kids. I talked to my mom, and she said that Jamie was there to give me a hug because she couldn’t be there.

While we were waiting for the results, they cleaned her facial wounds. As you can see, Kate didn't like that very much.

The results from her CT scan came back, and at first they told us that it was clear, and they were going to move her to another room in the hospital. About 10 minutes later, the doctor came back and explained that they had missed something; she had fractured some bones around her left eye. They decided that she needed to go to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City (about 45 minutes away). I asked if they were going to life flight her, and they didn't know yet. Later they decided that she could go by ambulance, and that I could ride with her. If they had decided to life flight her, I would not have been able to go with her.

As we were preparing to transport Kate to Primary Children's, the doctor noticed some swelling in Kate's left arm. They did an x-ray, and found she had fractured both bones in her left arm. The splinted it, and we were taken to the ER at Primary Children's. I rode in the ambulance with her. She slept the entire way. I got so many calls on my cell phone. I talked to my mom, Lara, and Crystal. My good friend Lisa Mayberry also called me. Rob had called them to tell them what had happened. Grandma Terry, Rob's mom, and Aunt Jackie, Rob's anunt, met us at the ER, and Terry even got Kate to talk to her. Brian and Kim Campbell, Rob's boss and his wife, also came up there to check on Kate, Rob, and me. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family who love and support us.

Once we arrived at Primary Children’s they immediately did a "once over" to assess the situation and her injuries. Shortly after arriving (1- 1 1/2 hours later) they transferred her to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. They kept a close eye on her all night, and she slept well. Even with the tube down her nose suctioning out her stomach, a catheter, and a neck brace. They were still worried about possible neck or spinal cord injuries.

There was a glider next to her bed, and I tried to get some sleep. Rob went up to the next floor and found a couch to sleep on. In the middle of the night Kate woke up and asked for her daddy. I called Rob’s cell phone, but Kate had already fallen back asleep before he made it down to see her. Then Rob sat in the chair, and I found a couch just outside the PICU to sleep on. Rob and I each got about 2 hours of sleep that night.

Thursday morning, we had to leave for an hour while the nurses changed rotations. Because of the curtained walls and HIPPA Privacy laws, we had to leave. Rob and I left the hospital to go get some breakfast. We told her that we were going to get some food, and that we would be back later. Her nurse, Ken, sat in the glider and watched TV with her. Later that morning, Kate was complaining of pain in her right wrist as well. So they did another x-ray and later we found out that both bones in her right arm were fractured as well. Thursday morning she was also transferred to the Neuro Trauma Unit. A nice change from the curtained walls of the PICU. They were able to remove the neck brace, the catheter, and the tube down her nose. The doctor said she even helped him pull the tube out. Kate slept most of the morning, until about noon, and then she was awake the whole afternoon and evening. She even got up to go to the bathroom a couple of times. She did so well! She had her own TV, and got to watch whatever she wanted. We had several visitors that day. Aunt Jackie came to visit that morning while Kate was sleeping. Grandma Terry came on her lunch break. Bishop Pace came on his lunch break, and even brought Rob and I some lunch. Lara and Crystal brought Sara and Andie to see Kate, too.

Thursday evening, the nurse suggested that we unhook her from her IV (saline) before she went to the bathroom for convenience reasons. That was the best thing for Kate. After she was done going to the bathroom, the nurse suggested we take her on a walk around the halls. The walk soon turned into skipping, hopping, and running! Although, we had to be very careful and help "guide" her from bumping into walls. (Her left eye was completely swollen shut.) Kate explored every hallway and corner in the unit! She loved this freedom!

That evening Katie, a girl Rob works with at the Pharmacy, and her mom came to visit Kate. They brought her a Build-a-Bear complete with two outfits and shoes to match as well as a pair of pajamas for Kate.

That night Lara and Crystal brought Andie, and Angela (my boss from the flower shop) up to visit. Rob and I still hadn't eaten dinner, so after our walk, we decided to go down to the cafeteria to eat. Kate was able to come with us, and even got to ride in a wagon!

Once she saw me eating some french fries there was no stopping her. She wanted some french fries, and when I told her no (because she had thrown up apple juice earlier in the afternoon), she threw a MAJOR tantrum. I have never been so happy to see her throw a tantrum in my life! She ate french fries, part of my grilled ham and cheese sandwich, a pickle, and some of a push-up popsicle. And everything stayed down!

Friday morning, Kate ordered pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a strawberry smoothie for breakfast. She ate all of her eggs, and it was a big helping! They were able to take off her IV and all her monitors except the one on her toe monitoring her heart rate, and oxygen levels. She loved it! Once when the doctor came to check on her, the nurse told him that he had just missed her skipping down the hallway. The doctor replied, "She's out of here! If she's skipping down the hall, then she's ready to go home!"

Around lunch time my neighbor Stephanie, brought her girls Taylor, Ali, and Sabrina, who is the same age as Kate, to come visit. Kate was napping, and Stephanie and the girls decided to go get some food, and then come back to see if she was awake. When they came back, Kate was awake, and wanted to go on a walk. She showed Sabrina all around the hospital. It was so cute.

They released her Friday afternoon around 4:00. This is our family leaving the hospital. We went straight home, and found this...

Gerb and her family had "heart attacked" our garage door. Kate thought it was pretty cool. We took a picture of Kate and her Daddy under the window she fell from. That night the Relief Society president brought us a delicious meal for which we were very grateful. We all slept so well that night. I got more sleep that night than I had the previous two nights combined! I think it was just what the doctor ordered for all of us!

Kate continued to heal quickly. We had to wait about a week for the swelling in her arms to go down before they could cast them. Kate picked pink and purple casts. She thought they were pretty cool.

She had her casts on for 3 weeks. During those 3 weeks, she was not allowed to take a bath. We did lots of "baby wipe baths." She could not feed herself, dress herself, or go to the bathroom by herself. She did come up with some creative ways to feed herself towards the end of the 3 weeks. She would put food on the edge of the table and then suck/slurp it up. It was pretty cute.

Three weeks later the casts came off. It took Kate awhile to get used to using them again.

There was lots of dead skin under the casts that took a few days to flake off.

We have been so blessed. I know there were angels watching over Kate, and that prayers are answered! Enjoy the time you have with your loved ones, you never know when it will be over. Luckily, for us, our story has a happy ending. Kate is truly our miracle child.