No news is good news!

We are on to day two post-surgery!  We are happy to say that there is not much in the way of exciting news to give!  They are slowly weening Maizy off her ventilator, and we were told that the plan is to sew up her chest Sunday morning.  They said that the procedure would be a bit later in the morning because the surgeon likes to go to church first and then come in.  I see no problem with that at all!!!!

All of Maizy's readings are good and she is getting stronger everyday, she did however try to wake up last night prior to our leaving for the evening...yeah that's not the best idea baby girl, you need to stay a alseep just a bit longer!  So they gave her some medicine that got her back to where she needed to be in regard to sedation.

I am also proud to say that today Maizy will get to the learn the tradition that Piper and I started 2 years ago.  That tradition is watching the Tour de France!  When Piper was a newborn she had a tendency to not sleep whenever the rest of the world slept, so we would watch the Tour de France live on television.  Apparently the start time in France is about 3 am central time in Kansas!

Mommy isn't nearly as pumped as daddy for the beginning of our tradition, but I am sure she will warm up to it, I mean come on who doesn't love watching hours of grown men ride bicycles through the french countryside....well I know I do!

It is also worth note that today and tomorrow is the Color Run 5k in KC, it's a race to benefit the Ronald McDonald House which we of course will be lifetime supporters.  We were asked to be a focus family for the race, which meant that wanted to use our story and have us be at the race to speak with people and participate.  As you know Traci and I are both runners (and its notable Piper will not walk anywhere unless you say "Ready, set, go!" and she can race daddy or mommy) and we were very excited to participate and share our story.  However we will not be able to make it simply because of Maizy having recently had surgery and we want to be with her.  So if any of you are doing the Color Run ( we know some who are, Retters and Kuekers!) then thank you for supporting the Ronald McDonald House, we may not eat Ronald's food, but we love him for giving us the ability to be so close to Maizy!

I hope this finds all of you happy and healthy!

We have reached the summit!

It's been one heck of a day for Team Ferrell.  Traci and I were up at 6 am and at the hospital at 7.  We got to spend some time with Maizy, each of us hold her and telling her how much we loved her and that she was going to rock this surgery.

The surgical team came up just a bit after 8 and began prepping her for transport to the operating room.  We gave our kisses to Maizy and began our walk to the operating room.  Then we reached the point where mom and dad couldn't go any further.  That's when it all set in...our baby girl just barely a week old was going in for open heart surgery.  Needless to say it was tough...very tough.

We walked down to the waiting room and got all checked in and I went down to the cafeteria and picked us up some breakfast.  I only am telling you this particular part so that I may help someone in the future from making the same mistake I made.  While in the cafeteria I got traci a bagel and a small coffee, I got my usual bucket of coffee and proceeded to get the cholesterol free eggs, however calling them eggs is a bit of a stretch because there is no possible way in hell that any part of an egg had anything to do with creating this adomination.  It was horrendous, do not under any circumstances get the cholesterol free eggs from the cafeteria...unless you are making napalm or trying to set tires on fire.

Anyway I digress....

Traci's parents Dave and Rhonda had come up for the surgery and we gathered in the Ronald McDonald House family room at the hospital.  We were able to get a quiet room to ourselves where the nurse could come in an give us updates.  We settled in and got ready for the day.  Rhonda read a book, Traci worked on a crossword, and Dave and I attempted to understand the wonders of his Ipad.

The nurse visited us hourly, letting us know that they had got her on bypass, that she was doing well, etc.  Everytime we saw the nurse walking toward the room a lump in my stomach formed, but it was quickly dissipated when she had a smile on her face.  Finally she came to the room and said that Maizy was done, and successfully off bypass.  We had reached the summit, surgery was a success!!

The nurse said that the surgeon would be in to see us soon, and led us out into the main waiting room.  The surgeon came into see us and simply said "it went great, she did great."  I am standing there looking at the man who saved my little girls life, and it's just like another day for him.  This man's daily routine is saving children....wrap your head around that one kids!

Needless to say we were very eager to see Maizy, we had to wait about another hour before we were allowed to go back.  When it was time Traci and I took one of the most difficult walks we will ever have to make together, we walked into to see our little girl completely sedated, with a big bandage on her chest, and tubes and sensors coming out of her in all sorts of directions.  I would be a liar if I said it didn't completely break my heart, I will never forget that sight...never. 

The bandage was on her chest because they do not actually stitch her chest closed yet, they need to give room for swelling, etc.  So a patch is put over the incision, and later when swelling is down they will stitch her closed.  Seeing her heart beat through the bandages is a bit unsettling to say the least, but its also great to see because it means its working!
We have reached yet another milestone, she was out  of surgery. and she was okay.  We stayed with her while the doctors and nurses adjusted fluids, medicine and worked on getting all their readings where they wanted them to be.  It was scary and I wanted to ask every five seconds if everything was okay.  But as we were told this is standard protocol, they will be all over your child making sure everything is at levels and concentrations they want them to be. 

We got settled into the room a bit later and met our nurse who would be with us for a bit, and we just stayed by Maizy's side.  All in all it was a tough/terrifying/wonderful milestone reaching day.  Day by day as she improves she will be weaned off of stuff until we can finally take our baby girl home.

Piper is doing well she is staying with our dear friends in Concordia, she is doing great, but I am sure she misses her mommy, daddy and baby sister.  We will see you soon Princess!  I also need to take the time to thank our friends Kathy, Justin, Alyson and Aidan Poore for opening their home to Piper.  Along with the Stein family here in Kansas City who have done the same.  Were it not for Aunt Kathy and Aunt Robin things would be much more difficult.  They have allowed us to keep some semblance of normalcy for Piper and we love and appreciate them and their families for all they have done for us.  I would also like to thank Traci's parents Dave and Rhonda, I don't really ever say it to them...but I love them very much, their being their with us helped Traci and I immensely.

We will never be able to repay all of you for the kind words, offers of assistance, prayers, daily check-ins, and love you have shown our family, it is deeply humbling.

Well it's getting late and this day has been a whirlwind so with that I am signing off with the words I told Maizy right before she went back for surgery, it was the same thing I told her when we took her to the NICU right after she was born, "Daddy loves you so much, and you fight like hell."

We love you all, good night.

Some more pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Piper doing yoga outside.  And yes she calls it yoga, and yes she insists dad does it too!



The Child Life coordinator showed Dad how to make a stocking cap...everyone will be recieving knit stocking caps as gifts for any occasion from now on. 



Maizy listening to Dad tell her stories.

Its totally normal to dip your orange sucker in ketchup....its the new thing.

I LOVE KETCHUP!!  DON'T JUDGE!!!!

Piper finally got to hold baby Maizy.  Big sister was pretty happy.



I will not wake up, and you will keep this binky in my mouth till I tell you otherwise!



One of the creatures inhabiting the waiting room...its worth nothing that it is friggin 100 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!  Note the magazine...I can only assume he is looking at the pretty pictures.



It's almost time for the main event!!

Hello all!  We hope this finds everyone doing well. 

Yesterday evening the nurse came in while I was hanging out with Maizy and told me that tentatively they had the surgery scheduled for Thursday.  Since they had told us the surgery wouldn't be till next week I assumed she was talking about next Thursday....I was incorrect she was talking about this Thursday.  Traci and I are thrilled/terrified to get this next step started, and more thrilled to get it complete, and get Maizy on the road to recovery. 

They told us the surgeon wanted to meet with us likely on Wednesday, so I headed to work and started the day, then I recieved a call a bit after 1 pm from Traci telling me that the surgeon wanted to meet with us today (tuesday) at 3!  So I bolted from work and made it back in time to meet with the surgeon.  Our surgeon explained what was going on, and told us he would see us soon.  He did a good job of describing stuff and I was very comfortable with him.  They will be doing open heart surgery, and replacing the bad section of valve with donor tissue.  So a big thank you to whoever donated their heart so our little girl could have her heart fixed.

Mom and Dad are trying to wrap our heads around the fact we have made it to this point and we are preparing to deal with recovery as the nurses told us to be prepared because she will have lots of sensors, tubes, and pumps going.  However I sense you can never fully be prepared for such a thing.

Its crazy to think that today Traci would have been 38 weeks, and we could be still waiting for Maizy to be born, instead we have a beautiful baby girl and we are getting ready for surgery. 

Piper is doing good and being the champ the Piper always is (she gets it from her mom, her dad is usually a basketcase, I need 3 meals a day, 2 snacks and a place to potty or I freak out) she got to spend the day with Robin Stein, who is quickly becoming Aunt Robin.  Robin and the entire Stein family have been awesome, taking Piper the day Maizy was born as well.  They do an awesome job of entertaining and wearing out Piper...and keeping her will stocked with suckers.  The Steins along with everyone else, to numerous to mention, have been fantastic in offering assistance, care and love duing our journey here.  We will never to be able to fully thank all of you for everything...just know we love and appreciate you all.

Before I sign off I wanted to tell Traci how much I love her and how proud I am that she is the mother of our two beautiful little girls.  She is by far the rock in our family, the glue that keeps our crazy team together.  I was once told by a friend after meeting Traci that I had by far "out punted my coverage"  he couldn't be more correct.  I am not sure what I did in life to deserve the three wonderful ladies I have been blessed with, but I am one lucky guy.

To finish off this post I got to snuggle with Maizy tonight for a while and was reading her a book (Eat, Sleep, Ride...its a book about the Great Divide bike race...trust me she loves it...) and as she snuggled into my arm I told her that Thursday would be a tough day but she was tough like her mommy and sister and she would be home in no time.  It reminded me of what I told her when we  got her up to the NICU, when it was just her and I (before mommy's glorious expedition 2 hrs after child birth to see her)  I was in awe of everything going on, and the only thing I could get out of mouth at that time was "I love you so much little girl, do your daddy a favor....and fight like hell."

No more lights!!

When we arrived this morning we were told that Maizy's bilirubin had dropped into the low 9's so she is out from underneath the lights!! No more tanning bed/heat lamp/prettly lights for now! The bilirubin most of the time rebounds a bit so they will just keep an eye on it. But for now she is out from under the bright lights and everyone is happy to see her!!

The docs on rounds this morning said they were hoping (fingers crossed) to give us a date for surgery today!  We sure hope so, we are ready for the next step so we can get closer to getting her home.


Yesterday Daddy and Piper took a trip to Whole Foods to get some much needed fruit and other goods.  We left mommy with baby Maizy so she could have some quiet time and headed out on our own to spend our gift card on some yummy, and healthy groceries.  (Thanks Kueker family!!)
Upon our arrival Piper immediately spotted the blueberries and exclaimed "Daddy...blueberries...please!!"  So in the cart they went.  Next we came to the cantaloupe which Piper loves so we got some of that, which Piper informed me she wanted to hold.  We then found the grapes which Piper also insisted on having...so we got those too!  (can we see a pattern here?)  However Piper didn't want to just buy grapes, she wanted to eat them...right now!  So we just wandered around while Piper informed me when she needed more grapes to eat, while firmly holding on to her cantaloupe container.  Even going so far as to inform the older gentleman working at the store when he stopped to say hello that this was her cantaloupe!!  We then wandered around a bit more picking up we thought we be good to eat, and taking our time so mommy could have some quiet time without Piper and Daddy running around in circles screaming like banshees.  (Piper and I tend to get crazy especially when not fed in a timely manner)

When it was all said and done somehow Piper and I spent way more money in one trip to the store than mommy usually does in a week of grocery shopping.  The organic grapes, and the precut cantaloupe were $15 just themselves!  I could tell by the look on mommy's face that it might be the last time dad and Piper get to go wander around Whole Foods without adult supervision.  But we did try some awesome sunflower cookies, that of course Piper and I both agreed we needed to purchase.  I also inadvertently tried Kombucha, which is apparently a fermented sweet tea that is the new rage in the holistic/health food world.  My Kombucha was lavender flavored...I thought I had just bought a reguler bottle of tea but apparently not...which I soon found out when I took a huge gulp in the car.  Apparently it was a humorous scene...as Piper she got a kick out of watching Daddy try to figure out when the hell he just put in his mouth!!

So thats about all for now, hope you guys enjoyed the new posted pics and we will keep you informed!  Thanks for reading!!

Pictures as promised!!!



The NICU also doubles as an indoor track facility.

 Mr. Potatohead's hat is now Pipers baby hat!  Thanks Avery Kueker! 

Team Ferrell's first picture with the whole squad!!

Just hanging out with my baby sister.

Peek-a-boo everybody!!!

Mommy isn't supposed to lift more then 15 pounds....she doesn't listen very good.  But Piper sure appreciates it!

The best Papa in the world!  Papa Dave that is!!  Piper decided she was going to ride in the dolls stroller!

Paining a picture for baby Maizy's room at the NICU.

Lights, Camera, terrifying waiting room

Well another day in the books and ready to start another.  Piper returned with Grandma and Grandpa Doering (or as Piper calls them Papa and RaRa).

Piper had been staying with our neighbors and close friends for a few days in an attempt to keep things are normal for her as possible.  From what I have been told she participated, or likely took over a gymnastics class, ran rampant around the local ballparks during our neighbor's kids games, and insisted on having "roni cheese" for every meal, which is "Piper speak" for macaroni and cheese.  For those you that know Traci and I well, you know we are a bit of health nuts thus dad has been attempting to find a healthy recipe that tastes close to the lauded "roni cheese"....I have yet to find anything.  If I do, I will post it for everyone!

Piper was very happy to see her mommy and daddy, and latched onto mom like a spider monkey when she saw her.  She was thrilled to see her baby sister and still insisted on trying to hold her although its not possible for her right now with all the lines and sensors she is currently has hooked up to her.

Maizy's bilirubin was high on Friday so she is now under some lights that resemble a baby tanning bed, of course she has on an eye cover that looks like a cross between old timey aviatior googles and  burn victim gauze.  It's a bit strange to say the least.  However it's not a big deal and we got to see her little eyes quite a bit today when they would take her off the lights.  Her bilirubin count was 14.8 yesterday, and it is already down to 12.4 so she is doing awesome, and thanks to her tanning bed she will be up and ready for a starting slot on Jersey Shore in no time. * As a sidebar to this post it is worth noting that initially I had mispelled bilirubin, and was spelling it billy rubin.  Traci of course caught this and made fun of me, asking me "who is Billy Rubin?"   However I caught it before I posted, thus it does not count as a typo.*

I will be doing my best to post some more pictures tomorrow, its late and I am typing in the dark, thus posting pics by sending them from my phone to my computer, or whatever vodoo magic I have to do will need to wait till tomorrow.

As I said in an earlier post Childrens Mercy Hospital has been amazing, the staff here is phenomenol.  However I do have one complaint so now that everyone has been updated, I will go off on a Dad rant for just a moment.  My one complaint, which is actually completely out the hospitals control, is the waiting room, or as I like to refer to it as "the 7th layer of Hell" or "that damn place full of thugs and scary toddlers." 

It is truly unbelieveable, last night someone took it upon themselves to dump coffee in the toilet, lose part of their hair weave in the bathroom sink, open up most if not all of the coffee creamer and sugar packets and dump them all over the place, and generally just jack everything up they came in contact with.  Tonight was pretty much the same scenario, except there was even more scary toddlers, (I believe all from the same family of morons), and what appeared to be more destruction.  The maintenance crew at Childrens Mercy must think that the someone is driving a bulldozer through the waiting room at the NICU.   There is seriously a toddler in there that I think would stab me if he could get ahold of a knife, shank, or sharpened Hot Wheels car. 

Anyway I digress, and I must say for the most part we have really met some fantastic parents of other babies in the NICU.  We are kind of a team, always asking how everyone else's children are, and giving each encouragment as our little ones grown stronger.

It's worth noting that this evening Piper wanted something out of the vending machine, which generally I would say no to, however she was exhausted and I was losing my patience with the monsters in the waiting room, so I relented.  However, all I had was a $5 and of course the machine kept spitting it back out.  I could see Piper losing patience with dad, and I was looking for chair to put through the glass in the vending machine.  Just when I was about to start flipping furniture, a woman gave Piper $1, she said she was a grandma, and that they were having a tough time, and she just wanted to do something for Piper.  The entire family was crying, you could tell that more than likely something terrible had happened, and by the way they looked I suspected they might be losing a young one.  So tonight before you go to sleep, when you say a prayer for Maizy, please say a prayer for the nice woman and her family.  I think they need it.

WHAM!!!! Two posts in a day!

Now that the generalities are out of the way, lets do an update on Maizy, or as I call her little monkey, little princess, bubba, the list goes on.  Traci often tells me I call our children everything but their actual names.

As I stated in the earlier post the doctors found roughly 2 weeks ago a bit of an issue with Maizy's heart.  She needs to have some surgery to repair essentially a bad section of her aortic valve.  We are thrilled however that it will be the only surgery she needs, as earlier they had told us had her heart not been strong enough they would have had to do another procedure that essentially re-routes valves in the heart to a point that she would really only be using one half of her heart.  Obviously we wanted her to have full use of her heart, and the surgery she is having will just be one surgery as opposed to three over the span of about a year and half.

Obviously the heart stuff was a bit of suprise, but we were so lucky to have found it so that we could have a plan of attack before she arrived.  She is resting in the NICU and getting stronger everyday. 

While we are on the subject of strength let me tell you about Traci and her "birthing tactic" as I am now going to refer to it.  Traci just has she did with Piper when she was born had no epidural, she did this whole thing au natural!   Hell we could have saved the insurance company money and just had her in the parking garage!  As one nurse put it "Lady you are superwoman!  You got an "S" on your chest." 

After Maizy was born the amazing and large team of medical professionals sized her up, got her medicine going, and took her to the NICU.  I got to follow them up, little did I know mommy would be following behind very soon.  As I am standing in the NICU one of the nurse's asks me "Who is that woman outside the room?"  I looked over and answered "that's mom"  The nurse didn't believe me at first. 

So yes the story is true roughly 2 hours after giving birth Traci did in fact walk roughly a quarter of a mile to the NICU to see her baby....thus I am confident Maizy will be just as tough as her mommy and sister.  If only they could quit making dad look like such a puss, then we would really be doing good!!

We don't have a time scheduled for surgery quite yet as the cardiac team is pretty backed up, but it should be in a little over a week they are anticipating.  So right now we are just waiting and hanging out with Maizy.  Mommy is reading lots of books to her, Piper is still trying to hold her, and dad is telling all the nurses stories about completely ridiculous things. 

FIrst Post...let's see if we can get this party started.

Hello all!  I am starting a blog partly to keep family informed and also maybe to entertain some poor schmuck that just may stumble across my ramblings.  I am however not vain enough to truly believe complete strangers really care at all what I have to say.

I am a corporate attorney working for an insurance pool in Kansas.  My wife is also an attorney who now specializes in court appointed work and keeping our almost 2 year old daughter from burning down our house.

I am a dad to 2 wonderful little girls, Piper who is almost 2 years old and Maizy who was just born on Tuesday June 19th.

I am sure that most of the comments on this blog will be of 2 varieties, family commenting on pictures (if I can figure out how to post them) and my wife correcting my punctuation, or spelling, or math, or pretty much anything else.

As our family knows we have been camped out part of the time at the Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City, and the other part of the time at Childrens Mercy Hospital.  The reason being that roughly 2 weeks prior to Maizy being born they found a heart issue that needed to be corrected.  While it threw us for a loop, we were thankful that they were able to catch it.  Maizy has been in the NICU since she was born.  Mom, Dad and big sister Pipe,r along with a steady flow of friends and family have been keeping her company. 

Everyone at Childrens Mercy has been fantastic, if Maizy needed to be somewhere this is certainly the place to be! (yes I ended my sentence incorrectly, Traci!)

I have been telling people that if you ever lose your faith in humanity, or question if there is any good left in this world, you come walk through the NICU at Childrens Mercy.  Everyone is phenomenal there, the nurses are amazing and are 100% dedicated to the care of all of the little babies, there is even a little old lady who even after mulitple strokes continues to come to the NICU and just rock the babies.  They call her grandma...I call her awesome....and grandma....how about awesome grandma....

Anyway Maizy's heart is getting stronger, Piper is loving her little sister and Mom and Dad are staying in a room that is about half the size of my tiny apartment I live in when I started my first job out of law school. 

Well I guess I will wrap up this first post...thanks for reading and I will update as often as possible.