Welcome
This donation page has been created for Eric and Katie Prinzhorn by their extended family.
Madelyn is their little Miracle Baby. She is the sole survivor of natural identical triplets. She was at great risk for serious health issues while in utero because of the shared blood flow among the triplets. Katie's doctors sent her to Cincinnati, Ohio (745 miles from home) for a specialized surgery to help Madelyn. However, Katie went into labor before she even met with the doctors. Madelyn was born in Cincinnati, 3 months early, weighing 1 lb. 11 oz. Besides the challenges she faces being premature, she is otherwise perfectly healthy
Madelyn has 3 siblings who are very grateful to have her in their lives. Her big sister Skylar is 5 years old, her biggest brother, Jayden, is 3, and her big brother, Evan is 1. At such a small size and young age, Madelyn's personality is already shining through. She is strong, determined, and very fiesty! We have already fallen in love with her.
The special medical flight to transport baby Madelyn from Ohio to Connecticut was unfortunately not covered by the insurance company. Not to mention the many flights and hotel stays that Eric and Katie took to be with their newborn. It's at times like these, when our loved ones and friends have made unselfish sacrafices, that we come together to help them in their time and need.
I ask anyone that views this site to do two things.
1. Please donate anything you can. Whether it be $5 or $50. Every dollar counts in helping Katie and Eric get over the this temporary financial hurdle and begin raising their lovely family with the least amount of stress possible.
2. Please pass on this website to as many people that you think would be willing to donate whatever possible to help our Katie and Eric.
Recent News
June 1st
I WEIGH 4 POUNDS!!!!! YEAH FOR ME!!!
May 31st
I have made big strides this past week. I did great being off the nasal cannula and have not had to use it even once since they removed it a week ago! I am still having spells but they think that reflux is the cause – which means I am not having true apnea (a good thing). Although breastfeeding is quite a challenge, my mom and I are still trying hard. They say preemies usually have trouble taking enough until we reach our original due date. Mine is June 27th so I have a ways to go. I have learned to take a bottle though. Breastfeeding takes a lot more work and energy than taking a bottle. I am still too young to have the ability and strength to take a bottle or breastfeed more than a few times a day so I will have to be fed through the tube until I can take all my feedings by breast or bottle. I now weigh 3 lbs. 15oz and I am 16 inches long. I have gained 2 lbs 4 ozs and 2 and ¾ inches since I was born on March 29th!!!
May 23rd
Yeah! My nasal cannula came off today! They think I am strong enough to breath with no help. I sure hope I can do it because those prongs in my nose are really starting to bug me. Oh, by the way. Since my blood transfusion I have been having fewer spells. I had a fun day today. My brother Jayden came to visit me. He was a very good boy while he was here. I can’t wait to go home to be with both my brothers and my sister. I think I’m getting closer.
May 20th
A little set back. I needed a blood transfusion today. I have been having “spells” more frequently. “Spells” are when I forget to breathe or my heart rate drops below a healthy rate. Several different things can be the cause of spells. Reflux is one of them. They thought I was having too many so they did several tests to make sure it wasn’t something more than reflux. Everything came back normal except for my hematocrit.
Hematocrit is the volume of red blood cells in your blood. Red Blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body. Because mine is low it means I am anemic. Preemies don’t make red blood cells as fast as full term babies and that is why we get anemic. The blood transfusion brought my hematocrit up to normal.
May 19th
I did it! 3 lbs. 2 oz. today. Big progress. I am also trying to breast feed. I am still not strong enough to be successful but I know if I keep trying I can do it. I am still getting all of my feedings through a tube in my nose so I do have much motivation to learn to breast feed.
May 17th
Another week of progress. My weight is now up to 2 lbs 15 oz. – almost 3 lbs!
Here at the hospital they don’t think I am growing and gaining weight as fast as I should. They explained that I was in the tenth percentile when I was born but quickly went down off the charts. I am now up to three percentile so I am going in the right direction. It’s a lot of work growing. I use up too many calories just to breath and digest my food.
My lungs are doing very well. So well that they took out the nasal cannula Saturday and I was breathing totally by myself. It proved to be a little too much work for me though. I got too tired and they put it back on at 2 o’clock in the morning.
I also made progress in another area! Breastfeeding. It’s hard for me because I don’t have a natural instinct, I’m not really hungry and it’s a lot of work - it tires me out. I’m having very small successes. Mom keeps trying though. She is very patient with me. I’m going to do my best. Did you know breast fed babies go home an average of 15 days earlier than other preemies.
May 10, 2010
It’s been a very busy week. I have gained four ounces since last Wednesday! I weigh 2 lbs 11 oz. - I have gained a full pound since I was born!
I am also breathing very well. I have “spells” less frequently. Us preemies forget to breath once in a while and our oxygen levels drop. They call that a “spell” and don’t let us go home until we stop having any. My lungs weren’t fully developed and I wasn’t strong enough to breath on my own when I was born so I had to be put on a ventilator to breath for me. From that I went to something called CPAP – that gave me air and oxygen with a little pressure to keep the small air sacs in my lungs from collapsing. Over the past several weeks they have been turning the pressure down and now I don’t need any pressure at all! I still need oxygen once in a while.
Oh, by the way, Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there. I spent the morning with my mom and grandma and the afternoon with my parents and big sister Skylar. It was a great day.
5/5/2010 Good News! And More Good News!
I went back down to 2 lbs 4 oz. a few days ago but last night I was up to a record 2lbs. 7 oz.! My goal is 1800 Grams (approximately 4 lbs.) Once I reach that I can be moved out of the Isolette and into the open. One more step toward going home. They say I’ll be here until my due date (June 27th) but I’m hoping to show them and go home earlier!
The other good news- I had my first eye exam and my retina looks good and shows no sign of damage. It is very common in preemies like me to have vision problems. It’s a difficult phenomenon because; we need enough oxygen for our body systems to work properly but the oxygen causes the blood vessels behind our eye to grow too fast and that can damage our retina causing permanent vision problems and even blindness. They will continue to check my eyes because there are treatments that can help it from worsening.
5/3/2010 - Gaining Weight!
Did you know that less than 1 % of all babies born in the United States are born earlier than 28 weeks? I was born at 27 weeks. Because I was born that early many of my body systems weren’t working properly. I needed oxygen and a ventilator to help me breathe, I had to be (and still am) in a special isolet to keep me warm because I can’t keep my body temperature high enough on my own, I had anemia and needed two blood transfusions, my liver wasn’t working and I had to be under special lights that do a job the liver usually does, and I could only be fed intravenously. Now, like I told you before, I get my mom’s breast milk through that tube in my nose.
One of my most important jobs right now is to grow but I am not growing as much as the doctors would like. I weighed 2 lbs 4 oz. yesterday but today I am up to 2 lbs. 5 oz.!
Preemies like me need more calories than full term babies to grow faster and catch up so something called a Human Milk Fortifier is added to my mom’s milk before they give it to me. The doctors don’t think my body is digesting it properly and that is what is causing the problem so they are trying something different now. When breast milk is first released the first milk, called foremilk, is thin and watery to satisfy a baby’s thirst. After several minutes of nursing, hind-milk is released. That is more like cream in texture and has a high concentration of fat. My mom is now throwing out the first few minutes of milk and saving just the hind-milk to give me. That way, I will get more calories without more volume. I’ll keep you posted and let you know if it’s working.
4/29/2010 - Poop, Maddy, Poop!
Yeah! Things are moving again - I poohed! Because I was born so early my body systems don't always work well. Sometimes, in preemies like me, our bowels are immature and sensitive to changes in blood flow. Our little intestines can have difficulty with oxygen circulation and digestion, sometimes we even get infections. Problems like these can be devastating in someone my size so the doctors and nurses get very concerned when my belly doesn't look right. They have to stop feeding me and do lots of tests. My tests came back good and my feeding have resumed (yuuum!)
Oh, did you know that I get my feeding through a tube that goes from my nose to my stomach? I was born too early to be able to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time, so at first I had to be fed through a vein (intravenously). I graduated to the feeding tube and breast milk when I was still in Cincinnati. I started with only 1 cc of milk every 4 hours and have worked all the way up to 21 cc's ever 3 hours. I lost a little weight over the past few days but I am getting back to my job of breathing, eating and sleeping right now. Good night!
4/25/2010 - No News is Good News
She's doing great! She weighs 2 lbs 2 oz today. Her nurse said today how strange it is to see such a little baby not on the CPAP. I posted some new pics of her. She looks better and better everyday
4/24/2010 - Goodbye CPAP!
Madelyn is off the CPAP! I wasn't expected that to happen so soon and was completely shocked when I got there tonight and she had just these small tubes in her nose instead of the CPAP. For those who don't know the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure)basically assists in their breathing. Now she just has room air blowing into her nose and the pressure is much less than CPAP. That's how I understand it, but feel free to correct me.
It's nice to be able to see her beautiful face now without those big cpap tubes in the way. I'll try to post a new picture tomorrow. She weighs 2 lbs 1 oz.
4/20/2010 - She's In Connecticut!
Madelyn is now in Connecticut Children's Hospital. She had a rough flight and a tough first day in Hartford, but she is doing well now. She weighs 1 lb 15 oz...we are anxiously waiting for her to hit the 2 lb mark.
Her brothers and sisters met her for the first time 2 days ago. They were so sweet and gentle with her and can't wait for her to come home. The nurses were wonderful with the kids and brought a TV with kid movies right in the room with Maddy. They even brought little kid chairs for them to sit in. It was a great visit!
We are so glad to be home, but we do miss everyone at the NICU in Cincinnati. They were all so wonderful. The nurses, the RTs, the secretaries, the doctors....everyone was great. We would have never been able to get her transported this quickly without the hard work of Dr. Stechen. He went above and beyond his job...he made calls to our insurance company trying very hard to get them to cover the costs, and although they won't, I know it's not from lack of trying on the doctor's part. He organized the transport in just a matter of days and I can't thank him enough. Although it was just 2 1/2 weeks, it felt like much much longer and we grew close with many of the nurses. We will miss them so very much. Felicia, if you ever end up moving to CT, know you already have a friend here! Brianne, thank you for taking such good care of Maddy on that one really tough day when she had to go back on the respirator...it was the hardest day for me. And her primaries, Angela and Tammy, I always felt comforted when one of you were working. I really felt like you truly cared for her. Don't worry Tammy, we'll raise her to be a Cincinnati Reds fan whether her Yankee Fan relatives like it or not!
