In Memory of our Sweet Angel

Our sweet Riley Kae,

It is hard to believe it has been 2yrs since you came into our lives for 5wks and then suddenly left to be with our Heavenly Father. We will patiently wait to see you again my sweet baby, until then know we love and miss you..

Hugs and Kisses...

Mommy and Payton

Daddy and Kaitlyn

6 Questions with Dan Kleckner

In honor of Prematurity Awareness Month, we were asked a few weeks ago to do an interview with Spokane's Channel 6 news. Even though this was taped prior to Riley's passing, we felt that it was important to still air this interview. It will appear tonight, November 27th on the 5 o'clock and 11 o'clock news and will re-air at the end of the week. You can also see it on www.khq.com under "6 Questions."

Please help us support The March of Dimes Organization by donating in Riley Kae's honor. Click here to go to Riley's donation webpage. Through the end of this month, if you use your Mastercard, your donation will be matched 100%!


Every day 1 in 8 babies born in the U.S. arrives too soon. Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman, and no one knows why. It is a serious, common and costly problem. The March of Dimes is leading the campaign to reduce premature birth by supporting research and by educating the public and health care providers.

We are Thankful

Dearest Family & Friends,

We are so thankful for all of you. Your prayers and support have helped us get through this journey with our beautiful Riley.

A special thank you to my sister Kelly for starting this blog site to help us keep family and friends, near and far up-to-date with Riley's story and pictures. With out her expertise in computers and her wonderful way with words (she is such a proud Auntie) we would not have had the opportunity to share our little joy with all of you.

For such a little girl, she sure taught us a lot about not giving up and giving us hope.

She made sure to throw all the statistics out the door about her early delivery and size, just to show us miracles can happen.

Although we would have rather had her with us longer, we were blessed to have her with us for 5 weeks, for that we are very thankful. Love is an amazing gift.

I believe her strength and perseverance will stay with all of us. At 14oz we realize not only has she made an impact in our lives, she has touched many others in so many ways..what a blessing!

I truely believe she was here to make a difference.

Although our hearts have been saddened by our loss, we believe God will hold her and take care of her until we meet again.

We appreciate and thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts and prayers for Riley and our family.

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless,

John, Jennifer, Kaitlyn and Payton

Funeral service:
Saturday November 25, 2006 at 10 a.m.
Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home
2203 N. Division
Spokane, WA 99207

God saw you getting tired when a cure was not to be.
So He closed His arms around you and whispered "Come to Me."

You didn't deserve what you went through;
so He gave you rest.
God's garden must be beautiful, He only takes the best.

And when we saw you sleeping
so peaceful and free from pain,
We could not wish you back to suffer that again.

Riley Kae Dressler 10/11/06 - 11/17/06

Dearest family and friends of John and Jennifer. I'm writing on behalf of my sister today with a very heavy heart. Our precious Riley passed away yesterday morning, November 17, 2006 just after 7:00 a.m. She fought to the very end, but her little lungs just could not keep up. We are all so thankful for the time we had with her, and take comfort in knowing that she is resting in the loving arms of the Lord.

John and Jen are so appreciative for the love and support they have received during this difficult time. Thank you all for your prayers for Riley and her family. It has provided them strength and solace. Please continue to pray for the Dressler family during this time of grief.

Kelly Kampmann

Request for more prayers

We are asking for more prayers for our little girl tonight. After several very good days, Riley took a turn for the worse today. She is currently back on all of her medications, 100 % oxygen and the ventilator has been turned up to the highest settings. A chest x-ray was done today and the condition of her lungs is not looking well.

Please pray that God will give her the strength to get through yet another obstacle and that he will heal her damaged lungs. Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers.

Jeepers Creepers, Open Up Those Peepers!

Riley has had a good couple of days! She's a poopin' machine! The doctors are very pleased! We started her first feeding today. She's getting 1/2 of a cc of breastmilk every 12 hours. Not much, but a significant step for her. We pray that her system will tolerate the feedings.

We finally got a few good pictures with her eyes open! Also pictured is our home away from home — Riley's baby condo!

Riley is back on the oscillating vent now, and having good success. Her blood gases are stable at this time and we hope to wean her off the Nitric very soon. Her lung is still partially collapsed, but overall she is doing well.

Riley is moving about quite well and opens her eyes when we talk to her. She is tolerating her care well (diaper changes, cleaning, suctioning, taking blood gases, etc.)

She became a big "One-Month-Old" yesterday. We are so proud of our little girl! She is currently up to 1 pound, 8 ounces and holding! What a fighter! We are amazed at how much she has changed in one month, and how far she has come. We pray that Riley's progress will continue in the right direction and that she will be able to join her family at home sooner than expected!

We’ll take it!

No accomplishment is too small when you’re a NICU parent. Riley had a great success this morning…she finally pooped! (Two diapers full!) I know this might be a little too much information, but for Riley, this really was an achievement. The doctors were very excited as well. Her bowels are working—this is great news!

On the down side, the last couple of days haven’t been bad, but they haven’t been great either. She did have to go back on the Nitric Oxide and they had to switch her back to the oscillating ventilator. Her blood gases took a slight turn in the wrong direction, so increasing the Nitric and changing vents helped to get her blood gases back in check. (Nitric Oxide is a drug that relaxes the blood vessels in the lungs. It decreases blood pressure in the lungs and helps them to work better.)

Being on the oscillating vent did create another small obstacle. Her left lung had partially collapsed, so they will be changing her back to the other ventilator today to better inflate her lung. This should help.

We also mentioned that due to the swelling, her weight measurements might be a little skewed. She was weighed again the other day and was down to 1 pound, 4 ounces. (But since she finally pooped, she might weigh even less.)

Tomorrow marks her official one month birthday! We are ecstatic to have reached this milestone! As always, we thank you for keeping her in your prayers!

First Bath!

Riley's swelling is just about gone. (This photo was taken a few days ago, so she is still a little swollen.) Her head is still showing some signs of edema, but for the most part, she has returned to her "frog-like" state. She was recently weighed and is currently at 1 pound, 7 ounces. YEAH!

I was able to give her a bath for the very first time yesterday! Unfortunately, we still haven't been able to touch her skin to skin, but I donned the white gloves and was able to give her a light sponge bath. We’ve been wondering if she would be a blonde like her two big sisters or a brunette like mommy. Her hair had looked brown up until her bath. But after a good washing, it appears to be blonde.

She continues to amaze the doctors and nurses with how well she is doing. She is definitely a fighter! Life in the NICU is always a rollercoaster, full of ups and downs. Fortunately, we have had more good days than not-so-good days. We know she will continue to thrive and we look forward to the day we can finally bring her home!

Riley Kae Dressler - March of Dimes web page

Our Waterbaby

November is Prematurity Awareness Month!

We continue to be amazed with this little creature God has given us. She is holding steady, with stable blood gases and decent ventilator settings. Other than a fair amount of swelling, she is doing very well. She had almost doubled her weight due to water retention, but it is slowly subsiding and the doctors aniticipate that it may be a few more days before she is back to her normal size. With the amount of medications she has been on (steroids, morphine, sedatives, etc.) this edema was expected, so they are not concerned. Because of the increased fluid in her system, it is difficult to say what her current weight actually is. Hopefully we will soon be able to report her most recent and accurate measurements.

The next step is to wean her off of the medications she has been on. She is no longer being sedated and they are reducing the morphine and nitric (a medicine to help her lungs). This is a slow process, and so far she has tolerated it well.

We will post some new photos soon (we are waiting for the swelling go down). Keep praying for our sweet baby. Your love and support has brought her this far! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Click here to make your donation to the March of Dimes in Riley’s name. Use a Mastercard and they will double your donation!*

*During the month of November, 2006, MasterCard Worldwide is helping the March of Dimes raise awareness and double our fund-raising efforts towards the fight against premature birthby matching your donation dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000 in total, when you make the donationusing a MasterCard card.

Help Prevent Premature Births!

November is Prematurity Awareness Month



Every day 1 in 8 babies born in the U.S. arrives too soon. Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman, and no one knows why. It is a serious, common and costly problem. The March of Dimes is leading the campaign to reduce premature birth by supporting research and by educating the public and health care providers.

I never thought in a million years that I would have a premature baby. Now, here I am, going through it a second time and still not knowing why. November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Please help make a difference by donating to the March of Dimes in Riley’s name to help raise awareness and support research efforts. Every little bit helps!

Click here to go to Riley’s donation webpage. Donate using a Mastercard to double your donation!*

*During the month of November, 2006, MasterCard Worldwide is helping the March of Dimes raise awareness and double our fund-raising efforts towards the fight against premature birthby matching your donation dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000 in total, when you make the donationusing a MasterCard card. Thank you for doubling your donation and for supporting March of Dimesprograms to give all babies the best chance for a healthy start in life.

Our Little Trooper

The last few days have been rough, but Riley is showing some improvement. Her lungs are so delicate, and the constant pressure from the ventilator has taken its toll. The doctors decided to give her another dose of steroids as well as change her to an oscillating ventilator, which seemed to help. Today was a much better day! She maintained stable blood gases, her oxygen and vent settings are at acceptable levels and her lungs are looking much better.

Riley will be 3 weeks old tomorrow - a huge milestone! This experience has taught us to take it one day at a time. It has been, and will continue to be, a long road, with sharp corners and many bumps along the way. But Riley is a trooper, and she has so many people who love her and are praying for her. This means so much to us. Our family is blessed!

More Prayers Needed

Today turned out to be not as good as we had hoped. We are asking for prayers for Riley, as her lungs are struggling. Her ventilator and oxygen had to be turned up, which has put a great deal of strain on her lungs. A chest x-ray confirmed that her lungs are working overtime and the increased pressure from the ventilator is causing some damage to her very fragile lung tissue. We are awaiting word from the doctor as to the next step in Riley's treatment. Please keep Riley in your thoughts and prayers tonight.

Measuring Up

Our little Riley is hanging in there. Her blood gases, oxygen levels, and ventilator settings are somewhat stable. Ultimately, we would like to see her completely off of the oxygen, very low ventilator settings (meaning that she is doing much of the breathing on her own) and good blood gases (blood gases measure the pH (acidity), oxygen content, and carbon dioxide content of the blood.)

Riley finally opened both of her eyes. However, she is on a medication to keep her comfortable, (as she is not crazy about her ventilator), so she is usually sleeping.

To get an idea of how "big" our little munchkin is - the tape measure next to her in the above photo shows that she is approximately 11 inches in length. This second photo shows her footprints at birth, just above Payton's (her big sister). Payton was also a preemie, born 9 weeks early, and weighed 2.8 pounds. The third set of footprints are of a full term, 8 pound infant.

Two Weeks Old Today!

Our little girl is two weeks old today! She is truly a miracle, and we are so grateful for each and every day!

The last few days have been fairly good ones for Riley. She responded very well to a medication to help her underdeveloped lungs. The goal at this point is to continue to reduce the settings on her ventilator and keep her blood gases at a normal level. She’s been up and down over the last week, but we are hopeful that these will stabilize very soon.


When Riley was born, her eyes were still sealed (a baby’s eyes usually don’t open until the 27th week.) Today, we noticed that she was trying hard to open her eyes. This was very exciting!

We want to thank you all again for your continued prayers. The love and support you’ve shown has been such a blessing.

Riley Kae Dressler

Born: October 11, 2006
Time: 11:01 a.m.
Weight: 14.11 ounces
Length: 10.75 inches

Thank you to family, friends and all those praying for our little Riley. Your prayers, cards and warm wishes are very much appreciated. Thank you for your love and support during this difficult time.

I hope to keep this blog updated as much as possible so that we may keep you all informed. As most of you know, Riley Kae was born at 25 weeks (15 weeks early) and was 14.11oz and 10.75 inches long.

Riley's first week went great and there have been a few bumps in the road since. Aside from a few issues with her lungs, she is doing as well as expected for a baby of her size. The lungs are almost always a concern for premature babies, and she's kept the doctors on their toes in this area. We are told that the lungs continue to develop up until age 8, so we are optimistic that if any damage does occur as a result, that it will be minimal.

We found out today that her PDA (an open valve in the heart) is now closed which may eliminate the need for surgery. We are very hopeful that this will remain closed.

Riley was baptised today by Deacon John Sicilia and we are thrilled to say, this was a great day.

Riley at 6 days old.