She’s here!! {LONG post….}

If you haven’t already heard, Kennedy Grace Glithero has arrived.  She made her entrance into this world quite unexpectedly and 5 weeks early, last night, April 17 at 10:19 PM.  She weighed in at 5 pounds 9 ounces and was 18 inches long.

The day started off pretty ordinarily, Aunt Rohnda is in town so we all took a  trip to the zoo in the AM, ate lunch at The Farm, and had quiet time.  After this, Giles and I set to work making dinner with the family; I made tortilla casserole and Giles grilled.  I had finished my part and was sitting outside with Giles while he finished up the chicken and salmon.  We were talking about how different our lives were going to be in 2 1/2 weeks when Kennedy got here.  When we stood up to take the  last of the food in, I felt a gooshing feeling.  When I went to check it out while everyone sat down to eat, the one thing that we didn’t want to happen, did; I was bleeding. 

Well, the doctor made it perfectly clear that if there was ANY bleeding I was to go straight to the hospital.  So, Giles and I kissed everyone goodbye, left Bean with Aunt Rohnda and Grammy, and headed out.  Thirty five minutes later we were at the hospital getting admitted.  After a quick exam it was decided that Kennedy would be coming via c-section that evening.  By, 9 I was getting prepped and by 9:45 I was in surgery. 

Yes that’s my phone.  I had to make some calls!

Since Kennedy was born 5 weeks early, she has had some complications.  She has a pneumothorax, a small hole in her lung and some air build up around it.  The doctors say that her little lungs don’t have all the “wetness” that a full term baby’s would, so there are some areas that are still a little stiff.  When she took her first big breath after delivery, one of these stiff spots got “over stressed” and didn’t have the elasticity that the rest of her wet lungs would, and therefore “popped” a little.  This was confirmed by x-ray.  What this did is make it very difficult for her to breath deeply or to get all the oxygen she needs.  So, I got to see her briefly and give her a couple quick kisses before they whisked her away to the NIC-U.

 

 

The good news is that the pneumothorax is improving, as the xray this morning showed that the hole is getting smaller and the air around it is disappearing. 

In the meantime, she is spending her time in the NIC-U disguised as the “bubble baby” as I’m calling her.  Her little head is in this very cool helmet that gives her oxygen so that she can breathe at full capacity without having to work really hard at it and stressing herself out.  Any undo stress causes her to cry hard and breath rapidly and risk reopening, or worse, making the hole bigger.

 

Since I am mostly bed ridden, resting and recovering from the c-section, Giles has been spending alot of time in the nursery, fawning over Kennedy and taking LOTS of pictures! 

She is so very small to me, remember that Bean was 8lbs, 13oz when she was born, but getting healthy and is beautiful.  We are feeling very blessed this weekend and can’t wait for her to get better so we can hold her and bring her home.

And that is all the updating I can give you for now, as my pain meds are kicking in and I’m having a VERY hard time focusing on the keys.  Good night to all and thank you for your thoughts and well wishes.  We love you.