Monday, May 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Kennedy!!



One year ago today at 4:52pm our beautiful daughter was born by cesarean weighing 1pound 6ounces and measuring 12 ¼ inches long. The doctors didn’t tell me what they were doing during the operation and Kennedy didn’t cry when she came out so Shawn and I were left behind the curtain wondering if she had been born yet and weather or not she was alive. The thing I remember most about the operation was asking Shawn if he could see anything. He said, “No, but I think I see a chunk of you on the floor” to which I replied “Does it look important?” I don’t remember anyone telling us if she was alive or not. I think maybe they aren’t supposed to say, since its so touch and go with the micros, until after they get them into the NICU and can watch them for a bit. It was a few hours later in the recovery room that Patty, one of the NICU nurse practitioners, came in to update us on Kennedy’s condition. I was still doped up form the morphine they gave me during the operation so a lot of it is hazy but I remember her saying that Kennedy was in critical condition, but stable and that she had blond curly hair and she was feisty. She was a fighter and being feisty helped save her life. It would be 12 hours after her birth before I would see Kennedy for the first time, and ten days before I could hold her.



To look at her today you would never guess the struggles she has faced in her short life. She has relatively few scars from her NICU days, she has a perfectly round head thanks to Nurse Gail and her dedication to "beauty sleep," and she has managed to get off all her medications AND her oxygen before her first birthday. Although Kennedy doesn't eat much and is hard to feed sometimes she hasn't show any of the aversions to foods that a lot of micro preemies have, nor does she show any signs of other sensory issues. She sits, she plays and she never stops babbling. Kennedy hasn't started crawling yet, but she gets around by rolling, scooting and arching her back and pushing with her legs. She loves standing and is really good at doing it on her own if you just give her your hands to hold on to for leverage. She has just started taking big steps and bending her knees when she steps. She loves walking so much we think she might even skip crawling. Just yesterday Shawn and I watched and cheered her on as she was able to maneuver herself from laying down completely to sitting up on her own for the very first time. Every day she amazes us with something new. Shawn and I feel so grateful to have her for our daughter.

We are going to the doctors office today, so i will edit this post later and give you her 1 year height and weight

Update- appointment was changed to 18th

Sunday, May 10, 2009

One year ago today...

One year ago today I was in a hospital room at LLUMC waiting for the results of a formal ultrasound done the night before. It was longer a matter of if she was going to be delivered early but when. Shawn and I waited all day and never heard anything. it was probably one of the longest days of my life.



Yesterday was Kennedy's birthday party and it was a blast. I was so tired after. I can't imagine what its going to be like when she's five and I have a bunch of little girls hyped up on sugar running around to manage. She got lots of great gifts and did extremely well with the amount of people and getting passed around to people she had never met before. Soon as I download the pics I will get them posted.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

One year ago today- the countdown

One year ago today I had a routine ultrasound scheduled in the afternoon. On the way there Shawn and I talked about how we hoped there wouldn't be too long of a wait because we were both starving and how we really needed to get started on painting the baby's dresser so I could have it done before the baby shower and be able to show it off. We hoped the ultrasound would confirm we were having a girl. We had no idea we were about to begin the scariest weekend of our lives with most stressful, terrifying 4 1/2 month long journey I hope we ever have to face to follow.

Today we are having Kennedy's birthday party. It should be a lot more fun then we had one year ago today.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Ignorance is Bliss

Today is the the one year anniversary of the last peaceful day of my pregnancy.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Sick of being sick

Yep, I'm still sick. That's right I have been sick for 3 weeks and I am sick of being sick. The good news is I am feeling a lot better. I still have a bit of a cough and it seems an ear infection. The bad news is we had to miss the March for babies today. I once went down the hill with an ear infection and it wasn't fun. I opted not to try today. Kennedy still has a cough but we took her to the doctor and she said Ken was not sick. Its probably an asthmatic cough, so we have been continuing her breathing treatments and I am going to follow up with a phone call to the doctor if she doesn't improve in the next few days.