We couldn't wait for the girls to meet their new baby sister. :) My parents brought them and they just instantly adored her. :) They were so excited to meet her. So, Katie met each of her big sisters and then Grandma and Grandpa Rye. :) The girls were so excited and just adored their new baby sister. :)
Tam made it back out and got to meet Katie. :) She was actually there before the girls came and took so many great pictures of her. I was so greatful for that. :)
My Grandpa also made it out. :) It was great to see him holding his tiniest Great-Granddaughter. Sadly, while my Grandpa was there, the nurses came in and told us that Katie had to stay in the NICU. :( She was just having too hard of a time maintaining her blood sugar levels and her temperature was just too low, due to her tiny size. So, we had to give her a kiss and let the nurses take her to the NICU. I was so sad that she wasn't able to be in the room with me. :( It just broke my heart, but I reminded myself how blessed we were that she was here, so I tried not to complain, but I missed having her right with me.
I will never forget what it was like when I walked into the NICU and saw Katie there. I immediately started balling. I hadn't seen her without a blanket on. The nurses told me to leave the blanket on her, due to her low temperature. So, wh
en we walked in to see her, she was laying under the warmer and had her blanket off. Her body was so tiny and her little arms were so thin. It l
ooked like her arms were going to snap in half if I tried to change her clothes. :( It was hard to see the IV in her little arms and all that tape around her tiny wrists. It broke my heart.
The nurses told us to limit visitors to immediate family. The following day, Mary, John's mom, came out to see her after the girls and my parents left and that was all the hospital visitors we had.
The NICU had Katie on a 3 hour feeding schedule. So, her feedings were at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00. I was there for almost every one. I think I drove them nuts in the NICU. :) I liked to be there to hear what her blood sugar levels were. I just wanted them to hurry up and be normal so she could be with me again. It was quite a schedule I had in the hospital. I would try to nurse her before her feedings, then I would stay and rock her and visit with the NICU nurse for awhile, after that, I would go back to my room and had to pump and eat and then it was pretty much time to go back to the NICU. I truly didn't get much sleep at all. It was really scary because I would doze for about 5-10 minutes and would be jolted awake by this fear that would overcome me. I was so afraid of missing out on her feedings. Also, a couple of times, I would wake up and forget that Katie was in the NICU. They had left the empty basinette in our room. I would see it there and feel terrified for a moment that someone stole her! :( Then, I would remember that she was safe in the NICU. It was hard to not have her right in the room with me. I missed her and was quite a bit teary eyed. Good thing I had the sweetest nurse. Tara was the best. She is one of those people who is definitely in the right job. What a blessing she is to all of her patients. I really liked her.
We were told that I would most likely be released before Katie, so we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. They offered us to stay in a room across the hall from the NICU, which we were REALLY excited about. We got all settled in there after check out and we were surprised to find out that our Pediatrician had told the NICU Nurse that Katie could go home with us. :( We were shocked. We weren't really ready to bring her home. Her weight had gone down a little. She only weighed 4 pounds 4 ounces and she had jaundice. :( We were actually scared to bring her home, but they released her and we were on our way. We had to buy a new car seat that held babies from 4 pounds up to 20. Our other one wasn't safe for her.
Anyway, we packed up the car and headed home with our precious, tiny miracle Baby. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment