Katelynn's Here!

I know this post is very late but life has been very busy since our precious girl arrived. She was born at 27 weeks and 5 days on April 8, 2010 in the wee hours of the morning by cesarean. She was 2lbs 2oz and 14 in. long. I was only able to see her for a brief second after she was born but she looked right at her Daddy and he's been hooked ever since:)! The NICU team rushed her to the NICU to assess her and get her hooked up on the ventilator, start her on some lipids and etc for food and to put her arterial line through her belly button. I was so thankful to have my husband and my best friend Tiffany through the delivery process. Tiffany was a NICU Nurse and what an amazing rock she has been to us. One of my other best friends, Christie, my parents and brother also came up later that day after Katelynn was born. They were amazing to us!



Matt, Tiffany and I slept for a little bit because it was a rough night and I got some pain meds and then Matt, me, Tiffany, Christie, my parents and brother all went to see our precious girl! What a precious miracle God gave to us. Matt's parents and siblings also came that night to see her as well. She was so tiny but such a fighter. I wasn't able to hold her until a few days later because of her arterial line in her belly button. But when I did, he was so amazing. I had tears in my eyes the entire time. During her NICU stay, I stayed at the hospital with my sweet daughter everyday for 12 hours a day. Matt would drop me off at lunch time, pick me up for dinner and then we'd go back to say goodnight. It was so difficult to leave her there every single night for 2 months. We were so lucky because she only was on the ventilator for 3 days then cpap and nasal canula. She bounced between cpap and nasal canula for a month or so and then she started getting the hang of this "breathing thing". At 34 weeks she started eating and she did so well. We were so lucky because all of the things that could've gone wrong, didn't! She had no bleeding in the brain, no limbs curved and perfect eyesight! She only had one blood transfusion (which is a miracle) and then her red blood cells starting kicking in.

Right before we were able to bring her home, Katelynn got GBS(Group B Strep) which was very scary! We got a phone call early in the morning and Matt and I rushed to the hospital and found our girl so sick! Her wonderful nurse Noelia knew that night something was wrong because Katelynn was not her normal self (Noelia was her nurse many many times during the night) so she pushed the Resident and Katelynn got immediate help. They put her on antibiotics to cover everything and she had to undergo several spinal taps (my poor baby). That was so rough for us and especially her! Matt and I spent the night at the hospital that night and she was like night and day within 24 hours. Our baby was getting back to herself. The tests results showed that nothing ever entered her spine so no Meningitis....THANK YOU LORD! That was such an answer to pray. So they kept her on antibiotics for 2 weeks and at the end she was well!

On June 24, 2010, we brought our sweet girl HOME!!! We were elated!!! I was never so happy to sign discharge papers in my life! My mom flew in a week or so before Katelynn came home and stayed with us for a month! I don't know what we would've done without her help! Katelynn came home on an apnea monitor and she had that for a month. She was doing very well at home, and then she was having some digestive issues and she was admitted to A.I. Dupont (Children's Hospital in Delaware) for four days. She went through many many tests and it was determined that it was just digestive issues so she came home and we just mixed pear juice with her formula and she never had any more problems! At the end of July, 2010, she was off of her apnea monitor...yippee!! Our sweet girl was finally free of machines and probes!!!!! She has just flourished ever since!

Although, having your child in the NICU was rough, we had the most amazing experience as parents. We were able to see our child form before our eyes. I was able to hold her (Kangaroo Hold) which is they put her down my shirt at least twice a day. That was so amazing for me and the bond I was forming with my daughter. I would sing and would tell her stories and I also read to her in the NICU. Daddy was also able to hold her and he cherished every moment. It was the bright spot of his day, because Matt was working so hard and getting his masters while all of this was going on.

Katelynn has just grown and developed like she should and doctor's can't believe she was a preemie. She is beautiful, full of so much joy and loves to laugh and play! She's in the 50 percentile and she's just doing amazing. She is rolling over, sitting up, talking, eating solid foods three times a day. As of today, she's over 18lbs, over 26 in. long and will be ONE in just a few weeks!!! We have a HUGE PARTY PLANNED!!! The party will be in Texas, where we are moving in just a few weeks!! We are extremely proud of our sweet girl and all of our accomplishments. She is truely a MIRACLE! She has overcome so much in her life and we are so blessed! She brings so much joy to all of our lives and we are so fortunate that she is our daughter and love her so much!

We want to thank all of the incredible nurses, nurse practitioners and doctor's for the amazing care of our daughter at Christiana Hospital in Delaware. I also want to think my gynecologist, Dr. Cooksey, for helping to save our daughter and putting me on bedrest for 2 months. It all helped save our daughter and we are so grateful. Thanks to all of our amazing family and friends who were there every step of the way and for everyone's prayers. We appreciate it so much. Last but definitely not least, we want to Thank God for holding our daughter in His arms and forming and protecting her. He is the reason why we have Katelynn today. He gave us such a special gift and we are so thankful!!