August 5, 2009

She's here! Kassidy Rae Smith was born on Monday, July 27 at 1:41 p.m. at North Memorial Hospital by c-section. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Delivery was a breeze. We arrived at North Memorial at 11:00 Monday morning and were given our room. The nurses were in and out of our room prepping us for the c-section. At about 12:50, the nurses came and started the IV and got Wayne is scrubs. We arrived in the operating room at 1:30 and she was born at 1:41! Wayne barely had enough time to sit down before the doctor said, "Stand up, here it comes!" Before Wayne got into the room, they began the surgery. I asked if they had started cutting yet. Dr. Sarkinen said yes. I replied, "Ow! That hurts! Just teasing!" The room stopped on a dime. They all enjoyed my humor, thank goodness. They also reported that was the first time anyone had ever done that. Does that surprise you?

Wayne was able to go with Kassidy to get cleaned up and he cut the umbilical cord. She was taken to the NICU because she had fluid in her lungs. I was taken back to our room to recover. This meant a long time before being able to hold our new bundle of joy. I sent Wayne to the NICU constantly to check on her while I waited. It wasn't able to hold her until 7:00 that night. Man, did that seem like FOREVER!

Our first family photo:

Kassidy was admitted into the NICU again on Tuesday morning at 4:00 a.m. for problems with choking and breathing. This was a huge set-back because we had just got her from there. Because she had to be re-admitted, her stay had to be 8 hours. I was still hooked up to an IV and had my catheter in. I couldn't go to the NICU until I got rid of those things. Thankfully, we had the most wonderful day nurse, Collette. She stretched a few "guidelines" and got me unattached. Wheelchair here we go! Tuesday was a long day, with many trips back and forth from our room to the NICU.

Tuesday night at about 7:00, Kassidy was able to come back to our room....where she stayed. It was a long restless night, as any move she made we were checking on her. It's amazing what you can do on little to no sleep.

Wednesday was a better day for us. We had lots of visitors and no major medical events. Most of the day was spent becoming a professional breast milk pumper! Kassidy is able to latch on to me, however, it takes too much energy for her to get the nutrition she needs. So, I am pumping like a mad-woman. Just say...Mooooo!

We were able to go home on Thursday in the late afternoon. We didn't have any visitors on Thursday, which was okay because we were able to catch up on a little sleep and enjoy Kassidy all to ourselves.

Life at home has been great. Wayne and I are surviving and learning together. He feeds Kassidy while I pump, which is a long process. She is eating about 2-1 1/2 oz. per feeding, but each feeding takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes. She has lost 10% of her birth weight, which brings her down to 6 lbs. 14 oz. So feeding continues to be difficult. We have been going to weight check appointments just about every day (PAIN in the rear) and then to Gillette yesterday.

Yesterday, we had our first appointment at Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul. We met with Dr. Cermain who is Kassidy's orthodontist. She will be helping close the gap in her lip and palate with the plastic appliance. Kassidy was fitted for the appliance yesterday, which looks a lot like a retainer. We take this out twice a day to clean it, which for the first day went well. She also has tape pulling her upper lip together. This process will close the gap by 30% before the surgery. We also met with Dr. Wood, her plastic surgeon, who reassured us he is the best and will fix her right up. He also explained that she has a unilateral cleft lip and incomplete bilateral cleft palate, which is more severe than we originally thought. You wouldn't know it by looking at her or watching her. Her mom gets more worked up than she does!

She is the most precious bundle of joy we could have ever been given. It is amazing how much she has changed our lives in 9 short days. We can't imagine our lives without her.