Kailey's birth - 23 weeks and 3 days

Kailey's due date was May 21st 2012. On January 23rd she decided she didn't want to wait so long before she met mommy and daddy. I awoke at 4:00am to my water breaking. Terrified, I woke my husband up and he rushed me to the nearest hospital. After being examined by nurses and having an ultrasound done they sent my doctor in to talk to me. She informed me that at 23 weeks the baby would not be viable. Then I was moved to a room to prepare to deliver my child. An hour had passed and my doctor came to check on me and realized I had not progressed any with my labor. She left the room and when she returned she said she was sending me to a hospital with a better NICU and high risk doctors. Two hours later I arrived at the Childrens Hospital, the doctors checked me and thought i was going to deliver at any moment. Kailey had her butt and part of her legs sticking out of the cervix (she was bent like she was touching her toes). They started me on magnesium to try to stop my contractions, It worked (mostly). Throughout the next couple days when they checked her position they were amazed to find out she had one leg through the cervix, then the next time when they checked she had climbed back in half way. My little girl couldn't figure out if she wanted to stay in or come out. On January 26th the doctors stopped the magnesium due to me being infected. (I had received two steroid shots to help her lungs develop, without the shots there wasnt much of a chance for her.) It was time for Kailey to make her grand appearance. At 2:30pm I told my wonderful nurse that I felt like I needed to push, she ran to get all of the doctors (we had 5 doctors/assistants in the room just for me, and at least 5 more for the baby). Kailey was born at 2:38pm weighing 1 pound 1.8 ounces and 11 inches long. My husband and I got moved to a recovery room where we had to wait 5 hours before we were able to see our daughter. When we first saw kailey laying in the incubator we didn't know what to think. She was so tiny. Her eyes were fused shut. She had no fat on her body. She had tubes and wires everywhere. The doctors came and told us that she was stable and we just had to wait and see. Our nurse convinced us to put our hands inside her bed and let her know we were there. My husband went first, he put his finger at her hand and she quickly wrapped her hand around it and would not let go. That was the first time I realized just how strong she was.

kailey birth

kailey birth

KAILEY DONATIONS

Friday, April 27, 2012

A week of steroids...

Kailey is starting a week of steroids today, and we will be having a care conference with her doctor on Wednesday. Not sure what day we will try to extubate her but if she fails she will be shipped to Cincinnati. The ENT's here are not comfortable working on infants so all they will do is a bronchoscope (which they have done) and put in a trach. We know that her vocal cords are swelling so if that is the only problem Cincinnati ENTs should be able to fix it and if not at least we know we have tried everything before traching her.
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3 comments:

  1. SmashleyApril 27, 2012 at 7:54 PM

    Just wanted to say I'm praying for you and read your posts daily. Hang in there! Beautiful Kailey needs you!!

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  2. KeyApril 29, 2012 at 9:10 PM

    My thoughts and prayers are with your daughter and family.. I have a few questions I would like to ask you. My wife and I are going through what may be a pre term birth and any information as someone that has gone through it would be so appreciated

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  3. mrs.justiceApril 29, 2012 at 10:30 PM

    Try to make it to the hospital in time to get the steroid shots before the baby is born. Those are shots are the only reason Kailey was able to be resuscitated. There is also a preemie book that you can get that has a lot of information in it, preemie second edition or something like that.. ask your nurses. Our hospital apparently gives the book to parents but no one had told us about it and a few weeks after she was born I paid 30 dollars for it.

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