The Hospital Stay

(This story begins where my last post ended Kenzie's Story)

Wednesday night (the day Kenzie was born) our friend Heather brought Leah to the hospital to meet Kenzie.  We went into the nursery, Leah sat on Travis' lap and then we put Kenzie on Leah's lap.  Leah took one look at her and said, "Whoa, she is beautiful!."  That totally melted my heart!

After we went home that night we received a call from the hospital to let us know that Kenzie's blood sugar levels were low and that she needed an IV of dextrose.  She was on the IV for 24 hours and then they had to monitor her for another 24 hours.  We were hoping at this point to be able to take her home on Saturday morning.  When we got to hospital on Saturday they then let us know that her bilirubin had jumped over night and that she needed to have light treatment overnight.  The little bili-blanket made her look like a glow-worm!

Finally, Sunday morning they discharged her and we were able to take her home!  

We came home to a wonderful surprise!  Thanks Kristen and Heather!

 The five days that Kenzie was in the hospital were long days, but I would not trade them for anything.  Sitting in the nursery with her, doing all of her feedings, rocking her, and even having her skin-to-skin on my chest for a nap, were all wonderful bonding moments.

I was at the hospital by 9:00 in the morning and stayed until 9:00 at night daily.  Travis spent half a day at the hospital and the other half home with Leah (she was really missing us).  The best moment was on Saturday when we decided that Travis and I would both go with Leah to dance and then I would go to the hospital in the afternoon.  When I got to the hospital the nurses told me that Kenzie was having a rough day.  She was only snacking instead of eating and she was having a hard time staying asleep.  I walked over to Kenzie, put my hand on her chest, kissed her on the forehead, and said "mommy is here, sorry I am late."  She instantly settled down and fell asleep.  When it was time for her to eat, she cuddled up in my arms and took the whole bottle.  At this moment I knew I was meant to be her mother and that she was meant to be a part of our family!