"Worst Night Ever" Will Forever Have a New Meaning

I'm pretty sure this one takes the cake. Monday the 12th was the night. I was just about to begin reading to Nate, Lo and Haze. I heard Kate make a peep so I ran up stairs to get her. She had fallen asleep in her carseat after a visit with her one week old boyfriend Marty McNairy. When I was pulling her out she wasn't breathing well. This has happened 3 times before where she gets spit-up stuck in her throat and can't quite get it up. So I rushed downstairs to get the bulb syringe in hopes to help it out. It wasn't working, I told Nate to get Dad. He ran upstairs yelled "Dad Kates not breathing good!" and slammed the door. 10 seconds later did he again but louder. Adam ran in and he couldn't get her to breathe well either. She started turning green. Apparently, one who has jondis and is yellow doesn't turn blue but green-all apart of the yellow and blue make green theory.

Adam was amazing and yelled to get in the car. We ran every red light and rushed into the ER . On the way I had to spank her and slap her back as her eyes rolled back into her head. It was a feeling I never wish on anyone. We were rushed into a trauma room and Doctors worked to get her breathing. Because this was a life threatening case, Docs needed us to stay the night. They brought us up to a room and sweet Baby Kate had oxygen stickered to her nose, wires on her chest, and toes and at one point they tried to put an IV into her head which didn't work so they put it in her arm and made a splint so she'd keep her arm straight. It was the sadest sight I'd ever seen. I didn't want any pics to be taken because I didn't want anyone to see her like this.

We sat through tests after tests and around 2am figured out why this happened. After all tests-yucky test by the way- came out great, we sat with the Doctor for about an hour and a half till we came to a conclusion. Due to the breast-feeding jondis Kate got around week and a half of age, she was exhausted. So exhausted she tired out when she nursed. I can't tell you how I felt at that point. Here she was eating every 3 hours, sleeping well at night and never complained. She acted like a newborn, always curled up, but I adored that about her! She was my little snuggle bug. Her weight was a little low at 2 week appoint. but not enough to be concerned. You see the problem had just started just before 2 weeks. And come to find out: when you don't have the energy to eat, you don't have energy to cry so you sleep and one curls up in a ball to conserve energy. Makes me cry when I think of how she curled up all the time.

After an hour or so of sleep, Kate sleeping on my chest of course, Dr. Cornish came up with a plan. He wanted to be aggressive and so did we. Breast-feeding jondis goes away eventually-with formula quicker. So we planned that I would pump-feed Kate then offer formula. Both from a bottle with a loose lid so she didn't have to work for the food. With all the prayers and support from our loved ones-this plan went too well.

The first day, Kate ate 20% more then the average 4 week old! And was eating 4 times the amount she had the day before! I know it was the prayers. After pumping we discovered she was eating between a half an ounce to an ounce every 3 hours:( Should have been 3 and a half to 4. My sweet Adam gave me a special blessing and by day 2, I was producing twice as much as the day before and Kate was still eating everything! It took all day to pump then feed then feed then get ready to pump again, but I would spend all day and night if that's what it took.

With all this success we were called to go home! Then 10 minutes later the lab called saying they found bacteria in her blood sample. Wow! That was scary. They decided to take more tests, but they take 24 hours to complete. I was just sick! After a long day of waiting and a broken Blackberry (Adam did it and that's another story). Turns out the first sample had been contaminated and there was no bacteria in Kate's blood. What a relief!

Finally we were able to go home on Wednesday night, with daily Doctor check-ups. So Thursday morning we weighted Kate at the Doctors and she was 6 pounds 10.5 ounces!! Biggest of her life! We are soo proud! She gained 5.5 ounces in 2 days! Crazy blessings! Doctor was surprised and shocked with the amount she was eating and gaining!

I know it was the blessings. Everyone was rooting for her and I can honestly say I felt the prayers. I felt so blessed being in the hospital. Even though Monday night was "the worst night ever" we were blessed to be there. I don't know how long she would have lasted with such little strength.