April 16, 2008 The first day without daddy

It was really hard to get a good night's rest without Larry. I kept waking up trying to wrap my leg around his...lol. The Fortney's and I overslept a little and were running late to get to the hospital by 8:30 a.m. so Doug could get to work in Sterling, VA in time. We ran around like crazy, but it all worked out okay.

Kaydence was changed into her 4 different bed this morning. They took her crib away from her and put her back in an incubator with an immobile lid. Once the nurse explained why, I was completely cool with it. Kaydence is still a week or so too young to be able to regulate her body temperature, and she is burning a whole lot of calories to keep regulating it properly. By putting her in an incubator, it will regulate her temperature for her...and she can use those calories to heal and repair her body. So yea, I am happy that this nurse decided to change her beds out. She said to keep her in the incubator for a week or so, and her get some more weight on her before we go to the crib again.

They had to make room for more babies to come into the NICU, so she was moved into the "procedure room" with two other babies. No procedures need to be done, it was just an empty room so they moved three of us in there so the new babies could go into the bay's. I like this room because I can pump without a ton of people walking back and forth around me.

I texted Larry all the updates while he was driving to the academy. We are missing each other a lot, and he is having the same emotional breakdowns that I am having. He just didn't want to cry in front of me because he knew that would make it even worse to let go yesterday. I don't know how he held it back, but Chris Fortney said that he choked up when he asked them to take care of me. She said she had to hold back from crying during it....lol. Oh, if the NICU had a penny for every time someone cried!!

FUNDRAISER: Chris Fortney approached me last week and said that she would like to have a fundraiser in Kaydence's name. It is with a children's book company called Usborne Books. 30% of all the proceeds would go to Kaydence and would help us out with all the medical bills that are already starting to pile up...not to mention all the ones that are in our future. I will be carrying flyers around with me at church that has a good handful of books to select from, but this website has over 1000 to view. The closing date for this fundraiser is April 30, 2008. If you want to order books for your children and want it shipped to your house...you can do that, or I can have all the orders shipped to me and I can pass each order out to you.

The Fundraiser Website is www.ubah.com/HOS112750

*Feel free to pass this out to family, friends, and coworkers as well. I have seen samples of these books, and most are hardback books that are extremely nice quality. Every order will benefit both your children and our little Kaydence. We appreciate all the help we can get. :)

I got to Kangaroo Care with the baby this evening. That is when they ask you to have skin to skin contact on your chest so the she can feel my heartbeat. It was so amazing, and I could've Kangaroo Cared all day long. It was so relaxing to feel her body so close to mine, and she was so calm while we spent that time together.

Larry called me tonight from the academy, and it was wonderful to hear his voice. I felt like I was in high school again with the little butterflies in my stomach when I heard his voice. He gave me an update on his first day back, and I could tell that he was glad to be back there. I know he misses us as much as we miss him. He will home in a little over a week, and much closer to us.
He said that everyone rounded up a donation and presented him with two very nice cards. Wow, that was a pleasant surprise for the both of us. We are very blessed.

Update:
2 DIRTY DIAPERS...after they performed a rectal stimulation on her
still eating 5 cc's every 3 hours
Kangaroo Cared for one hour
Incubated to regulate her temp
Removed her steri stips off of her scar, because she had meconium all over them