Kayley Enters the World...a Little Early

Kayley Renee was born on June 9, 2008 at 2:17 am...13 weeks early. She weighed 3 lbs and measured 15.5 inches in length. She is a good size for a 27 weeker.

It was not quite an easy task getting Kayley out. Just like her older brother Drew, she was stuck in the birth canal. Therefore, she has much of the same bruising on her head that Drew had when he was born. It's not a concern because it's just cosmetic. It should fade in a week or so.

Once Kayley was out, she was rushed over to the NICU team in the room. After getting suctioned, they immediately inserted the tube into her mouth and down to her lungs so they could begin breathing for her. Once complete, they checked all her vitals. With no stone unturned, everything checked out fine. Then, it was time to weigh her. It was the one thing we all were waiting for because bigger babies do better when they are born premature. The number came up 1355 grams (3 lbs). Everyone in the operating room was ecstatic. She's very big for her age.

Then it was off to the NICU...just about a 100 yd roll down the hall way. We entered our room where the admitting team was waiting. There were around 5 or 6 of them. I was amazed at how fast and organized they worked. They hooked Kayley's breathing tube up to a oscillating ventilator. This ventilator gave Kayley 600 breaths per minute. Her chest vibrated from it. This type of ventilator is good for the baby's lungs.

After the ventilator, they put tubes into her belly button. There are 2 of them. One is an IV that feeds Kayley or gives her medicine. The other IV goes directly into an artery. It serves a couple purposes. First, it monitors Kayley's blood pressure. Second, it also allows the nurses to take blood directly from the tube. With the amount of tests Kayley has run on her, it wouldn't be good to prick her all those times.

Next, they put all the monitors on her. She has two "stickies" on her chest to measure heart rate and respirations per minute. There is another monitor that is taped to her foot. This monitor measures the oxidation in her blood. As you can imagine, there are tubes and monitors everywhere. It's very hard to see your daughter this way but we have gotten use to it.

Last, it was time to make her comfortable. The "bubble" she is in is amazing. It regulates her body temperature by heating up or cooling down the bed she is laying on. It also keeps a certain amount of humidity in there. The nurses also help out by building her a "nest". They roll up blankets to cradle her. It looks very comfortable. I asked them to make me one but I still haven't seen it.