I remember details of Kayley's birth much better than I remember Drew's. All the emotions. Feeling so utterly helpless when I went into labor and they wheeled me into the operating room. More people than I could count in the operating room. The NICU team introducing themselves to me and explaining what they would be doing once Kayley was out. The anesthesiologist talking me through everything as it was happening and telling me Kayley had good color when she came out and that was a good sign. The silence in the room when Kayley was born - no crying and doctors working quickly and quietly to intubate her. The cheers in the room when they weighed her and she was 3 lbs. HUGE for a 27 weeker. The 2 seconds they stopped the incubator so I could see Kayley before she was taken to the NICU.
If someone would have told me where we would be at today with Kayley, I don't know if I would have believed you. She shows very few signs of her prematurity and we owe that to the NICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital and the March of Dimes. People we meet are shocked when the eventually find out about her premature birth. She doesn't have the preemie look that some kids carry with them as they get older and she doesn't have any physical impairments that preemies are prone to have. She isn't that much shorter than Drew so they are mistaken for twins all the time. She gets sick easier than Drew and Ryan (see below!) and has to work harder at things than other kids (which frustrates her at times, but will make her a harder worker in the long run), but she is a happy, kind, smart, easy going, caring girl and we couldn't be more proud of her!
We celebrated her birthday in multiple parts. First, we celebrated at the farm in Iowa with my family (see previous post).
When we got home from Iowa, we planned to do her birthday dinner the day before her birthday because Drew had a double header on her birthday. She picked Red Robin so the kids and I met Andy after work at Red Robin on Monday. Andy walked up to our table and said he just got a reminder email that Kayley had pictures at 5:55pm before her game. It was 5:15pm and we were about 25 minutes from the ball park. Not sure how we missed that, but it wasn't on our calendar. Andy took Kayley home to change and the boys and I paid for our drinks and left and headed to the game.
Kayley opened up a few of her presents the morning of her birthday and opened the rest after Drew's games. Because she had to have dinner at Drew's game, we let her pick a place for ice cream after the game and she picked Cold Stone. Drew's games went late and when you add on ice cream and present opening after that, it was a late night for everyone! Ryan and Kayley were a little hard to get up and going the next morning!
We were supposed to spend the rest of this week at Kayley's t-ball game and Drew's game, but we only got through Kayley's game on Wednesday and then everything else has been rained out. We finally made it to Red Robin for Kayley's birthday dinner. We also got time for Ryan to test out his new Ybike - a balance bike. A friend recommended it so we decided to try it. The videos below are of Ryan's first night with the bike. He isn't quite used to getting his feet up yet!
Kayley complained of a sore throat Friday when Andy picked her up after work. She seemed fine, but said her throat hurt and didn't eat a lot at dinner. That poor girl has yet to have a sore throat and it not be strep throat so I was thinking the worst. My diagnosis was all but confirmed when she slept in until nearly 7:30am on Saturday morning. She NEVER does that! When she got up she said her throat hurt a little when she swallowed, but generally seemed fine. I took her to the pediatric after hours clinic anyway and sure enough, her rapid strep test came back positive. This has to be the 4th or 5th time this year and she doesn't even have tonsils. Can't imagine how bad it would be if she had tonsils! This is her showing her sad face about being sick (looks real sick doesn't she?) after we got done at the doctor (yes, we are at the Pour House in this picture - had to drop the kids off with Andy to take home while I ran errands!):
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