Feb. 14, 2009: Breanna called about 3 p.m. to ask what it feels like when the water breaks. I told her, and she said she thought that was what had happened. I started packing right away, but didn't leave until Matt called to say the birth was definitely a go.
I raced up as quickly as I could--not quickly enough, but I would not have wished a longer labor on Breanna. Her contractions started an hour after her water broke, and Kaelyn was born less than 7 hours later!
As the numbers on the Elevation signs went up, the numbers on my car's thermometer went down. It was about 16 degrees in Orem when I arrived at 2 a.m. Kaelyn was relaxing in Breanna's arms, without a doubt the most beautiful baby ever!
Hospital policy dictated that the baby stay for a minimum of 24 hours, and fortunately we were able to leave right at the 24-hour mark. After being at home one day, Kaelyn had to go back for a bilirubin test. We thought it would just be a formality, but the level was high, and was STILL high the following day, too. So Kaelyn ended up having to go inside the UV "light box". Matt and I took turns watching her through the night, while Breanna got up every 2 1/2 hours to feed her. (Watched a lot of HGTV and Food Network; it was either that or infomercials.)
Due to our diligence in keeping Kaelyn in the box, her bilirubin dropped dramatically after 48 hours, but after two more days out of the box, the bili level shot back up. Back in the box for Kaelyn, and now daily blood tests. The lethargy made her almost oblivious to the heel sticks, but it broke my heart to see her little heel all cut up.
In the meantime, we took Kaelyn to Salt Lake, to Primary Children's Medical Center, to see a pediatric orthopedist. Breanna had noticed when Kaelyn was first born that one of her feet looked "funny", so she asked one of the nurses about it. She said it was nothing, that it would resolve by itself. The pediatrician, however, said it was a mild clubfoot, and needed to be checked by a pediatric orthopedist within the week. The orthopedist's office was a little scary, with a sculpture of little casts hanging on the wall! Fortunately, Kaelyn does NOT have a clubfoot--pretty much the opposite, in fact: calcaneovalgus--which should be easily corrected with some simple stretching exercises.
I stayed a few extra days to help watch Kaelyn through the night, but she improved quickly with the continued UV treatment. She's so beautiful and sweet, I could hardly stand to leave her.
Her blessing was scheduled for when she was three weeks old, so I didn't have to wait too long to see her again. Peter and I left on the Friday afternoon and stayed in Las Vegas for the night. We didn't run into too much weather in Utah, but Matt's family, who had preceded us by several hours, had to wait out a storm on the way. All we encountered was some slush between Cedar City and Parowan.
Got into Orem in time to spend some time with Kaelyn before her blessing. (And Matt and Breanna, too.) Matt's Aunt Liz graciously opened her home for the occasion. Mom and Dad came, as well as Mario and his family, so I finally got to meet Joseph and Andrea!
Kaelyn's other grandparents, Virla and Pat
and Great-grandpa Jim
Kaelyn behaved herself during the blessing, which is more than I can say for Matt and his brothers. After dinner, they took the Rice Krispie layer of Mike and Charaty's wedding cake (they got married that morning), and set it afloat in the stream in the backyard! (It was inedible, anyway.)
We stayed the night at Breanna and Matt's, then set off early Sunday morning and drove straight back home--back to Real Life...
My favorite road sign, just outside of Baker, CA:
