HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KINSLEY
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| 3 lbs 11oz 16 1/2 inches long |
Me: Y'all see those pictures on the wall.
Kids: Uh huh
Me: Well we are gonna be adding another one up there.
Nikki: Oh my gosh, HOW EMBARRASSING !!! I am in the 8th grade!!! And she stomps off.
The other two were pretty cool about this. I don't know if it was because I was older or what but this pregnancy knocked me on my butt. As the months rolled on Kinsley thought she would make her debut before she was done. A week before she was born I had a little scare and Mama rode with me to the doctor 'cause Sammy was in Texas. I called Sammy on the way so he would know what was going on. My doctor put me in the hospital over night to make sure Kins would stay put. When the nurse was wheeling me to my room we past the nurse's station and one of the nurses said are you Mrs. Darwin? I said I was and she said your husband has already called to check on you. Of course he was ready to get a flight, out but I talked him off the bridge. Ha! I was sent home the next day but with an understanding... bed rest only. What??? Three kids!!! How could that be possible? Family, that is how. Kinsley cooked for another week before we had to go back to the hospital. This time Sammy was with me and I had to lay flat of my back (trying not to have her) with no TV and in a dark room (I'm sure they had a name for this room, I called it stir crazy). We got there on a Sunday night and Wednesday I developed a bad kidney infection (has anyone ever had a good kidney infection? Not me!). My doctor said with the meds I was getting it would probably bring on labor within 24 hours and it did. Sammy was a great nurse. He fed me and was pretty handy with the bed pan. He had a cot right by my bed the whole time. About 6:00 in the morning I started having labor pain. I had 2 nurses to tell me I wasn't in labor. I told them (as Nice as I could) I Knew What Labor Was!!!!They must have sent the head nurse come in 'cause I had an contraction and she said you're in labor alright!! I was 33 weeks. SCARY!! SCARED!!! YOU BET!!
I call home to tell Lisa I was in labor. She had a bad headache and being the understanding sister she is, she says Well I can't help it!! He he! (we still laugh about that).So I ask her to call Mama after she got the kids off to school . The kids were taking their State Achievement Test and I didn't want them to worry. I told her to pick them up and bring them on when the test were over.
Kinsley's arrival time was 9:30AM and she didn't look done.She was blue and hairy but had a sweet little cry.She was immedently rushed to the neonatal unit. I eventually got to take a nice warm shower and wash my hair. We didn't get to hold Kinsley till the next day and for 30 seconds apiece. She was wrapped in FOUR receiving blankets. For the rest of the time we could put our hand through that little hole in the incubator and pet her. She was sooo tiny and wore a mask for a diaper. I stayed in the hospital for couple of days but Kins stayed for three more weeks. I would get the other kids off to school and then take off to Tupelo to feed and love on her till time to pick up the kids from school. I would call every morning to see how her night went and get her weight. There would be times she would forget to breathe and they would have to jump start her (maybe tickle her feet). She got down to 2 lbs10 oz, but when she started gaining she never let up.
One day Sammy was in town and he wanted to go with me for a visit, weekends weren't enough for him. I never saw Kinsley's doctor the whole time I had been doing my visits but this particular morning he was in. Well, Sammy walks up and ask, when can we take our baby home? He says how about tomorrow? Told us to go home and pack a bag and come back. We would have to go through CPR training and stay over night with the baby in our room just in case we needed them. You talk about torn between the kids at home and a brand new baby. I was a basket case! It was Beth's 12th birthday and Nikki was trying out for high school cheerleader. You just wanna do it all but we had to be back at the hospital by 5:00. So while we were at the school for Nikki to try out and waiting on the results, Mama and Daddy were at our house packing us some clothes. Time was running out but thank goodness they announced Nikki's name first, we congratulated her, and jumped in the car. We met Mama and Daddy on the 4 lane, got our bags, wished Beth a Happy Birthday, and told her and Jay to get in the car with Mama and Daddy. We get on the trace and I bust out crying. I reckon' it all hit me, Nikki's gonna be in high school and a cheerleader, it's Beth's 12th birthday, Jay WAS the baby, and now we are gonna bring this tiny baby home on an Apnea monitor. I thinking. "hormones" out of whack! But when I looked at Sammy he had tears, too, so we sniffed the rest of the way. Kinsley was a little over 4 lbs when she came home. She slept beside our bed in a bassinet and I would sleep with my hand on her back just to feel her breathe, but I soon got a little more comfortable with that machine which she stayed on till July. We were so blessed! By four months Kinsley had caught up and was doing every thing a four month old would do.
You may not see it this way but....Kinsley was 8 months old when Jay passed away and I often thought after that this is why God gave us Kinsley. Nikki and Beth could somewhat do for themselves, meaning they were in school and doing their thang but a baby filled my time. You know it would have been so much easier to crawl back in bed when the girls left for school and get up when they came home, 'cause honestly that is what you wanna do. Having Kinsley kept me going till the girls came home.Dear Lord,
It's hard to let go of these precious gifts you give us. It's so hard to leave them at the hospital in someone else's care when they are so little, knowing they are in good hands but to leave them at the
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| APRIL 21st |
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