Although Kelsie was born healthy and did not show any signs of negative effects from the infection, she was put in the NICU and was administered precautionary antibiotics for the first 2 days of her life. She was doing really so well that she was quickly moved to the lowest level of the NICU which is where the healthiest NICU babies stay.
Unfortunately during this time I was not able to go see my baby. They said that I couldn't go visit her until I was fever free for 24 full hours. Those 2 days were definitely a rollercoaster of emotion. My temperature was monitored every few hours and there were times when they would come in and I was fever free (less than 100.4), but then the next time it shot back up again. My body was still fighting the effects of the infection. I got so frustrated throughout my entire stay at the hospital, because they were not only monitoring my temperature and blood pressure every few hours but they were administering antibiotics every few hours as well. Nurses did the antibiotics and techs took the temperature and blood pressure. Of course they never came at the same time, so my attempts at sleep were often foiled because they came and woke me up so often. In addition to that I trying to pump every two hours in order to get my milk supply going for when I could finally see Kelsie.
I was so thrilled when I finally started getting the first few drops of milk. I was so worried, because nothing was coming out in the beginning. Even when I only got a tiny bit I was able to put it in a syringe for them to feed Kelsie. Of course that was not enough so she was given bottles of formula in addition to that, but at least she got some breast milk in the very beginning! It was also good, because it gave me a chance to start walking around. You have to do that as soon as you can after a c-section to get over the soreness. Even on meds it isn't pleasant the first few times you get out of bed. I remember being so self conscious because I had to walk around with an IV machine and had all kinds of things hooked up to me. It didn't stop me though. I was determined to bring that milk to my baby! One of the times I went up there my doctor was in the hospital and she had the nurses bring Kelsie out to a viewing room, so I could at least see her! That was definitely the highlight of my day.
Everyone was so supportive during this time. Mike's mom and my parents visited almost every day. My mom stayed with me the entire time and I don't know what I would have done without them all. They helped me to get through a very difficult couple of days and they reminded me to focus on the positives as much as possible in order to help me get well as soon as possible.
Mike and the grandparents (Mike's mom and my mom and dad) went down to visit Kelsie often during those first two days and took some pictures and even a little snip it of video. I was so thankful that they were able to be there even though I wasn't. Mike definitely got a crash course in baby care. He would change her diaper when he went in and I think he even got to feed her some of her first bottles! I was so thankful that she was healthy, but I wanted to see her ASAP!
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