Holy cow! It's been a while since I've blogged. Too long. My last post was back in January, just days after getting back from our Orlando vacation, and I didn't even finish that out. Our two days at Universal was as far as I got, and I didn't even write about Disney. Fail... So, to get back into the swing of things (maybe, hopefully) I'm linking up with Jessica from The Mom Creative and her new Throwback Thursday Stories. I'm so excited about this because it combines my obsession with photographs and history! So, with no further ado, I take you back to 15 years ago yesterday.
My sweet Kate turned 15 on Monday. I'm not entirely certain how that happened, but it did. She was 2 days old in this picture. She'd had a rough time already. Hours after birth, the ped. noticed a petechiae rash that can be an indicator of infection or liver issues, so a blood culture was necessary. Not long after, the ped came to my room saying they needed Kate because she was VERY sick and needed to be started on iv antibiotics right away. If she didn't respond within a few hours, they would have to airlift her to another hospital with a NICU. SCARED US TO DEATH!!! By evening, we got word that there was improvement, so she would not have to be transferred. Long story short, there was a mix-up in the nursery when they came to do the original blood draw and Kate was fine. The baby across the hall was not so lucky, though, and she was airlifted later that night. I was up walking the halls, pushing a very agitated Kate in her bassinet to keep her quiet and witnessed the whole ordeal.
Even though Kate was completely healthy, they required that she remain on antibiotics for 3 days until the final culture came back clear, so we had an extended little stay in the hospital. On her 2nd day, the nurse came to get her to have her picture taken for the hospital website. In 1999, the internet was still in its infancy. I'd only been online a few times, so this was pretty exciting! We were 2 hours away from our families, and many of them hadn't been able to make the trip up to see us, so we liked being able to show everyone in a new way! The above picture was sent out to so many of our friends and family.
The next day, the hospital confessed that it had mixed up the labs and that she had not had any infection. Her final culture had come in clear and we were given the OK to go home, finally. Some question why we didn't take action against the hospital, but we were simply so happy to have her healthy that it was a non-issue. Besides, that's not in our nature. I do still wonder how that other baby turned out.
And a sweet side note about this picture. My mom printed it out and gave it to my grandpa, who was over the moon to have a great-granddaughter. I've always been his "number 1 granddaughter" (and his only granddaughter among all the boys), so he was thrilled to have a "number 1 great-granddaughter." (still, she's the only one). He took the picture and put it in the sun visor in his truck. It was there for years, long after she had left baby-hood behind. Now, that picture is hanging in his garage, 15 years later. I smile every time I see it, knowing how much he loves his Kate!
