(Confession: That typo on "ITS" where I forgot the apostrophe is really bugging me. See "About Me" #37. I will let it go. Breathe. Breathe. Move on. Okay, I'm better now. And please excuse the beginning scrapbooker skills. I did get better).
Anyway. Kamala came 7 days early, as opposed to her older brother who came 8 days late. But that is a post for an upcoming edition of Monday Memories.
We came home from the hospital the next day and we were so excited she was finally here! Zach, who was three weeks shy of turning 3 years old, took an instant liking to her and wanted to do everything for her. Including moving her from where I had her swaddled on the couch. That's one of those moments where you quelch the gut reaction to scream and just try and stay calm. Very calm.
The next day, July 29, 1991, a friend who lived upstairs from us came to meet Kam. I got her out of her bassinett and tried to wake her up because she had been asleep for quite awhile. She wouldn't wake up. I tried everything I could to wake her up but she kept sleeping. I tried to not freak out, but I was. Then she started throwing an opposite arm and leg. She only did it a few times but now I was really freaking out. I woke John up (who was working third shift at a hotel and finishing up his very last week of college. Ever.) and told him what was going on. We immediately called our doctor, who was also a close friend of ours, and he said to take her to the ER immediately. John's mom rushed over to watch Zach and we left.
Our doctor met us at the ER and immediately they started trying to figure out what had gone wrong. They tried to get a blood sample but her veins were so tiny it wouldn't work. They finally had to put her IV in her head. They did a spinal tap. All this time John and I were standing in the hallway listening to our brand new baby daughter scream.
Rewind: Since we knew John was graduating we had been sending out resumes. Lots of them. Like 300. This was right smack dab in the middle of the early 90's recession so we were getting lots of rejection letters. It was a frustrating and scary time.
Fast forward: As we were waiting in the hallway we instantly got a new perspective on life. All of a sudden finding a "real" job really didn't matter. All of a sudden our student financial situation didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered was our little girl in that hospital room and finding out what was wrong with her.
The only things the doctors could think that had caused this episode was that she had had some type of seizure or she had meningitis. With babies so young mengititis can kill quite quickly so they put her on antiobotics and we stayed in the hospital for three days. When we finally got her into her room, after they were done running all the tests on her, John and our doctor gave her a priesthood blessing, which brought a lot of comfort to us at this time.
She never had another seizure and she was so wiggly that the nurses finally took her off the machine that was monitoring her for another seizure.
She also never showed any signs of meningitis, which was also a blessing.
We were so thankful for all the family and friends who helped us out during this week, and John's professor let him skip his final because of what was going on with Kam.
It was quite a week!
We are so thankful for this oldest daughter of ours. She is amazing! She is a spiritual giant in a very petite body. She has a quick sense of humor and can be just as quick with her sarcasm. She is a great friend and children love her. She knows what she wants, she knows what's right, and she doesn't lower her standards. For anyone or anything.
And we are so very thankful she's ours. :o)
aww I never knew any of that!!! that kam. such a fiesty little devil. :) I'm so grateful for her TOO!! :))
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