All the best of intentions and I still didn't get my last Featured Artist Friday post made. Last Friday I was supposed to have the 5th blood transfusion for my little girl. Then After that I was going to come home and put up my featured artist... it is a good one.  I am almost positive it won't happen tomorrow either. Hopefully next week.

So what happened? Well, Like I said, I had gone down to Columbus once again last Thursday for the 5th transfusion. I should have known things wouldn't turn out as we had planned when they kept blowing my veins trying to place the IV. Friday morning I went to the procedure room just as I always have and the process began. They started by monitoring my vitals and doing an ultrasound to get the baby's weight and measurements and position. She was looking great. Her movements were constant and strong. Just like a healthy little girl should. The doctor who performs the transfusions came in and did his part of the ultrasound to find out where the cord was sitting so he knew where to poke me. As he was looking around he found out that I had dangerously low amniotic fluid levels. So low that there was no way a transfusion was even possible.

It only took about a third of a second for me to put two and two together to know what was next. He called my doctor her in Akron to discuss what to do. I didn't need to wait for him to come back in to tell me what they were going to do. They were going to deliver my sweet baby girl, more than 10 weeks early. Luckily, they did at least send me back up to Akron so I could have my doctor her perform the c-section and keep me close to home. The waiting was grueling. First, I had to wait for my husband to get to Columbus. He had worked all night the night before and came down as soon as he got off of work. Then we had the trip back up to Akron. 2 hours never seemed so long. I had a long 2 hours to think through everything and get my nerves calmed down.

When I arrived in Akron my doctor came in to talk with me (after a couple of hours anyway) and said he thought it would be best to just deliver her, even though she would be 10 weeks early. Things were seriously getting out of control with all the complications and it was looking like it would be better for both of us if she continued her fight outside of my complication wracked body.

Kiari Addison was born at 4:38 pm on Friday, December 3, 2010. She was born screaming and weighed a tiny 3 pounds 7 ounces and was 16" long. My doctor showed her to me for the briefest moment before she was whisked away by the neonatology team. My husband would take a couple of pictures with our camcorder and come back out to show me. It was heavenly to see her moving around.

Tomorrow she will be one week old and already she has made the most amazing improvements. She continues to astonish the NICU team and of course her parents. Within the first day and a half they took her off the ventilator. She needed very little oxygen the entire time. Until today she was just on a nasal cannula with room air. Her jaundice has been treated quite aggressively and successfully. A lot of times babies with the Rh issues that I have been dealing with are on extensive photo therapy for weeks. Over the past 2 days she has gone from having 3 banks of lights on her down to just a small "bili blanket." She is pink, and not yellow in the slightest. She is eating only my milk and hasn't needed to be supplemented. They are going to add a few calories to the feedings starting tomorrow so we can get some fat on this little girl of mine.

She loves to hold my hand when I reach into her little isolette. It was really neat at first. If she was really upset over something, I could reach in and start talking to her and she would calm right down. I love this little girl.

She still has quite a road ahead of her before she comes home, but it is looking like her health is doing great and shouldn't slow her down. We expect to bring her home within the first two weeks of January as long as everything continues to go as well as they have been.

Thank you all for your continued love and support and prayers. They have meant the world to me. I could never put into words how much I appreciate all of it.

My Baby in a bag. She is so tiny.


The first time I saw my baby. They wheeled me in when they took me from recovery to my room.


When I reached my hand in to touch hers and talk to her, she gripped it so tightly. We sure have been through a lot together baby.


This is one of my favorites. I know it is hard to see due to all the blue lights on her, but she is holding both my finger and my husbands finger.


The first time I got to hold my little girl. She has an iv on her head at the moment. and the little shades protect her eyes from the ultraviolet light they treat the jaundice with.


The very last time I will have a baby inside of me. This was taken just before the c-section at 29 weeks. Now, I just have a flabby tummy. HA!


The second time I got to hold little Kiari. She is holding her daddy's finger quite tightly.


I was swabbing her mouth with some milk. She was getting her diaper changes, that is why she is in such a funny position. those little diapers simply drown her.


Our first family photo. The girls absolutely adore their new little sister.


I love this little picture. They had just taken her off the vent and were getting ready to put in the nasal cannula, so it was the first opportunity that I had to see her sweet little face, and she went and hid. HAHA


Peek-a-boo! I love it when she opens her eyes. She has a had time not going cross eyed. It is so funny.


This is the first time I got to hold her in my arms. I have held her against my check, but I loved this because she was awake. She and I just looked at each other and talked. It was amazing.


Poor Dad doesn't get to hold his little girl when he is with me. I am too selfish with my time with her. Now that she is coming off all the tubes and lights we will be able to hold her more and more, so he might get to hold her a bit more. This was his first time holding his little girl. He went in early before one of his shifts and spent about a 1/2 hour with her.


Kiari looking at her daddy.


This was taken on the night that the girls first got to come over and met their sister. It is the sweetest picture.


Daddy's girls.


It is a bad picture of me, but gives you an idea of how small she is.


This was taken tonight when the girls and dad came to pick me up from visiting Kiari.