At the hospital

It's taken awhile to find time to do some blogging. We have now added not only a new baby, but seminary (what a challenge -- and we have 20 more years of it! ), and two sons attending a new junior high and a new high school, 40 minutes away. This is in addition to Caroline, virtual school for the older two girls and homeschool for the two little girls. Housework, church callings, Rob off-island for a week, etc. Haven't figured out how to exercise amidst all this, but I am determined to get some blogging of Kainoah done. So here it goes.

July 22nd, 2009 Wednesday

About 10:30 am

Here I am with my pile of books waiting to have a baby.................

and waiting......................................and waiting.....................................and waiting........................................and waiting...........................................

I've finished my novel and started another and still no baby.

Fourteen hours after entering the hospital, it is now 10:45 pm and ................................still no baby. The doctor hopes that maybe gravity will help, but I can't quite bring myself to do jumping jacks. Joy!! At 11:32 pm., we finally have a new baby boy. 7 lbs. 5 oz. 20 inches Unfortunately, after holding him for only a couple minutes, he is whisked off to the nursery because he is grunting which is a sign of respiratory distress. Sigh....... Not again!!

At first he is only placed on oxygen.
But it's not long before he gets hooked up to everything, oxygen level, blood pressure, and pulse monitors in addition to the oxygen tube in his nose. They also put an IV in his arm, although I don't know how they found such a tiny little vein. Because I can't nurse him until he is stable, fluids and antibiotics go through his IV.














Poor little guy. But he doesn't cry. He is a very calm baby. Is that curly hair?

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Four long days in the hospital...moving from my bed (loss of blood and anemia make me too weak to do much else) to the nursery (where I can finally nurse the baby) and back to bed. At least I have my beautiful purple flowers which Rob brought to brighten my room and my day.

I need to send him some flowers because while I am in the hospital, he is the one holding down the fort and tending to the other eight children at home. Somehow he still finds time to visit the baby and me twice a day. And he brings yummy food every time :-). It feels so good to eat without heartburn.

July 26th 2009 Sunday

Baby Kainoah is finally breathing on his own and he gets to come home Sunday evening. After church, Rob and I go to the hospital to pick him up. It's been a rough couple days, driving 30 min. back and forth to the hospital to nurse him as much as possible. We are so happy he is coming home, but I don't think he wants to wear real clothes.

The other children are overjoyed to finally have their new brother home. The only problem is that four of them have fevers (Miri, Aria, Joelle and Caroline). We dig out a mask to keep the germs away and let them each have a turn holding him anyway.

His full name is Kainoah Priddis Brantley. Kainoah is a Hawaiian name meaning "the name" (referring to God), but it is also a Hebrew name. We chose the Hebrew spelling (the "h" on the end). In Hebrew Kainoah means "angel of rest/peace." Yes, it was a hint about what temperament we hoped he'd have, and yes, so far so good. He is a very good baby. He is content and rarely cries.

This is the exhausted Mommy, very happy to have her new little bundle home.