Happy 11th Birthday!

I am dedicating this post to my sweet daughter Rebecca. Eleven years ago Jeremy and I received terrible news. After my water broke, 6 1/2 weeks early, our sweet daughter was making her arrival loudly.

I was taken by ambulance from our small hospital to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. It is safe to say that was a horrid ride! Jeremy followed the ambulance in our car and my parents followed him. I guess at one point Jeremy was driving quite fast. My dad, who is a daredevil himself, had to ask my mom to look at his speed. He was too afraid to look away.

Once we arrived, we waited..........and waited.......and waited.

My epidural was incorrectly administered and I went numb from the waist up. 

My blood pressure bottomed out.

The head of the OB department of Ruby came into my room and had a very difficult conversation with us. Our baby was not ready to be born. Her lungs were severely underdeveloped. She was very sick. It was not certain if she would survive. 

We cried. We prayed. We begged the Lord to intervene and heal our baby.

I looked miserable in this above picture. I was!!! I had labored for a little more than 37 hours and the epidural had failed many hours before. We were being taken to the delivery room. They had a team of neonatologists ready and waiting.

Twenty minutes later our baby was born. I barely saw her and she was taken immediately to another room to be worked on. Jeremy was finally allowed to see her and she was not the pretty pink baby for which we had prayed. 

Notice how blue her face was? She was struggling to breathe.

The decision was made to intubate her and help those lungs breathe. That was very difficult to see. I remember standing beside her bed in the NICU and there was a tear that came from her eye and puddled in her ear. However, it was a silent cry......a silent tear. I was an emotional wreck. She was still very sick.

I was told by the NICU nurses that the sickest babies are in the open beds. They are in those beds so they are easy to get to in cases of an emergency. Rebecca was a very sick baby.

Look at this young family! Wow! 

Once she came off the vent she still had tubes, wires, and ivs all over. She had an NG tube for her feeding, cardiac monitor, IVs, temperature monitor, and pulse ox. 

 

True to the Kaminski name, she needed the bili-light and blanket. All of our kids had trouble with hyperbilirubinemia/jaundice. 

Then I finally got to hold her! All five pounds of her. 

Then Daddy holds her.

All three of my sister drove down to be with us. Notice the extra baby? That was Tammy's little guy who was three weeks older than Rebecca.

Finally, we were able to go home. She was making amazing progress. 

I'm not sure you can see her eyes but they were all bruised from her difficult delivery. We were concerned that there was damage. But she was fine. Just needed to heal.

We had a new family now. One that Micah had a very difficult time accepting. He was only 16 months old. He did not understand why we had left like we did. And why, when we returned, we had a new family member. He had a very difficult transition.

For those of you that know our sweet Rebecca will know that what I'm about to write will not be a surprise. she is the most selfless child I have ever met. This girl is the child who always makes sure I am okay. 

She gives me her favorite piece of chocolate covered caramel just because she knows it is my favorite.

She uses her hard earned money to buy gifts for everyone else. The last time she shopped, she ran out of money for herself because she bought for everyone else. Rebecca could not have been happier. 

Rebecca is a loyal friend.

She loves to help.

She is burdened for orphans.

She cries with compassion when her siblings are hurt. 

She is not particular about her clothes.

She is a wonderful big sister to Mariah!

I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos over the more recent years.

Myrtle Beach trip.

Fun in the pool!

Peeking around a wood pile!

Not really sure why we took this but she sure is a natural beauty!

Enjoys working hard outside.

Becca and me!

The girls outside playing.

Our beautiful blond hair, blue-eyed, sweetie with a heart of gold. One day she will make some man very blessed. Until then, we soak her up!

Happy birthday my sweet Rebecca Rose!