Blessed in the NICU
My NICU Story and Call to Respect Life Work
Kylie - graceful, beautiful
Rose - flower, famous type - Named after her grandmother Melanie Rose
On the morning of Saturday, February 16, 2002, I woke early and we waited for them to bring us our precious newborn, Kylie Rose from the nursery. At 37 weeks, Kylie was born late the night before on February 15th after many hours of labor and love. As we waited for the nurse to bring us our baby girl the next morning, the time continued to pass and we became worried. With Kylie being our third child, we knew that this wasn’t normal. After a couple of hours of waiting, the pediatrician came in to inform us that Kylie was placed in the NICU. We were told that Kylie was having some trouble breathing and would need to remain in the NICU for an undetermined amount of time. The questions began to roll out so fast that I felt I couldn’t breathe - Isn’t 37 weeks full-term? What was causing this? Who was in there taking care of her? When can we see her? Can we just stay in there with her?
We were told that Kylie’s lungs weren’t fully developed and she wasn’t able to eat and breathe at the same time. Although she was considered full-term and this wasn’t expected, Kylie would need to be fed through a feeding tube. I was allowed to stay in the hospital one extra day, and had to leave two days later without my baby. Of course, it was wonderful to be home with our two other children who were 5 and 3, but I had an ache in my heart for my baby in the NICU. We scheduled our days according to visitation times at the hospital and made sure we were there whenever that window of opportunity presented itself.
Day after day, we went to the hospital, held our sweet baby, and prayed for her and all of the other tiny angels that lay in their beds bound to machines and apparatus. Minute after minute, I watched these babies, who should still be in the womb, fighting for their lives and all of the nurses and staff working tirelessly to save the babies’ lives. One day while I was rocking Kylie and praying, I clearly heard the Holy Spirit make me aware of the other babies’ down the street in our community who were being aborted and their lives were being destroyed. At that moment I knew I was being called to be a voice for those who have no voice.
We are so grateful that Kylie was able to come home to her family and is living a full life with her 5 siblings! Unfortunately, there are so many unborn babies from conception until 40 weeks who aren’t given a chance to breathe! I am so thankful that the “spark” of the Holy Spirit was given to me in that NICU and I am now on “fire” to teach others about the importance of being a voice for those who aren’t able to!
Join me today to bring God’s Light to this dark world and teach others how they can leave their imprint!
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