How Rory Catherine Becaome the Healthiest Baby in the NICU

Although Rory Catherine scored a 9 out of 10 on her Apgar Score (surely, a prelude to stellar SAT scores and a first-class ticket to Stanford), she had a fever like her mommy, and so the doctors decided to admit her to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as a precaution.

As most of you know, Rory had to stay in the NICU for a week. Dr. K had (correctly) diagnosed Sarah with a chorio-amniotic infection as she was delivering Rory. When Rory also spiked a fever and experienced an elevated heart rate, Dr K worried that Rory had been exposed. And so, Rory was admitted to the NICU so that she could receive a week's worth of antibiotics.

Fortunately, Rory's fever went away almost immediately, and both mommy and baby's vital signs were completely normal in just a few hours.


The bad news is that we didn't get to take her home on Saturday when Sarah was discharged. The good news is that Rory quickly became the healthiest baby in the NICU, surrounded by preemies and other babies with much more serious conditions.

Sarah and I got to see her whenever we wanted, and Sarah began breastfeeding successfully despite the less-than-ideal circumstances. We basically got a week's worth of "as-needed" baby care instructions, which we are extremely thankful for. In addition, we were able to leave Rory in the nurses' care each night so that we could get a full night's sleep (well, almost). That's the bright side of the situation. The reality is that it is very hard to say good bye to Rory each night. We couldn't wait to bring her home.