Cody had
a rough go of it in the first few months of her life. She was due on August
30, 1999. However, because of precarious health problems with her Mom,
she was delivered on May 15, 1999. Cody weighed 15 ounces and was 11.5
inches long. Cody was delivered by Dr. Marian Gilliland. Dr. Charles Hankins
sang Happy Birthday to her when she was born and her "Aunts" Robbie and
Angela were the wonderful NICU nurses who helped her to breathe.
Cody spent the summer of 1999 at Methodist Hospital North in the NICU.
She was in the front left corner bed of the unit. Her first bed was a little
lucite box to keep her warm and to help keep her fragile skin moist. From
there, Cody moved up to the isolette. During the last couple of weeks of
her NICU stay, Cody was sleeping in an open-air bassinette. She was finally
in the big girl bed!
Like all micro-preemies, Cody had her ups and downs during that summer.
We were fortunate in that she never lost below her birthweight. When she
was six days old, we faced a harrowing night that prayers and faith are
the only answers for how we all got through it. After that episode was
over, things went much more smoothly. Cody came off of the ventilator on
July 3, 1999 - what we have now termed as Cody's Independence Day. Cody
had surgery for a hernia on August 16, 1999 at LeBonheur Children's Hospital
and she handled that very well. She then came home on August 24, 1999 -
which is quite possibly the best day of our lives!
Cody gained quite a reputation in the hospital for all the friends she
had in her isolette. Beanie babies were used to position her comfortably
in her isolette. In fact, after we were told this on the night before she
was born, we had Tigger and Winnie the Pooh beanie babies waiting for her.
When Cody was born, she was actually the same size of the Tigger beanie
baby. As the summer wore on, Cody acquired many new buddies for her bed
- eventually having so many that they had to be rotated for lack of room
in the isolette. Some were gifts for her birthdays - each month was
a major milestone for her. Others were "just because" beanies. And yet
others were from the many Happy Meals consumed that summer to insure that
Cody had all of the Teeny Beanie babies! These were not the only friends
Cody made that summer however. Cody had one special NICU bunky who will
always have a special place in our hearts. Jordan was there one week before
Cody and left about a month before Cody. We will always believe we have
found kindred spirits in the "other" B's who spent much of last summer
in the NICU.
We are forever indebted to Cody's Aunts and Uncles in the NICU who we
count as dear friends for the precious gifts they gave to us over the past
year. Dr. Charles Hankins, Dr. Bruce Jenkins, Dr. Diane Woodall...Robbie,
Angela, Terri, Fran, Julie, Candy, Cindy, Karon, Mary, Marion, Andrea,
Sandy and Patty: We love you and will never forget you for the hope, love
and light you brought into our lives and that of Cody. We are truly blessed
to have had each of you touch our lives and you will never know what each
loving touch and encouraging word has meant to our family.