Happy Birthday Kinny!

I can not believe that my little "Kinny" is 5 today! She is my best friend and I can not even imagine life without her! I have written this in my journal every day on her birthday because I seem to remember different aspects of it on different days so here it goes again...Kindra was a wonderful surprise at a horrible time. I remember just knowing that I was pregnant in the hospital when I woke up and I also knew that she was going to be a girl. It was basically a "I am sorry...Katie is paralyzed and her body will probably abort the baby because of the medicine she has needed and the trauma her body has gone through". My family was so taken back by the word "baby"! What baby? I did not even know that I was pregnant! But I knew that there was a reason that Kindra had come at this time and that she was needed in my life! For the next few months I went through minimal physical therapy so as to not cause additional stress to her but she was still not growing as much as the doctors would like. I was 28 weeks when they admitted me back into the hospital so that they could monitor her growth. They also discovered that because I was not able to stand up, she had "positional club feet". I remember just bawling my eyes out at the thought that I had done this to her but knew that whatever way things were supposed to be, they would be! On January 16th 2003 my body woke up knowing that something was not right. The hooked me up to some new monitors and gave me some more drugs to slow things down a bit. By 3:00 pm, I was getting pissed. They were not finding anything new, I was starving, my TV did not work, I had sent Trevor golfing, I was lonely, sick of the hospital and wanted to go home! Finally Trevor came back and my Mom, John-Charles, and Mike came to visit. Right at that same time a Physical Therapist came over to make sure that my back wounds were healing properly. Remember...I am paralyzed and can not feel from the waist down...So I rolled over for him to look at my back and he said, "That can't be right?" "Yeah, I think I'd know," I impatiently popped off. He called my Mom over and she calmly said "Oh" as she rushed out the door. I was so confused as to what was happening. My brother again asked me if that was right as the nurses and doctor rushed in. Someone pulled me back over, threw off the sheet that was covering me, and there between my legs was Kindra! I began crying but knew that it was out of my control. Maybe this was the plan that was set for her. She was so bruised and so tiny. 1 lb 12 oz They rushed her down to NICU because she was not breathing. I distinctly remember hearing a nurse tell another that I had had the baby but that she had not made it. My Mom was awesome and was so calm and helped to comfort me. Trevor was freaking out but was trying to call his Dad to come up to give Kindra a blessing. My Dad was in Europe so he could not be there. The doctor advised us to give her a name...Kindra Ann Corbridge...and they also informed us that they had her breathing but needed to fly her up to Primary's. They let me see her before they took her and she was so, so, so fragile. They said that the first night would be the true test because her lungs were undeveloped and damaged. My heart hurt but again I told myself that it was all for a reason and that I needed to maintain my trust in the Lord. For the next 4 months she was in the hospital but continually improved, grew, and fought like the tough chick that she is :) until she was able to come home. Every time they were worried about something, she somehow was able to pull through it without any problems. She is my miracle child, that's for sure and I don't know what we'd do without her! We love you Kindra!