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FROM STAFF REPORTS

State Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, spent most of the week in the hospital after having her baby Monday afternoon.

She was expecting to be released from the hospital today. Her baby will stay in intensive care a few days, which is normal for premature babies.

Kelley said she went to the doctor last Friday for a normal check up, and the doctor put her in the hospital. The health complications led doctors to do a c-section. The baby was due in late May.

"It is just earlier than we expected. I am very thankful, everything is going well," she said from her hospital bed Thursday.

The boy's name is Thatcher Kelley Margolius and he weighs just under 5 pounds and is 17 1/1 inches long.

Kelley said she hopes to be able to do to the wrap-up session of the legislature which begins April 30. The Legislature is currently on a break, having ended the regular session and getting ready for the wrap-up part.

Her stalking bill is in a conference committee and will be voted on, so she wants to be able to vote on that issue in particular.

That bill aims to toughen stalking rules, or to make stalking laws easier to enforce. She introduced the bill after Jodi Sanderholm was murdered in January of 2007.

There may be some override attempts on vetoes by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. If there are she wants to be there to vote.

She also wants to vote on the budget, and to participate in the discussion, if she can.

"That will be the biggest thing. It just depends on how contentious it is," she said.

Her family has been with her in a Wichita hospital most of the week.

"The boy is doing well and Mom's doing well," said Kasha's husband, Scott Margolius, an Arkansas City City Commissioner.

"It's pretty amazing," Margolius said of the birth. "You don't realize what all goes into it. It's not like on TV."

Margolius said he appreciated the many "prayers and concerns" of friends from Arkansas City.