Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

It was clear when Mommy showed up this morning that I was feeling a lot better. I had tolerated my 6 am feeding without any problems and was getting very antsy in crib. Even with some new videos and lots of coloring I was starting to act more like a 2 year old then I have over the last few days. The doctors and nurses thought it was great but Mommy was worried about what another few days in the hospital might be like. Good thing when the doctors made rounds mid-morning they decided I was free to go home. Before I could get too excited, though, it took a few hours to get all the paper work together. So Mommy got me dressed and started to get me packed up to leave.

At one point, one of the residents came in and asked Mommy to make sure to schedule a follow up appointment with my pediatrician in the next day or two. If I wasn't able to get in, he said it would be okay for Mommy to take me to the UC Davis urgent care clinic instead. Mommy said she would call as soon as she got home and off he went. A few minutes later another resident came in. She asked if I had made the appointment yet. When Mommy said she was planning on calling when she got home, the resident got a little snippy. She told Mommy that before I was allowed to leave the appointment had to be made. Mommy was surprised (this has never happened before when I am discharged) and clarified - they would keep me in the hospital until Mommy was able to get the appointment set up? When the resident said yes - that's exactly what she meant Mommy tried hard to keep calm. Rather then get snippy herself and discharge me - AMA (against medical advice) - Mommy played the game and called the pediatrician's office. Now keep in mind my pediatrician is not part of UC Davis which may explain the grumpiness about scheduling a follow up appointment but when Mommy explained why she needed the appointment the receptionist started laughing and said, "So they are keeping Peyton hostage until we get this appointment made?" Mommy let her know that was pretty much what the said, so the receptionist wasted no time getting me an appointment scheduled for tomorrow.

After Mommy let the doctors know about the appointment, it didn't take long to be released. The nurse removed all my "strings" and I was free! The only thing was that Mommy and I had to wear our masks until we got outside of the hospital. That was more of a challenge then Mommy predicted and after wrestling with me to keep it on she finally told me "If you would like to go home you are going to have to wear that mask - understand?" I did and gave up fighting it until we made it to the car.

The ride home was thankfully uneventful being that Mommy was alone with me. Once I got home I was in no mood to nap and ran around the house playing. When Daddy got home I was extra happy to see him since it had been several days and we had fun going on a few walks around the block before it was time for bath and bed. My oxygen sats aren't as high as my parents would like but everything else seems back to normal so those should improve over the next few days.

Despite the stress of the last few days, Mommy noticed a few new tricks of mine. Monday I started pointing to my trach and then pointing to my suction machine when I needed a suction. Can't get any easier for my parents then a child who requests when they need a suction - right? Actually, I have been able to take the cap off the suction catheter for a few months now and place the catheter to my trach - I just haven't learned how to turn the machine on yet and press the button to actually suction. The doctors saw me doing this though and thought it was the funniest thing ever. On Tuesday I was watching my Baby Babble 2 video. They go over the letters, P, B and M. When they announced "b" Mommy looked over and I was showing her the letter sign for B. I like to watch my parents sign all the letters of the alphabet but it was the first time I had ever signed a letter on my own - Mommy was so proud!

Peyton Nicole Smith