Saturday, October 6th, 2007

Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Kristin arrived for our "rooming in" this morning at 10 am. It took about 6 hours before they got moved into the room where we are going to stay tonight. So during the in between time they stayed by my bedside in the NICU. Aunt Kristin held me pretty much the whole time! She just adores me!

Around 6 pm, I got kind of fussy and as they were checking me out the noticed that my g-tube sutures seem to have pulled out. Since there wasn't a pediatric surgeon around tonight, they taped it really good so it wouldn't pull out and they are going to have it checked out in the morning.

Daddy left for a few hours at night to check on my furry brothers while Mommy and Aunt Kristin worked on getting me to sleep since I didn't sleep much during the day. The other room has a couple with twins - hopefully we will all be good tonight and let our parents sleep!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Friday, October 5th, 2007

What an exciting day! My Aunt Kristin flew in from Salt Lake to visit me. She spent some time holding me and feeding me with my Haberman nipple. I took 5 cc's for her! You can see in the picture above how happy I am that she is holding me. Mommy and Aunt Kristin spent several hours with me and then Aunt Kristin took Mommy to get a pedicure. You should see their toes - Mommy has pretty white flowers and Aunt Kristin has pumpkins. (Ask Aunt Kristin why she has pumpkins on her toes, there is a story about that one). Then Mommy and Aunt Kristin came back to the hospital to learn how to use the Kangaroo pump machine that feeds me. Mommy already learned on the newer model so she was not too happy to have to learn about the old model which is much more difficult to use. She is going to see if there is anyway to get the newer model delivered instead once I come home.

Mommy, Aunt Kristin and Daddy went to Ruth's Chris Steak House. They had a gift certificate from last Christmas from Uncle Shawn that they hadn't had a chance to use yet. They had a nice dinner and yummy dessert. Aunt Kristin gave Daddy a silly birthday card (they won't tell me what it says, they say I am too young), an iTunes gift certificate and the Band of Brothers DVD set. They are going to enjoy their time sleeping in tomorrow morning since they are coming to room in with me in the morning. The adventure begins! Pray for them, I think they will need it.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Thursday, October 4th, 2007

Mommy and Daddy came by this evening to visit but I had already had my feeding and was fast asleep. Since I had such a rough night last night when they were here, they decided to just let me sleep since I looked so peaceful. My night nurse, Kelly, said last night I was really fussy for her as well so she put me in my swing. I spent 4 hours in there because eventually I fell asleep and the nurse decided not to move me. Kelly said that my kidney ultrasound came back normal so that was some good news today. I am going to get my sleep tonight so that I can be wide awake when my aunt Kristin comes to visit me tomorrow.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

Aren't I a pretty girl when I am sleeping! Mommy snapped a few pictures this morning before we started our first time working with the Haberman nipple. It is a little bigger then I am used to so I fought Mommy for awhile. Eventually, I figured out if I wanted to get some milk I had to play along so I got with the program. Since Mommy and I have to work together it will take us some time to figure out the best way to use it. I got about 5 cc's down this morning. Monique, my day nurse, said she will use the Haberman at my noon and 3 pm feedings too. When Jeanette stopped by to teach Mommy about the Haberman nipple she told the nurses to stop putting that mask stuff of my face. She said she thinks it is restricting the growth and my ability to move. So hopefully from here on out you won't see what Daddy calls my "Silence of the Lambs" look anymore. The medical student last night told my parents that I had pictures taken of my hip and hand yesterday. They said the hip pictures came back just fine. The hand pictures are to use when I go to Shriner's to see about getting surgery on my fused finger and thumb. I am also scheduled to have a picture taken of my kidneys on Thursday. One kidney is bigger then the other and they want to figure out why.

When Daddy and Mommy came back together at night Daddy tried feeding me with the Haberman nipple but I wasn't in a good mood so they decided to wait and try it with me another time. I was in a pretty grouchy mood in general. Every time Mommy would change me dirty diaper I would produce another one for her a few minutes later. After four diaper changes in 1/2 hour Mommy started to think I probably had a tummy ache. Mommy was sad that when she left I was still not very happy but she hopes tomorrow I will be feeling better.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

Mommy and Daddy came by late tonight after Daddy got done closing the office. I had already had my bath and that is why my hair is so CRAZY! Mommy fed me again and I got 3-4 cc's down. It takes quite a lot of work to get my milk through a bottle so Jeanette is having Mommy come by tomorrow to teach me how to use the Haberman bottle. It is a special bottle for babies like me with a cleft palate. I don't have to work as hard to get milk out and it also allows Mommy to pinch it to put milk in my mouth without me having to suck at all if I get tired. We will try it out tomorrow to see if it will work better then the regular nipples. I was up to 6 lbs 14.5 ozs tonight - getting bigger every day! Mommy went and bought a new digital camera today - she knew if she didn't keep the blog updated she would be hearing from a lot of my unhappy fans.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Monday, October 1st, 2007

Mommy came by this morning. She got to do a lot to take care of me since the baby next to me was having a lot of problems breathing. Mommy changed my diaper several times, gave me a bath, put my new leads on and suctioned my nose and mouth when I spit up several times. I took a few cc's of breast milk again in my bottle. Jeanette said to try a bigger nipple next time to see how I do with that.

Daddy and Mommy came back this evening together. These may be the last pictures you see of me for awhile since Mommy dropped the camera and broke it! You can see Daddy making fishie faces with me - and Mommy was trying to get a better angle of the shot when she dropped the camera. Oops! Daddy teased Mommy that if I drop the camera how does he know she won't drop me too : ) This morning the nurse must have thrown away my preemie nipple because they couldn't find it tonight. So they tried out a regular nipple and I did just fine - I took about 5 cc's of milk. I was a little fussy for a while but Mommy was able to get me back to sleep in the rocking chair. Mommy was happy to see me sleeping so peacefully when they left last night since I had such a rough morning.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Mommy and Daddy had planned on doing my trach change tonight but the day nurse had already done it. That meant Mommy and Daddy just got to spend time holding me during my feeding which was okay by me. You can see me in my Daddy's arms above. I didn't take much from the bottle tonight - I kept falling asleep!

Peyton Nicole Smith