Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Mommy and Daddy decided not to get a day nurse on the weekends. My night nurse, Terry, had to leave early (at 5 am instead of 7 am) to go to another job in the morning so Mommy got up around a quarter to 5 so he could get ready to leave. She was shocked to find him sleeping away on the couch and not taking care of me! She did a few things in the room thinking that might wake him up but a few minutes later his alarm on his cell phone rang and he got up. She wasn't sure if the home health company policy allowed for sleeping so she didn't say anything at the time. For the second night in a row he indicated he had forgotten to change the ice pack in my feeding bag and that bugged Mommy too. Although he is really nice, she is going to follow up with Maxim to ask that he not come back.

Once that excitement passed it was a pretty lazy Saturday morning. Mommy and Daddy decided to move everything around to make it easier to get to things. They tried to get a few things done around the house while I would sleep. In the evening, though, I got really upset for about an hour. I was crying like I had never cried before, all red and mad, not like me at all. Mommy and Daddy tried to comfort me but it wasn't working. All of a sudden, while Daddy was holding me, I let out a big noise in my diaper and then I calmed right down and started to fall asleep. I had a tummy ache!

Lucille, my day nurse, agreed to watch me tonight since there wasn't a night nurse available. Mommy feels really comfortable with her so she was glad Lucille was able to stay with me. The rest of the night I slept pretty good - I wore myself out with all that crying.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Today I had my first pediatrician's appointment. Her name is Emily Scott. She is very nice. She had a baby two days after I was born and her first day back to work was on Friday. Mommy got one of her first appointments so she could finally meet me. Mommy and my nurse Lucille drove to my appointment. I got kind of mad so when we got there I had to be suctioned a few times. Then, I had to get all naked to get weighed and I started crying again. I had to stay undressed until the doctor could come check me so Mommy wrapped me up tight in my blankie and rocked me until I fell asleep. I was a lucky girl today, Dr Scott said I could wait to get my first shots on my next visit in a few weeks. She said I had already been through enough.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

Today was my Daddy's birthday! He turned 32 today. Mommy and I worked on a shadow box for him with some of the things they have kept from the hospital and pictures of us together. Daddy said I was the best birthday present ever so not sure what Mommy is going to do next year (maybe a sibling?) Mommy went and got some chinese food from a local place they like and traded off holding me so they could eat. It wasn't an exciting birthday but it was our first together as a family.

Mommy scheduled my visit to get my MIC-Key (Mickey) button put in place for the 29th. Right now I have a tube that hangs out a little from my tummy. The MIC-Key button will lay closer to my skin so I can wear regular clothes and spend time on my tummy.

You can see pictures above with my and my brother Chili. Henry doesn't seem very interested in me, but Chili loves me. (No, he is not licking his chops because he wants to eat me, he is trying to figure out how to get to the milk in my g tube!) Chili uses his big nose to poke at things and I was just something new to poke. Daddy stopped him before he got too excited and poked me over onto my tummy! I had been really upset just a few minutes before during my bath and trach tie change but as soon as Daddy put me on the floor with my brother Chili I calmed right down and watched him. I think we are going to be really good friends!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Wednesday, October 10th

Today was my first day with my new nurses. Lucille started at 7 am and stayed with me until 3 pm. She is very nice and she said I slept almost the entire day. Mommy tried to get a little sleep this morning since she has been taking care of me the last few nights. She had a hard time letting Lucille take care of me without feeling guilty but she has to learn to so she can start back to work soon.

After Lucille left at 3, Mommy spent a few hours with me before Daddy got home. She set up my mirror that Aunt Kristin got me when she was here this weekend. I thought the baby in the mirror was kind of interesting but I started to cry and so did she - and that made me cry more!

Daddy and Mommy tried me out in my papasan for the first time tonight. It has pretty lights above my head that are stars that rotate around. It took just a few seconds and I was out! I didn't stay asleep too long though.

Dadddy has been saying I have smiled from the beginning but Mommy wasn't so sure. Tonight while she was holding me, though, when she smiled at me I smiled back. So as far as Mommy is concerned today was my first smile. Sometimes when I am sleeping I will smile and laugh a little. Mommy wonders what a six week old finds funny! (Maybe the thought of her parents having to change her messy diapers?)

Before my night nurse, Terry came to stay with me, Mommy and Daddy gave me my first sponge bath at home. After that I was pretty tired and slept until Terry showed up to take over. Mommy thought it would be really hard to sleep tonight because she thought she should be up taking care of me, but after two nights of not sleeping she fell asleep pretty fast and slept until the alarm work her up. She must have been pretty tired!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Tuesday, October 9th

This morning started off with an evaluation at 9 am by Maxim who will be providing my nursing services. Although they thought they could get a night nurse tonight it didn't end up working out so my first nurse will show up in the morning. Lucille will be my morning nurse and Mimi will be my night nurse. Lucille will work from 7 am to 3 pm and Mimi will work from 11 pm to 7 am. That way my parents can sleep and then my Mommy can go back to work soon.

The day was spent rearranging everything! Because of having the nurses, my Daddy moved all my furniture and supplies out to the family room. That way my parents can still sleep in their bedroom at night. My Daddy also went out to the pharmacy to pick up my liquid multi vitamins and iron. That left Mommy alone with me for the first time ever! She was a little nervous - she made sure the cell phone and trach bag with emergency supplies were close by - but she didn't need them. She just rocked me the whole time Daddy was gone.

Mommy called my great grandma Joyce and found out that she saw my blog for the very first time. Grandma Joyce said she came home all bubbly and excited. She said I am beautiful!

Since the nurse is starting in the morning, my Daddy is going back to work. So, Mommy slept out on the recliner by my crib tonight to keep an eye on me. I had a pretty good night. I slept for 4 or 5 hours and then was up between 3:00 - 4:30 am. I fell back asleep and then woke up again around 5:30 just in time for Daddy to get ready to go to work.

Monday, October 8th, 2007

What a day! First of all I am six weeks old today. Can you believe it? I am also 7 lbs .5 ozs - so I am getting big too!

This is a very special day for me and my parents. I got to come home tonight. It took most of the morning to get the DME and supplies delivered and organized. My Daddy went and bought a bunch of things to store them in and then got out his handy dandy label maker and labeled everything.

Then, my parents headed to the hospital. After some additional training from the nurse on the use of the Kangaroo feeding pump and my final feeding in the NICU I was put into my car seat and we were ready to go. Daddy said, "P, we are busting you out of this place!" First, though, they had to check my Daddy's ID! All the nurses were sad to see me go, they said I have been such a good baby. They want my parents to send pictures and bring me by one time after an appointment so they can see how I am doing.

Mommy and Daddy said it was kind of surreal bringing me to the car after so many weeks visiting me. I feel asleep as soon as we got going and pretty much stayed that way until we got home. Since I was sleeping so good Mommy had Daddy go through the drive through at Taco Bell so they would have something to eat for my first long night at home.

As soon as we walked in, my brothers started barking which woke me up. Mommy and Daddy are pretty sure now that I must be able to hear something. Henry was only interested that Mommy was holding someone other then him. Chili was really funny though. He just adores me! He slept by my crib all night. In fact, he probably got less sleep then my parents did. He kept trying to see into my crib to check on me. He loves hanging out wherever I am.

My first night went pretty well. My parents think I was overwhelmed with all the changes. I slept for the most part from 1 am to 7 am - just getting up a few times to get a diaper change and change my feeding.

It was a really good day.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, October 7th, 2007

It's early Sunday morning and you can see how we are all doing. The night and morning went really well. They all took such good care of me. When the nurse checked up on us this morning she was impressed that they didn't call her at all. I had a really good night. I had a continuous feeding from 8 pm to 6 am. The nurse would bring in the milk at three different times to put in the pump - the first time I didn't even budge. At midnight I woke up for just a little while but went back to sleep after about an hour of rocking. Then, at four I woke up just long enough to get my diaper changed and then fell back to sleep.

Mommy and Daddy got a few hours of sleep total. Aunt Kristin got a little more. They are definately going to get some coffee today. I am so proud of them though. They took such good care of me!

Peyton Nicole Smith