A Week at Home...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! So let me begin from discharge...Peyton was discharged from Children's at the beginning of the week.  She handled the looooong car trip home very well...I almost think she handled it better than I did.  When we got home late, we laid her in her crib and the first thing she did was throw those hands over her head and kick those legs straight out.  She was happy to be home and happy to be out of that carseat!  So then it all began...Allen and I have come to know what tired really means this week.  Don't get me wrong, I was tired in Cincinnati, I was emotionally tired as well, but this is a completely different kind of tired..ha!  I think we have started getting used to it a bit though as we work out who does what when.  But even though we are tired, there is no better feeling than the feeling of being home and taking care of Peyton.  She is such a sweet little girl.  We also went to the doctor on Friday for a follow up at home and to get her 2-month shots.  Now, Peyton has been through a lot...surgery, etc...but...those shots were definitely something she was not fond of.  She let out the biggest cry when she got the 2nd one.  She stopped very quickly though as soon as she realized it was over, and she took her pacy.  She let out another big cry like this Saturday...Allen had gone to the store to go get propane for the grill.  I proceeded to feed her, when all of a sudden she decided to have a diaper explosion.  I had to put missy in the tub and clean her off.  Well, when I got her out of the tub, I had to take her bandaid from the shot off, and my goodness, you would have thought she was getting another shot!  And just as she is crying out...who walks back in the door...Allen.  He just said, "What are you doing to her?!"  It was pretty funny.  Peyton still has her feeding tube, but it doing well with taking a bottle.  Whatever she does not take, we put it in the feeding tube.  Hopefully, we can have her eating without that thing pretty soon!  I will say the nice feature of the tube is that, when she has meds I have to give her, I can just put it in the tube if she is sleeping...very nice.  We will still have to go back up in November for a follow up appointment, and in December for another small surgery to close the muscle back up all the way under her skin.  This surgery is not as invasive as the previous.  Her tummy was just so small that when they did the first surgery and pushed everything down, it would have created too much pressure to close that muscle all the way.  So now.... there are some thank yous that we want to say.  First, we want to thank God.  He has guided Peyton through this whole process and held her precious self in His arms as she has continued to heal and grow.  We want to thank both of our families.  Both of our parents have been there for us the whole way and have been a wonderful support system.  To Allen's parents, thank you for helping us make the trip home (with all our STUFF!) and to My parents, thank you for stocking our kitchen for us, and cleaning up our house to make it shine!  Our extended families as well, have done nothing but just be there for us in our time of need.  To all our friends, that have helped us out whether it be a gift, a kind word, or just a silent prayer that you may have said for us...thank you so much.  For all of those who collected can tabs for us to donate to The Ronald McDonald House...thank you!  The last group of tabs we got came from Kosciusko Lower Elementary and South Leake for a combined total of 111.5 lbs...absolutely amazing.  And also, from  Annalee Patrick and her mother Cindy Rice's school...for a total of 26 lbs...just wonderful.  To both Allen's employer, Shelter Insurance and my employer, Lemon Mohler Insurance, thank you so much for being so supportive and understanding of our situation.  You have made caring for our little one easy without the stress of worrying about our job.  To all the families at The Ronald McDonald House that I met during our stay there, it was so wonderful meeting you, and will continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers.  And finally...to all of Peyton's wonderful doctors, surgeons, and nurses.  You are just miraculous people.  Our experience at Cincinnati Children's has been wonderful.  You can tell that you sincerely love what you do just by how much you care.  Peyton was blessed to have such amazing people taking care of her.  To Everyone...THANK YOU!! Love Yall!

The BIG News

Well this is what we have been working for...the big news that our little one is ready to come home to Mississippi!  Today during rounds, the doctors set a date for discharge as being a week from today...just one day shy of her 2 month birthday!! Next Monday, we will be making the journey back home to Mississippi (unless, of course she pulls any funny business!)  Of course, we will not let Peyton in on this little secret because last time we had a date set like this (her first surgery date) we had to move it because she got the skin infection the same day...I swear it was because she heard us talking about surgery.  She has just been taking the feeding thing so well.  She has gotten the hang of all that she needs to do for the most part, it's just the endurance part that she is still working on...she gets wore out.  She has the look at the end of taking a bottle like, "Whoa, that was so good, but man is that hard work!"  She just continues to amaze me everyday...she is such a miracle!  I just want to thank everyone again for all their prayers and wonderful, wonderful support.  Without all this, I do not believe that we would have been able to get through these past 2 months!  It has meant soooo much to us to have people standing behind us this whole way.  And, if anyone did not believe in the power of prayer before, say hello to Peyton!  God definitely has a plan for this special little girl!  I cannot wait to see everyone...it has been a while!  Until next time...Love Yall!