August 20, 2009

Kassidy is three weeks and three days today! Wow! Time sure flies sitting on the couch staring at her! Our past three weeks have been busy, which is why I have not updated the blog lately.

Here is Kassidy, just hanging out after a diaper change. Kassidy is our little poop monster! She goes through more diapers than we can count. She is also known for taking two diapers a change. She manages to get both mom and dad with her random peeing and pooping episodes.

Here is Kassidy with Uncle Mike. We went home for the Cactus Open Golf Tournament and the Threshing Bee. Kassidy got to meet a whole bunch of her family members, who couldn't get enough of her.

Kassidy got lots of kisses from her cousin Tate and her Aunt Stacy couldn't hold her enough.

Not only spoiled by her cousin Tate, his sister, Julia, loved holding too. We decided Kassidy looked best with the "band-aid" over her lip. It was kind-of scary to see her lip without the "band-aid" on.

Kassidy got to meet Great Grandma Smith, too! They became snuggle friends quite quickly!

A four generation picture was easy to take, Grandpa Richard, Great Grandma Smith, Kassidy, and Daddy were ready and willing!


Hayden, Alayna, and Nolan will be great cousins to hang out with too! They can't wait for Kassidy to start crawling and walking so they can play. "She's kind of boring right now."

Uncle Luke got to meet Kassidy and hold her for a brief moment. Kade, his son, wasn't too sure what to think about his dad holding a baby.

Aunt Tiffany, Luke's wife, couldn't hold Kassidy very long with Kade in the room. He REALLY didn't like his mom holding another baby. All in all, I think it's safe to say Kassidy will have to grow on Kade.


Aunt Monica was able to stop by too for a quick snuggle session.


Kassidy in her car seat, where she spends most of her days. Thankfully, she doesn't mind it too much. We have found feeding isn't very easy in the car seat and is quite messy.

Does this need an explanation? Of course she does!

Our precious angel taking a snooze. In our ultrasound pictures, her hand was always by her face. This is how she sleeps now! Too cute!

Mom's friend Jenny Andrews came with her family to visit. This is her daughter Alaina. She wanted Kassidy to be able to play too. Holding just wasn't good enough.

Aunt Tara is a baby hog! If she is around, don't plan on holding Kassidy, unless you steal her from her! Kassidy loves her Aunt Tara.

.....Doctor Update.....

We had our first visit to Gillette Children's Hospital on August 4. They put in her mouth piece and showed us how to add tape to Kassidy's top lip. The mouth piece will help pull her palate together (the roof of her mouth) and the tape helps make the lip more elastic. The orthodontist was on vacation the following week, so we did not have a visit August 11.

However, I had my c-section incision checked out August 11. All is looking good. I am healing well and feeling great. There are only a couple of things that still bother it. As far as I am concerned, a c-section is the only way to have a child. Forget all that labor craziness!

August 13, we had another weight check at Partners and Pediatrics in Rogers. Thankfully, this isn't too far of a drive. Kassidy weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz., so she was back to her birth weight! Yipie! Feeding is going much better with her mouth piece. It was taking almost an hour and a half each feeding, now she is down to about a half hour.

August 18, we went to Gillette again. We will go there every Tuesday. Dr. Cermain, the orthodontist, re-shaped the mouth piece and added the nose stint. How did Kassidy do? Well, she wasn't real fond of the nose piece to begin with, but quickly became used to it. This process remains to be more difficult for mom and dad, than Kassidy. She is such a little trooper.

We go to the ENT today to find out what is in store for her first surgery. We scheduled her lip repair surgery for Monday, October 19th at 10:15. The surgery is about an hour procedure and we will stay over one night at Gillette Hospital. They said typical recovery is about a week. They will repair Kassidy's lip and nose; insert tubes into her ears to prevent ear infections, as everything doesn't drain correctly without the complete palate; and whatever else the ENT doctor says.

Kassidy is a strong little girl. She can hold her head up and has a very strong grip. She focuses on things more and more each day. Her little arms and legs move constantly when she is awake. She continues to sleep well through the night, about three to four hours at a time. After being gone for the weekend, getting her back into her sleeping routine was a little more difficult, but she is falling back into her routine. She doesn't cry a whole lot, just fusses when she has gas pains. These are coming more frequently this week. She is a great baby!

If you are in the area or want to be in the area, give us a call. Visitors are always welcome! I will go back to work in the end of October. I took off enough time to get through her first surgery. My cell phone is: 320-493-2783. Tuesday's are not good days because of our visits to Gillette, but most of the time our schedule is wide open.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support. The Smith family can't say thank you enough! Have a great day! Enjoy the rain!

August 5, 2009

She's here! Kassidy Rae Smith was born on Monday, July 27 at 1:41 p.m. at North Memorial Hospital by c-section. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Delivery was a breeze. We arrived at North Memorial at 11:00 Monday morning and were given our room. The nurses were in and out of our room prepping us for the c-section. At about 12:50, the nurses came and started the IV and got Wayne is scrubs. We arrived in the operating room at 1:30 and she was born at 1:41! Wayne barely had enough time to sit down before the doctor said, "Stand up, here it comes!" Before Wayne got into the room, they began the surgery. I asked if they had started cutting yet. Dr. Sarkinen said yes. I replied, "Ow! That hurts! Just teasing!" The room stopped on a dime. They all enjoyed my humor, thank goodness. They also reported that was the first time anyone had ever done that. Does that surprise you?

Wayne was able to go with Kassidy to get cleaned up and he cut the umbilical cord. She was taken to the NICU because she had fluid in her lungs. I was taken back to our room to recover. This meant a long time before being able to hold our new bundle of joy. I sent Wayne to the NICU constantly to check on her while I waited. It wasn't able to hold her until 7:00 that night. Man, did that seem like FOREVER!

Our first family photo:

Kassidy was admitted into the NICU again on Tuesday morning at 4:00 a.m. for problems with choking and breathing. This was a huge set-back because we had just got her from there. Because she had to be re-admitted, her stay had to be 8 hours. I was still hooked up to an IV and had my catheter in. I couldn't go to the NICU until I got rid of those things. Thankfully, we had the most wonderful day nurse, Collette. She stretched a few "guidelines" and got me unattached. Wheelchair here we go! Tuesday was a long day, with many trips back and forth from our room to the NICU.

Tuesday night at about 7:00, Kassidy was able to come back to our room....where she stayed. It was a long restless night, as any move she made we were checking on her. It's amazing what you can do on little to no sleep.

Wednesday was a better day for us. We had lots of visitors and no major medical events. Most of the day was spent becoming a professional breast milk pumper! Kassidy is able to latch on to me, however, it takes too much energy for her to get the nutrition she needs. So, I am pumping like a mad-woman. Just say...Mooooo!

We were able to go home on Thursday in the late afternoon. We didn't have any visitors on Thursday, which was okay because we were able to catch up on a little sleep and enjoy Kassidy all to ourselves.

Life at home has been great. Wayne and I are surviving and learning together. He feeds Kassidy while I pump, which is a long process. She is eating about 2-1 1/2 oz. per feeding, but each feeding takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes. She has lost 10% of her birth weight, which brings her down to 6 lbs. 14 oz. So feeding continues to be difficult. We have been going to weight check appointments just about every day (PAIN in the rear) and then to Gillette yesterday.

Yesterday, we had our first appointment at Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul. We met with Dr. Cermain who is Kassidy's orthodontist. She will be helping close the gap in her lip and palate with the plastic appliance. Kassidy was fitted for the appliance yesterday, which looks a lot like a retainer. We take this out twice a day to clean it, which for the first day went well. She also has tape pulling her upper lip together. This process will close the gap by 30% before the surgery. We also met with Dr. Wood, her plastic surgeon, who reassured us he is the best and will fix her right up. He also explained that she has a unilateral cleft lip and incomplete bilateral cleft palate, which is more severe than we originally thought. You wouldn't know it by looking at her or watching her. Her mom gets more worked up than she does!

She is the most precious bundle of joy we could have ever been given. It is amazing how much she has changed our lives in 9 short days. We can't imagine our lives without her.