Fashionista

A girl can never look too good. Nurse Sue gave me some fashion tips this morning to help cover up that horrendous haircut the Latex Glove Person gave me....obviously they did not attend the Vidal Sassoon school. So the NICU nurses made me this great headband bow. What do you think?

Can you believe they made it using a little beenie? Can't wait for the tube top.

There for you...

Today...I had visitors from Daddy's work come to the hospital. They were all very nice and supportive of all the time Daddy has been away from the office staying with me in the hospital. Daddy was telling Mommy that Stryker Orthopaedics motto is, "There for you..." for their surgeons and patients. Well I think Daddy's company and co-workers are also there for him and me.

I hope when I am better, Daddy will take me to work so I can meet everyone and see what he does. All Daddy says is that ever since Stryker bought OtisMed, he has to wear a monkey suit to work!

The Chanel Challenge

Mommy told me today that my Godmother Cindy is going to come up from LA and help next week. Mommy also said that if I work hard and get healthy....my Godmother is going to give me her Chanel handbag collection!

So I am going to work extra hard this week to get better.

Scars are Cool

I saw Mommy's scar on her belly and thought it was cool so today I went and got one too!

Boy did Mommy and Daddy freak when they heard that I convinced Dr. Tippi MacKenzie (pediatric surgeon) to operate on me today and give me a cool scar to match Mommy. I was getting tired of this whole NEC ordeal that was dragging on all weekend. My belly had gotten bigger overnight going from 25cm to 28cm and my skin was really shiny red and looking tender. My platelet counts weren't rising after getting transfused and they had to put me on dopamine. Daddy put his pharmacy degree to good use and explained to me that the dopamine was to help with my blood pressure and urine output.

But it didn't seem that the medical management was working so it was time to step it up a notch and settle this thing....so Audrey vs. NEC went down at 1pm this afternoon. Three hours later, I came out of surgery a little slimmer leaving behind 10 cm of my ileum (which is the final part of the small intestine). I feel much better....surgery wasn't that bad. I had the same anesthesiologist Mommy had on my birth day and Dr. Heidi Witherall hooked me up!

I will be in the NICU at CPMC for a while longer. Hoping to start back on Mommy's milk in a few weeks. I will need to have another operation later to reconnect my intestines back together. I will save that story for another day.

Bad Haircut

Today was another bad day, I looked in the mirror and realized they gave me my first bad haircut. Look at that bald spot on the right side of my head by the IV line for the blood transfusions.

Guess that's what happens when you are in "lala land" with the fentanyl drip. Mental note to self don't pass out without a friend watching your back. Daddy said when he was at the University of Toronto, he lived at in this place Devonshire House (aka "Devo") that was known to throw some crazy parties....well at Devo he was nicknamed the "Painter" because he was an artist with the Sharpie marker on guys that passed out. He told Mommy a funny story about this one guy that passed out in a chair in the hallway....Daddy said he decided to try something new, so he used some Liquid Paper on the guys teeth....I guess those were the days before Crest Whitening Strips. But the funny part was Daddy shaved off the guys eyebrows....hummm now that makes me wonder if Daddy gave me the bad haircut since I don't have any eyebrows yet.


Funny that Daddy has my hair from my first haircut....he said Nurse Sue gave it to him.

Is Daddy also the Latex Glove Person, who put that Jalapeno Popper in my belly button?









Maybe it was payback since I was taunting Daddy, saying my belly is almost as big as his....with all the bloating and puffiness I have with all the blood transfusions (packed RBC, platelets and plasma) and IV (Zosyn antibiotic, TPN, lipids and D5W) I have been getting.

Don't worry...Johnny Cochrane isn't around anymore with the "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit" defense. Revenge will be sweet...she how Daddy likes it when I start going to Ruby Skye when I'm 16....hahaha!!!

Otherwise...I am a bit puffy but Dr. Chris said that's to be expected. My last x-ray this afternoon didn't show any perforations in my bowels and no air in my abdominal cavity...things looked stable so I am doing better today and not critical anymore. Sounds like the aggressive treatment as soon as they saw my bloody poop is working. Dr. Chris said, we still have to see how the weekend goes because things still can get worst before better...so it will be awhile before he considers removing some of the tubes and let's me breath on my own again.

That means the Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge is on hold...I think Daddy needs the extra time anyways....I think he needs to lose some weight just to get to 205 lbs start.

So right now I am just enjoying the fentanyl...I think Mommy and Daddy could use some and I if I work this being sick angle a bit more...I see an Aston Martin Vanquish in my future!

Pain in the NEC

I had a rough night. Early Wednesday morning, my tummy was hurting and I had a bloody poop. The Neonatologist called Mommy at 2AM and let her know that I have inflammation of my bowels. They had to put me back on the ventilator and give me some IV antibiotics yesterday. I heard the doctor telling Mommy and Daddy that I have to stop feeding on milk for two weeks so my intestines can rest and heal. I will be just getting my nutrition from TPN again....boring...no sweet Mommy's milk.

The doctor is afraid that if the inflammation in my intestines gets worst, I might get a hole in the intestinal wall called a perforation...that would be bad. I would then need to have surgery to remove any of the bad intestines. They said this is called NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis)....I call it a pain in the neck, because of the ventilator and no more yummy milk for two weeks. They also stuck a line in my vein on my head to give me a blood transfusion. So I am getting packed red blood cells, platelets and plasma....all good stuff that will help me get better quicker and give me back some color...the pale goth look doesn't work for me and worst than the yellow jaundice tone.

Well the only good thing is that now I get a fun new IV drip of fentanyl, which is like 100x as potent as morphine...Mommy thought the epidural was good....fentanyl is Da Bomb!

So I am resting comfortably with all the new tubes. It's a bit of a pain, they are poking and sticking me all the time and taking X-rays to check for air pockets in my abdominal cavity, but I know it's for my own good. Daddy said I will hear that ("it's for your own good") many times as I grow up. I told him to start saving for that SL55...even with this setback...Pilsbury Dough Boy doesn't have a chance...I am going to come back strong and pack on the ounces. Mommy keep pumping, keep the milk in the freezer...Baby Girl wants some "Milksicles."

Milk does a body good

Look Daddy...I am getting more milk via the feeding tube. You are going down like a fat kid on a teeter totter! I'd like a silver SL55....hahaha!