merry christmas! Daryl had a good holiday; she got a wipe warmer and some toys so she is a happy girl. she has been doing good lately. At her last dr. appt., she finally gained some real weight (she now weighs 11 lbs 3 oz!) she is still small for a 5 month old, obviously, but she is actually doing okay other than the lack of weight gain. she is making normal baby progress every day, and is happy as ever. She still has her G-tube in her stomach, even though she doesnt use it, because the doctors still wants her to gain more weight before they take it out. i had the fun job of getting to change out her tube yesterday, for the first time. I was nervous because its a pretty major thing... i mean you have to pull the whole tube out of her stomach and put a new one in. it was weird, but it went well and i was proud of myself. a little shaky afterwards (one wrong move and it could really hurt her or mess things up) but otherwise ok! i cant wait to get that thing out of her. other than that, there is nothing much going on, so we have been able to enjoy the holidays.

Daryl's First Christmas Tree

Well, daryl didn't actually hang anything on the tree, but she drooled on it in a couple of places, so I guess that counts. she sure likes the shiny stuff. If you look closely, you can see my INCOM T-65 X-wing Snubfighter making it's way around the tree. All these extra lights and bells and whistles sure do make Daryl talk alot! she talked almost the whole time we were doing the tree, maybe she was singing Christmas carols, after all, she is a Rudolph!

Start em early

So we decided to go play with the piano for a while. it sure makes some cool noises. Daryl was impressed for like, 2 minutes before she asked where the guitar was at. Her name is Daryl, not Tori, and she knows it. since today is Dime Day, I'll probably have to dig out one of my guitars, so we'll see what she thinks of it.

Real Rudolph Girls

This is my second cousin Sarah. She is 21 years old. She was the last Rudolph girl to be born. Her Dad once told my mom that she wasn't a real Rudolph because she married in to the name! I can't really tell ya how many Rudolphs were born in that 21 years, but these two are very unique, and they don't even try! Good job girls.

sparkly girl

Daryl laughed for the first time yesterday!! it was so cute, and i just kept thinking how nice it was to finally get to hear that laugh! we have come so far from the first days in the NICU, those days were so scary and awful, and we didnt even know if we Would see the day when she would laugh. we are so lucky that to have her home, and every little mile-stone reminds me of that.

smiley girl

she is such a smiley girl, she smiles all time but its hard to catch on camera because she is so wiggly. she loves to be talked to and played with, and she will pretty much smile anytime someone talks silly to her. she has been doing good lately, she sleeps real well and is eating well. she has been gaining some weight on her new formula, so we are still not having to use the g-tube. things have been so good lately that im started think "okay things are too good to be true, anytime now something will go wrong, or shell get sick or something".isnt that terrible, i know, but when you have been through so much its hard to believe things could be so good. but we are having fun with her and we cant wait till christmas.

found a really old one here... that was the day we found out she was a girl. my how she has grown. ha ha

daryl

hi this is daryl, on the computer blogging about my brother since everyone always blogs about me!! the kid in the long hair is my brother a couple years ago. wasnt he punk-rock? and the ones above them are him and my dad playing video games at the pizza place a few days ago!! hes changed alot since then. now he plays with me alot and he does karate and hes a good big brother. he is 5 ft 4 and wears a size 8 and 1/2 shoe. im 1 ft 10 in, and i weigh 10 pounds and 10 ounces. we have a lot in common.

four generations

this is very cute. Daryl, her Dad, his Dad, and his Dad's Mom. super grandma is 91 here, and daryl is almost 2 months

Happy 1/3rd Daryl

Daryl is four months old today. she is very happy to be home where she can be held all the time. she gained about 6 oz last week. she also stopped breast feeding because the gi doc recommended formula only. leanna is very sad about that, but daryl seems to be taking to it well. this will be an interesting week for daryl. she has a wic appointment with mom on tuesday, so she gets to go out. then on wednesday she goes to her first funeral. after that, the brother of her namesake will be signing books in LA, but we may not make it to that. then she gets to get weighed again on thursday. we are so fortunate that everything is going well, and not very complicated for the time being.

cute baby

i thought these pics were cute, me and Daryl on the top, and Daryl and daddy watching morning cartoons, and then just Daryl with a cute look on her face. she is a playful girl, and despite the fact that she isn't growing the way she should, she sure seems to have plenty of energy and is very happy. she is doing well on the disgusting new formula the doc has her on, (she will only drink it if its mixed with breast milk and and i sweeten the nipple for her) and so far i still havent had to use her G-tube yet, but tomarrow she goes to the doc again to get weighed, and if she doesnt gain weight she will have to be on the constant night-time feeding machine. oh well. i just want her to be healthy and happy, and live a good life, and i hope thats what will happen after all that she has been through. she deserves to be happy.

THAT'S MY GIRL

look, Daryl is practicing the air guitar with her pantera shirt on . look how fast her fingers are moving!!!

long day today

today was our GI appt, and for some reason i had a feeling it was gonna be a long day, and i was right... the good news is that Daryl had her long, dangling feeding tube replaced with a small little "button" (a small tube in the same place, only it isnt long so it wont get tugged out as easily). i got to be there for the replacement, and in fact if Daryl has to have the tube in for longer than 3 months then I get to be the one to replace it (the nurses are teaching me how to do it) its not so bad i guess, just weird sticking a tube in my daughters stomach... the bad news is that she has not gained hardly any weight in the two weeks that we have been home, which means that breast milk is not enough and she is gonna start on a special formula called Pregestimil, which is supposed to be easy for her to digest. its expensive as hell and it took Scott and I 6 stores and 2 hours to find a place who sold the stuff... man its expensive... but oh well. we have to go back and weigh her every week, and if she hasnt gained 5 ounces in the next week then we have to start her on a constant flow of formula which runs through her G-tube over night, so she will absorb enough nutrients to gain weight. the doctor also had a blood test for her to see if her liver is functioning better. i got to be there also, to hold her while they stick her foot and draw blood from her.. she did really good though, she hardly cried, she is such a strong girl! now we are home and exhausted, but hey!! at least we are home with her and not still in the hospital.

today was Daryl's apt with Dr. Baerg, her surgeon. it went well, other than the hour and a half wait in the waiting room. Daryl has actually gained weight, which is the most important thing because it means that the bowels that she does have left are working good. she is nursing well and everything seems to be working as it should. the dr was very pleased with her progress, suprised actually, that she is eating and processing so well... this is of course, a great relief to us since in the NICU there were so many setbacks...its hard to believe that everything is finally going smoothly. her next apt is with the GI dr, on thursday, and at that apt they will decide whether or not to keep her feeding tube in or just take it out (she never uses it, never has) so we hope it will just get to come out. im always nervous that im gonna tug on it or something, and pull it out...so far that hasnt happened. so any way, she is doing good at home and we are all happy to have her here, especially for the holidays.

Are you Serious?

This pic was a total accident. if you enbiggen it, you can see that daryl has borrowed my eyebrow. Thats my girl

Daryl Rocks

SLAYERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Baby SLAYERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

The Rudolph Girls

Here are the Rudolph girls.They all are wearing something pink. which is the cutest? haha trick question. I love them all

Grandpa's Home!!

Grandpa finally got home from canada friday. this si the first time he has seen Daryl outside the hospital. both were very happy to see each other.

Look a Peapod!

daryl went out trick or treating with brother and cousin , but only lasted about twenty minutes in the peapod suit. although connor's robot suit was neat, daryl was the coolest thing anybody had ever seen. people would ask "whats his name" and "how old is he" so we would tell them"she is a girl, she is a girl". didn't even bother confusing them with her name is Daryl

Super grandma!

Super grandma is very happy that she can see daryl without going to the hospital.

A New Duck

Daryl sure likes sitting in her bouncer. her favorite part is this jingly duck. she has figured out how to whack it and make it jingle all by herself. what a smart girl. thanks Bev! Daryl loves ducks

Look a Harley Davidson!

Super uncle Bill never got to visit daryl in the hospital, so we introduced them on saturday.She looks comfy on a bike, doesn't she?

Look a Puppy!

Daryl and Rosie arent quite sure what they think of each other yet. the dogs have been outside mostly since daryl came home. We will introduce them slowly and try to teach them that each other isn't food.

Dexter is also a dog

Look, A Cousin!

Noah has been visiting Daryl every week in the hospital, but she had only heard rumors of her cousin Connor. he was very excited to see all of Daryl instead of just her face.

More good things about the NICU

Dr. Ibrahim was one of the first doctors to see Daryl when we were first admitted into the NICU. Also one of the first to tell us everything would be ok someday.From the very beginning, and at the very end of our journey, she took very good care of Daryl, and us for that matter. Dr. Ibrahim told all the nurses in our room to make sure that she could be the one to tell us we were going home. On tuesday afternoon, Daryl had only been nursing for four days, but had taken to it quite well. We expected the doctors to want to observe her for a while and maybe send us home in a week or two. Dr. Ibrahim told us they would be observing Daryl for 1 day and that she would send us home on thursday. 48 hours left in the hospital.And we were hoping to have her home by Christmas! Thanks Dr. Ibrahim, for kicking us out so soon.

Thanks Lacey

This is Lacey. She was our childlife specialist who would escort Noah to visit Daryl in the hospital every thursday, unless she was on a tropical island. Now Noah doesn't need an escort anymore, and he gets to be a big brother for more than an hour at a time. Thanks for the headstart Lacey

And On The Hundredth Day She Rested

Welcome home Daryl. Leanna made all the bedding for the bassinet, and my dad painted it. It has been hidden under laundry for 3 months because it was so sad to see it empty. Well it isn't empty anymore. she just barely fits in it still. She slept through the night pretty well, but Leanna sure didn't. We are realizing all the things we don't have yet, like a diaper pail. Daryl was in the NICU for 99 days, so today makes her 100 days old. Bringing her home for the first time makes it feel like her birthday, only we already know her. I wonder if the cuckoo clock reminds her of the beeping monitors in the NICU?

Good things about living in the NICU

This is us with one of the best nurses ever. Pomben took care of Daryl for about a month when we were neighbors with her primary patient. Lots of things happened when Pomben was in charge, and she made us feel good about the bad ones and better about the good ones. Whether it was a straight answer, or just a laugh, Pomben always knew the right thing to say to us. Thanks Pomben

Blue Jeans

Daryl's picc line was removed tuesday, so we could dress her and take her away from the bed. this is her first pair of blue jeans. they were part of her going home outfit, and they still fit!

Good things about living at the NICU

This is Dr. Kim. She is one of the best things about the NICU. whenever something happened that we didn't understand,when we were panicking and pulling our hair out, Dr. Kim
would explain things to us very thoroughly. she made sure we understood what was happening, what could be done, and why not to worry. Thanks Dr. Kim. I still have hair left to pull out when we get home!

Episode IV: A New Hope

Well here it comes, the day we have all been waiting for. After 99 days in the NICU, daryl will be coming home tomorrow.Over the weekend, Daryl started breastfeeding, and dr. Trupp went ahead and let her have as much as she wanted. Well it turns out she wanted it all. She started eating over 90ccs which is more than what she can have and stay in the hospital!She is tolerating everything and being very happy with a full belly, so they have decided to kick her out. we have been hoping to have her home by christmas for so long that it is kind of shocking to get her home in time for the world series.Today has been spent shampooing the carpet and fitting Daryl's crib and stuff into the house. We are finally taking the car seat out of the wrapper and learning how it works.3 months and 5 days after she was born, she will finally be our little girl. I can come home from work, take off my shoes, and see my baby. no more fight ing stupid loma linda traffic, and circling the parking lot just to tell her i love her. and, at 6:30, I don't have to put her down and leave her ever again. I haven't decided whether i was happier when she was born, or happier to finally take her home. And just to jumpstart my fatherness, i go to noahs parent teacher conference today. He finally gets to be a brother! This will be a great day for the rudolph family. Attention world, here comes Daryl!!!

Fight the Power

I wonder if Daryl knows how awesome this picture is.

Daddy's Little Thrasher!!!

this onesie is awesome. Thanks uncle del and aunt Julie.

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Dinner Time!!!

So after being so tired of daryl's feeds being so small, on saturday they added 1 cc every 12 hours. that was kinda nice, but on sunday they decided to go every 3 hours! now her feedings go up 8cc every day, so if she tolerates them well, she will be at 90 next tuesday, and she can get rid of thaat stupid tpn bag that is killing her liver. We don't know what else she has to accomplish before she comes home, but getting off of tpn will sure be nice. she just might be home for thanksgiving. her puppy turned 1 year old on sunday, so she is a dog now, but daryl doesn't seem to mind. she is a very happy girl and doesn't look so sad when her bottle is empty anymore. Progress is good! I'll have new pics tomorrow or so.

Wow! a friend!

Obviously this was staged, but it sure is cute. Daryl's neighbor Kennedy gavethis to her, because they are too far away from each other to play together. Thanks family Bonomo.

Daryl's road trip

Daryl's tpn bag gets changed every night. This means that they have to unhook the old one. The process takes about 2 minutes, so while she isn't attached to any thing, we asked if we could take her for a walk. The first time this happened we didn't even leave the room, but i gotta tell ya, 15 feet is a long way when you've never been more than 18 inches away from your bed for two and a half months! Last night the nurses let us walk out of the room and down the hall. Poor Daryl probably thought she was going for another surgery, since that is the only other times she has left her bed. We really enjoyed our road trip, and someday, we will get out of the friggin building!

Evil Red Ball of Doom

So Daryl has a mobile hanging over her crib. sometimes we but her bouncy seat in the crib with her. this should give you a pretty good idea of what she thinks of the red ball on her mobile. interestingly, there are also pink balls on the mobile that she doesn't swing at or really get very scared of. if only one could know what she was thinking about that red ball!

This pink and black dress is awesome.thanks jenny

Talk about a low calorie diet

So this is what Daryl's dinner looks like. 6ccs. almost enough to fill up half of the rubber nipple. some babies eat 70-90 ccs every 3 hours. someday, Daryl will too.

What a hungry girl

Well yesterday was a pretty good day for Daryl. her feeds have been increased to 6 ccs every 3 hours, which is the most she has ever eaten.the last time she ate before the surgery she was getting 5 ccs, but then she backed up and had to stop. she still seems to be tolerating well, her poo is solid enough and shows no signs of diarrhea. the doctors are going very slow with the increases because she only has 40/65 cm left of intestine, so they want to know how much she can handle. it is so slow and she is always hungry after we feed her. once she gets to 90 ccs every 3 hours she will be able to get off the tpn bag. we hope it doesn't take 3 more months at 1cc per day. she acts like a normal little baby, so we want to take her more than 18inches from her bed. oh well. i thasn't been 5 months yet.but it sure seems like it.

Look a Pumpkin!

Is this the cutest thing you've ever seen?This used to be the color of her skin!

So we ended up with 2 cats, 2 witch and 3 pumpkin outfits, so we decided to unload them on the, well, suspecting parents in the room. Now there is a pumpkin patch in room three. I shudder to think how bad it will be when it actually is halloween! maybe everybody will be home by then. if not, Daryl told us she wants to be a nurse.

Look a witch!

So I think one of the main reasons people have kids is so they can do things like this to them . This was the cutest daryl had ever looked until...