J.R. Smith gives update on premature daughter Dakota

J.R. Smith/Facebook
J.R. Smith/Facebook

Things are looking up for the Smiths.


In case you missed it, in January, the NBA star revealed that he and his wife Jewel Harris — who married last August — had welcomed their daughter, Dakota, their third child together, nearly five months early.


In a video posted to Uninterrupted, the pair said, “Hi, everybody. We decided to share with the world what’s been going on with our family the past five days. We know a lot of you guys congratulated us on the expectancy of our little baby girl, but we had her five months early. She’s five days old today and her name is Dakota and she weighs one pound.”

Harris continued by asking for prayer and support during their trying time: “We know we’re not the only family going through this, who has been through this, and who will ever go through it. That’s why we decided to share what we’re going through with you guys. Please keep us in your prayers and we’ll do the same for everyone else.”


Now, it appears as though their baby girl has had her breathing tube removed. “We arrived outside of Kota Bear’s room and proceed to walk in, after I sanitized my hands my next step is always straight to peek into her bed and see if she is sheepin (sleeping) or awake pulling at her CPAP continuously attempting to snatch it off. BAABY BYE!!! When I bent over and looked at my daughters face and seen that she had a Ram Cannula on I almost passed the hell out,” Harris shared on the pair’s blog, My Kota Bear, on Wednesday, March 22. “I started jumping up and down laughing and screaming in disbelief.”

“A few minutes later, Dakota’s primary nurse joined us in her room, she walked in with this huge smile on her face 🙂 I looked at her and said, ‘Do you see our baby girl?’ I cannot believe my eyes this is UNREAL!” she wrote. “After a few minutes of her nurse filling me in on her status she then asked me if I wanted to hold Kota Bear.”

“When I tell y’all I hopped up so damn fast, took off my sweater that I had on and draped myself with a hospital robe in 2.5 seconds, my new nickname should have been Flash! I then plopped back into the recliner chair so hard I almost flew through the doors and out into the hallway. I mean, I was beyond excited to hold our 2lb 13oz miracle in the palm of my hands for the very first time. What some mothers get to experience within the first 2 minutes of giving birth I had to wait 78 days, butwhat I will say is it was worth the wait because those very feelings, emotions and joy that took over my body trumps it all. I kissed her little cheeks, smelled her neck, gazed into her eyes and just smiled at life…this life…her life that has now become our life!” she concluded. “To God Be The Glory…I thank you.”

What an answer to prayer. Share your continued well wishes in the comment section below.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join our Newsletter

Sign up for Rolling Out news straight to your inbox.

Read more about:
Also read