MY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY

When Jeremy took these pictures of me and my belly while we were in the Dominican I NEVER would have thought that just one week later I would be lying in a hospital bed hooked up to wires and machines trying to postpone labor. I would have never thought I would actually BE a mother on Mother's Day this year! But I am, and I am so happy!!!





On my first Mother's Day I must say that I truly felt blessed for so many reasons. I have family and friends who love, encourage, and support me. So many wonderful people have helped us out in so many ways over the past few weeks. Friends have cooked and entertained for us. My mother and my mother-in-law have come to the house and cleaned, organized, brought gifts, and cooked meals for us to get us through the weeks Brayson was in the hospital. Jeremy's Nanny has also cooked us many wonderful meals topped off with her fantastic desserts! We know that so many wonderful people have prayed for us and for Brayson over the last couple of months. I am blessed because I have a beautiful baby boy who is now at home with us sleeping in his craddle making the sweetest little baby sounds. Every time he looks at me my heart melts! He immediately lifts my spirits with his sweet grin. I am blessed because I have a truly wonderful husband whose love I never doubt! I referred to him yesterday as a diamond in the rough! I have to brag on him because he is so great. He is so loving and helpful and encouraging. From massaging my tense muscles to changing dirty diapers (really dirty ones!), getting bottles ready, doing laundry and dishes, running errands, doing yardwork and everything in between - he has simply blown me away! He is what is keeping our lives somewhat in order right now. I love him so much and am so thankful to have him in my life. He is going to be the best dad Brayson could ever wish for!

I can't stop taking pictures of Brayson. He seems to change a little bit every day, and I don't want to miss a thing! Here are a few a took a couple of days ago. Brayson is lying in a cradle that has been in our family for over 24 years! A friend of the family built this craddle when I was born. I slept in it, my sister slept in it, and now Brayson rests in it! How special!



Jeremy was holding Brayson in our living room, and I noticed the beautiful light pouring through the window. I had to grab my camera! I love this shot!




Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms out there!

~ Crystal

Things are going great! Brayson had his first bath at home tonight. It was a little stressful for all involved. We are still getting the whole bathtime routine down. :) Isn't he so cute!

HOME AT LAST

Wow! It seemed this day would never come! It has been seven weeks since we have spent a day outside of the hospital. It has been a long, tiring, and emotional road, but "Peanut" finally came home yesterday!!! Our night "rooming in" at the hospital went well, and last night was even better. Everyone had told me to enjoy my sleep while I could before he came home, but to be honest, the past two nights have been some of the best rest I have gotten since I went into labor. Brayson sleeps great day and night, and we have to wake him up for almost every feed. He came home on an apnea monitor that he will have to be hooked up to for probably a month or two. It is a bit of a hassle, but it will let us know if he ever stops breathing or if his heart rate drops too low.

The dogs are doing well around him. I don't think they know what to think of him. They sniff at him, but they never get too close. Our maltese has already gotten a bit protective of him. It will be fun to see how they are around him over the next few weeks. Jeremy has the week off so that we can all spend time together as a family. The doctors and nurses told us to really relax and bond with Brayson over the next few days. We plan on doing just that! We also have to limit the number of visitors he has for a little while. His white blood cell count is still low, so it would be very easy for him to get really sick right now. His pediatrician will be checking his count again in a few days to see if it has gone up any. We will keep you all posted. Well, I am off to get his next bottle ready. Hopefully he will start breastfeeding soon, and I won't have to mess with bottles anymore! :) Enjoy these photos!!!






~ Crystal

DISAPPOINTED AGAIN.....

Alright, so we decided that we will no longer get excited about the possibilities of Brayson coming home. We will get excited once he IS home. Last night he started having episodes with desatting AGAIN, and so AGAIN we are not getting to bring him home. I, however, have decided that I will be staying day and night at the hospital so that I can feed him every feed myself since he has not desatted on any of his feeds with me. (knock on wood) So far so good. I just have to see for myself what is going on with him. I will be camping out in the waiting room making sure to be in the nursery every three hours day and night. I wish they would just let me sleep in one of the many spare rooms they have around here, but no such luck. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers. This is not easy for me or Jeremy or our families. Please pray for Brayson. His red blood cell count is low and he may end up getting a blood transfusion if it doesn't come up. It came up a little today, but it still needs to come up more tomorrow. The doctor seems to think that his desatting episodes are due to a possible infection, so they are looking for all signs of an infection. If he has one he will be on antibiotics and may end up being here for 7 to 10 more days. I don't really think an infection is what was causing his desats last night since he has not desatted all day with me, but please pray.

Thank you. We will be keeping you all updated.

~ Crystal

ROLLERCOASTER

I guess this is how it goes......up and down.....up and down. Brayson has been doing so well. He has been taking his bottles like a champ, sleeping well, and making plenty of dirty diapers for us! He passed his carseat angle tolerance test a couple of days ago, and we were being told that he would be coming home with us today. But then he started desating on all of his bottles last night....he has desated on every bottle since 6:00 pm yesterday. For those who don't know - a desat is when his heart rate drops and his oxygen saturation goes down. His face starts changing colors from a nice pink color to a dusky kind of bluish color. It takes stimulation to bring everything back up again. He is doing this because he is getting choked up on his bottles. We don't know now how long it will take for him to be ready to come home. I believe the doctors may do a swallow test later on. Today will be a long day....he is getting an eye exam, another head ultrasound, and possibly a swallow exam. And my guess is that the feeding tube is going back in his nose. All of this is making me super emotional. It's difficult to focus on anything right now besides him. Please keep us in your prayers. I am so ready for him to come home, but I don't want him to come home before he is ready. I am so glad this all happened before he came home with us. Please pray for a positive outlook and patience for myself and for Jeremy. Pray for Brayson to get eveything together in his own time, and pray for any exams he will have to undergo to have good results.

Thank you, and we love you all.

Crystal

Well, tomorrow night Brayson will be four weeks old. Isn't it exciting?! He is a growing man! He reached 5 lbs. 3 oz. today. We're so proud! He has been taking his bottles very well lately. He is taking a bottle every other feed right now, and that number will hopefully be increased tomorrow since he is doing so well. We are beginning to have discussions about him coming home, so that means it will be really soon!!!

Brayson has been in wonderful hands this week. Mrs. Becky is a fantastic nurse at UAMS, and she has declared Brayson as her favorite! :) She had him a couple of weeks ago and requested to have him when she was assigned back to the SCN this week. She is such a sweetheart, and it makes me feel so much better knowing that he is under her care. All of the other nurses in the NICU are incredible as well! I've really gotten to know many of them over the past few weeks. Becky let me give Brayson a bath tonight before his 6:00 feed! It was so exciting to see him for the first time not hooked up to anything!!! And he loved his bath! Jeremy got some great pictures.....

THREE WEEKS!

Our little man is three weeks old tonight! We are so proud of how far he has come in the past three weeks. He is such a wonderful baby. Many of the nurses have commented on how he almost never cries. He is very content most of the time. He continues to improve every day. He is up to 4 lbs. 7 oz. and is looking great! We had a rough day on Monday...his temp dropped and he had to be put under a warmer. He had been spitting up and having other problems so there was a chance he was getting sick. Jeremy and I were pretty scared, but everything worked out and he bounced back really fast! Brayson lost an ounce that day, but he gained 2 ounces the following day to make up for it!!! :) He's doing pretty good with his feeds. He prefers the breast over the bottle and surprisingly does much better with the breast! This is a little unusual, and the doctors really want him taking a bottle well before he can come home. So occupational therapists will be working with him starting today on his bottle feeding. Pray that this goes well and that he picks up this skill really quickly!!! This is the final thing preventing him from coming home with us!!!!!

Well, I am off to the hospital to spend the day with this cutie! I just love him so much! Everyone have a fantastic weekend!!!



~ Crystal

A BRAYSON UPDATE

Wow! It's hard to believe that Brayson will be two weeks old tonight!! :) The past three weeks all seemed to go by so slowly, but at the same time they have flown by.......how is that possible? Things are going really well. Brayson is such a champ! He has started breastfeeding twice a day, and we will probably go up to three times a day tomorrow. He still gets his other feeds through his tube. Once we get up to four times a day, they will introduce a bottle. So three feeds will be by breast, one by bottle, and the other four will be by his tube. We will continue to climb up until he is taking all eight feeds by mouth. He has officially been moved out of ICN to the SCN, so a new team of doctors are evaluating him daily. An ultrasound was done a couple of days ago on his head and it showed that there was a level one (the worst level is four) bleed in the left ventricle of his brain. No long term effects are expected, and he will get another ultrasound in a week or so to see if his brain has soaked up the bleed and healed itself. The doctor told me that brain bleeds are pretty common in preemies. They're just going to monitor it and make sure it doesn't get any worse and watch for signs of hydrocephalus. Now, back to good news.......Brayson was moved into a crib and is regulating his body temperature all on his own!! He is on Reglan right now to help his digestive system move a little faster because he was having too many large residuals after his feeds. His feeds are up to 35 mL now, and they are adding extra calories to his feeds to help him gain weight a little faster because he is burning up more energy breastfeeding and regulating his temp. Our big boy now weighs 4lbs and 1 oz. We cannot wait to get him home!! Spending all day every day at the hospital can be very draining and stressful. I didn't realize how tiring it can be, but when I get home every night I am ready to go to bed! It's all I can do to keep my eyes open long enough to eat a bite and spend a little time with Jeremy. Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments, beautiful gifts, and kind messages you have sent us! We appreciate everything!!! Everything is going very well, but we still have a ways to go. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

whoops! i just realized that a few of these need to be rotated.........I'll come back and fix it later.....enjoy them sideways for now! :)





Thank you and God bless!

Brayson is one week old!!!

We are so proud of how Brayson has done over the past week! His feeds have increased every day. He lost 4 ounces the first couple of days, but he has gained all of it back plus some! He will probably get out from under the light today, so he won't have to wear that bothersome mask anymore. He's an active little bugger, but he almost never cries. The other morning the nurse said she walked by his isolette and he had pulled his mask down to his chin, kicked his diaper off to the bottom of the isolette, and was waving his feeding tube around in his hand! He has jerked it out several times now......makes me a nervous wreck! He graduated from the middle nursery in the NICU to the last one before he gets to come home! I call it "graduated" but Jeremy says it's more like prison overcrowding and getting out on early parole! haha! The ran out of room and chose a couple of the best babies to move up sooner than they would have, and Brayson was doing the best! We were there when they moved him. Jeremy got to help pull his equipment over and I took a couple of pictures. We are so proud and thankful. God is so good! He has blessed us tremendously this week. It's really hard having a baby in the NICU, but we have had so much support and prayer from family and friends this week! And all of my clients have been so understanding and patient. I thank you and love you all!!! I hope you enjoy these pictures!