So... Let me bring you up to speed:
February 23rd - Brayden Daniel Thomas entered our world, at 36 weeks gestation, 19.5 inches long and tipping the scales at 7 lbs. 5 oz.. He had a little trouble breathing on his own, so he was in the NICU for 5 days.
February 28th - Brayden comes home, eating every 2.5 hours and avidly against the paci. Landen is fascinated with this new little thing that came to "visit" him.
February 29th - Brayden rolls over! That's right! From tummy to back... just flipped right on over! WHAT THE HECK!?! (and this flipping ability has since continued, especially if he gets mad during tummy time!)
March 9th-ish - the Colic Curse hits our home! I had baby blues that were off the charts at times!! OH THE HUMANITY!
***Luckily after a few weeks of pure misery (Keith and I alternating 3 hour shifts holding/rocking/swaddling/bouncing/singing/walking/patting/rubbing/performing new realms of acrobatics from approximately 5pm to 4am EVERY SINGLE NIGHT) our pediatrician prescribed Levsin. It works! Don't get me wrong... we still have colic issues, but it is SO MUCH BETTER!!!!***
Side note about Levisin (as listed on his Rx Label...) it may cause drowsiness and/or blurred vision, care should be taken when operating cars or heavy machinery. I'll keep this in mind when I allow my newborn to drive the car! ;)
March 28th - Brayden's 1 month appointment. He weighed 9 lbs 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long. This is the appointment that the colic medicine entered our lives AND my baby blues were almost completely gone! YIPPEE!
***It was around this time that Landen figured out that Brayden was here to stay... WHOA the jealousy! Landen never tried to hurt Brayden, BUT Landen:
- was determined that Brayden was out to steal his daddy
- started crying like Brayden for anything/everything/no reason at all
- wanted to be held whenever Brayden was held
- was mad at mommy for bringing this thing home
***It was also around this time that Landen started developing a cold... adding to the neediness of a jealous 1 1/2 year old whose world has completely flipped it's axis!
April 9th - Mommy, Landen, Brayden, and Nana go to the zoo! Brayden slept through almost the entire trip. I had such a wonderful time with Landen - seeing all the animals, being goofy, riding the train (the highlight of his entire day), picnicking, etc.
April 14th - The Saturday after Easter (but when we actually got to celebrate Easter with my side of the family). Brayden makes his debut in the Children's Hospital ER... we noticed he wasn't feeling well; i.e. he didn't want to eat, he was coughing and grunting, and he had a fever... I called the nurse and she said that a 7 week old baby with a fever and grunting is an emergency and we needed to go straight to the ER. Keith and I both felt a little silly going to the ER for this because he really didn't seem all that sick. We learned the trick to avoiding ER Waiting Room time... bring a sick newborn and they take you STRAIGHT BACK!
Anyway, they did a spinal tap, x-rays, virus panel, catheter (to check urine), blood work, Oxygen stats, etc and admitting Brayden. He stayed until Monday night... they doctor's decided he just had a virus and sent us home with the instruction to follow up with our pediatrician the next day.
April 17th - Follow-up appointment. Our pediatrician has Tuesday's off so we saw one of the other doctors who was very concerned about Brayden's labored breathing. We did 2 breathing treatments in the office, his oxygen stats were ok, so she sent us home and told us to keep in contact with them if ANYTHING changes/seems weird/etc. Our wonderful pediatrician called us that night to check on Brayden.
During the night, his breathing got worse. He started coughing to the point he couldn't catch his breath and his lips turned purple. I flipped him over and beat on his chest until the mucus in his chest broke up and he gasp for air. Can you say S-C-A-R-Y!?! After that, I didn't sleep AT ALL.
April 18th - As soon as the office opened, I called our pediatrician. She wanted to see Brayden right away! I took him in and she was able to see that he was doing MUCH worse. His oxygen saturation while he was wide awake was in the 80s and when he started to cry it dropped from there. Needless to say, she sent us back to the Hospital where we were directly admitted to the Special Care Unit (a step down from the ICU). No one (including Keith and me) could come near him without wearing gloves, a gown, and a mask.
As it turned out, he had gotten a virus from our 3-foot-tall, walking germ (aka Landen) and he developed Bronchiolitis.
April 22nd - We finally get to come home! Brayden, though not completely well, was MUCH MUCH better. Landen decided he missed his mommy and his baby.
April 25th - My first day back to work and ironically enough, Administrative Professionals Day! I cried on my way to work. I was fine as I took Brayden over to my Mom's (Nana's) house, but as I was leaving it hit me that my still-not-feeling-fabulous baby was going to be with someone other than me! It was tough, but once I got to work I started getting back in the groove of things and I quickly remembered how much I love my job! :)
April 29th - Keith's grandparents arrived from Oklahoma. The reason they are here kind of stinks (Papa Barney has COPD and Grandma Jacque fell and has a broken pelvis... they need help right now), but it means that we get to spend time with them AND they have now met Brayden! All things work out for good!
May 1st - My sister came in town and she brought her precious baby girl, Haleigh, who is exactly 2 months older than Brayden. We ate dinner with my parents, Nana and Papa, letting me meet Haleigh and letting my sister meet Brayden for the first time! It was awesome!
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| Haleigh with Aunt A |
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| Haleigh and Landen with Aunt Courtney |
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| Brayden and Haleigh |
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| Smallest to Largest |
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| Holding hands (they did this entirely on their own) |
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| Nana, Papa, Me, Courtney, Brayden, Landen, & Haleigh |
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| Courtney, Nana, Me, Keith, and the kiddos |
My goodness you have some of the scariest baby stuff happen to you!!! Seriously! I am so sorry about all of that. Wow!
ReplyDeleteYeah! I KNOW!! BUT Brayden is doing WAY better now! Maybe we have gotten all of this craziness out of our systems for a while and maybe, just maybe, we can fly under the radar for a bit! We'll see... :)
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