Braden and his Boppy

Braden loves to sit in the Boppy pillow. He also loves his tummy time Boppy which I have posted pictures of him in. We had our first pediatrician visit on Friday. Braden did well but had to get his shots and I think they have made him a little irritated and tired. Yesterday he insisted on eating every 2 hours instead of 4. At least he was eating as much as he is required. I am hoping he will start feeling better today. Braden has gained weight and is now 6 lbs 9 ozs. We are really loving him being home. It's such a joy to have play time with him.

Today

We had a very busy day today. We had Braden's first at home trach change. Which went very well. We had a few difficulties with the humidifier and had to work them out. But we figured it out and got it working properly again. Braden got a plug in his trach and we had to do an emergency suctioning. Fortunately his airway was not completely closed off. We think the plug was caused because the humidifier was not working properly.

We also had vistors today. A couple of our EMT's that delivered Braden and Kaleigh stopped by to visit and the 911 operator who took our call. It was very nice to see them and we hope to keep in touch.

Stephen took a few new photos and I also have posted some of Pop John's photos.

Braden's first day at home

Braden did really well with the transition and coming home. We actually had a good nite last nite and we were all able to rest. We are so excited to finally have him home. Our in home nurse is here today for about 4 hours. She is giving us a break so I am able to post. :-) I have some pictures of Nurse Sherry and I getting Braden in the van to come home. I have posted those today. I believe Pop John took others I will have to review and post some of those later.

Braden is home!

For those who haven't heard yet, Braden made it home yesterday afternoon! He did very well with the car ride and has adjusted well to being home. We are very excited to have him at home with us all of the time. We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support over the past 4 months. We also want to thank all of the Baptist NICU doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists for everything they did for Braden. They treated him as if he was one of their own and we really appreciate everything. Stephanie is going to post some pictures later today and I am sure she will update you all on how things are going.

We did get to visit the Ray family on Friday and Jesse and Levi are doing very well. It was good to see them again and visit with the boys. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

The past two days

Well our overnite stays went really well. Braden has been doing wonderful on his bottle feeds. It's so amazing how he has just taken off. We were able to feed him 70 cc's in two feedings and one of his feeds he took 60 cc's in only 15 minutes. He just keeps improving. Braden also past his car seat test. So we are very pleased about it. We are still on track for Tuesday's homecoming. :-)

Today

I forgot to post last nite that because of the Memorial day holiday Braden will be coming home Tuesday not Monday. It'll give us an extra day of rest after the sleep overs at the hospital. We probably won't get much sleep those nites and will need to catch up. Our postings may be delayed as well over the next few days. So expect some random days of nothing posted. We will try to get homecoming photos up on Wed..

Thanks again to all of you for your continued support.

Today

Today's visit went well. We got acquainted with all of the equipment that will be going home with Braden. Some of the equipment is pretty loud. I'm sure we will get use to it. Hopefully, Braden won't have so much equipment several months from now. Today was our last day with Nurse Patty. We hope to keep in touch with all of our nurses. Maybe even visit the NICU once Braden is off the equipment completely. We missed our visit with the Ray family today due to our hectic schedule. We plan to visit them late morning tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our first sleep over with Braden at the hospital. We hope all goes well.

Thank you all for all for your continued support. It has meant so much to us.

Today

Today we learned CPR for Braden and learned how to take care of him in a choking incident. The training went well and I think we both feel comfortable with the process. Braden is having a decent day. We had a trach change and he wasn't as aggressive with his bottle feedings. We are hoping he catches up on most of it tonite. Other than that he looks great. He is just a little tired today. We also met his pediatrician this morning. She is very nice and we hope the drive won't be too much. If it is we may have to go to the other practice here in Mt. Juliet and switch to the pediatrician there.

Tomorrow we get to visit the Ray family. We are very excited to see them. We are so thankful to be able to learn from their experience as well as just visiting them as friends.

Today

Today has gone well for Braden. He took all of his bottles at 65-70 cc's per feeding. He is doing so well. Tomorrow he will meet his pediatrician. We will meet her as well after her visit to Baptist. We will also be CPR trained. On Friday and Sat. nite we will have our overnite stay with Braden. Then a break on Sunday and hopefully home on Monday. We are getting so excited and anxious. We can't believe we are finally close to his homecoming. :-)

Today

Today Braden has continued to do well on his bottles. We are hoping he won't wear out. He is staying awake even after his feedings. It's just so funny how he has changed almost over nite. We are encouraged. Hopefully, he will wake up easily for Nurse Rachel on his nite feeds. The Dr.s have bumped Braden's calories back up to 30. They want him to grow a little faster. He should be gaining 1 oz per day on average.

Today

Braden is doing great. He took all of his bottles last nite and today. Not just that but he took all 60 cc's at each of those feedings. So, the Dr. gave us a possible going home date. Braden may get to come home the Monday following Memorial day weekend. :-) We are so excited and hopeful that all goes as planned.

Today

Sherry did an awesome job taking care of Braden today. :-) She let us give him a bath. We changed all his bedding. She got Braden into a semi private room with less noise and dimmer lighting. He also has a heater so he can have his poor little bare bottom in the air. His bottom is so broken down it's sad. It's very painful for him. The best thing of the day for Sherry and Braden were his bottle feedings. He took 3 full bottles from her today and one full bottle from me tonite. :-) Way to go Braden. We are thrilled. Braden is now 6 lbs 5 ozs. He is getting so big and his feet are so fat. He even has a few rolls if you can believe it. Tonite our visit went well and our nurse had Braden in his warmer so his bottom can air out. He looked comfy and happy when we left.

Today

Well today I'm not sure what happened but the only bottle he got was from me at Noon. He did really good on it too. He took it all. That was even after a deep suctioning since he had some thick stuff blocking his airway. This evening he was a little cold so he was tube fed at 8 PM. The nurse tonite said she would try to bottle feed at Midnite. So, maybe he will get another good bottle in later tonite. We got good photos without tubes or tape. Hope you all enjoy.

Today

Braden had another good day with his feedings. He did two 60 cc's bottles. We sure hope that he continues to progress. Stacy has Braden tonite and will be giving him a bath and a change of clothes. We had a good visit with feeding and holding him tonite. Braden was wide eyed and looking around before we left.

Braden also has a new cousin. He was born May 13th and his name is John Edward Taylor. He weighed 7 lbs 14 ozs. Congratulations Brian and Deanne. :-)

Today

Braden had a good day today. He had two 60 cc's bottles so we are excited that he was able to do two again today. We took several photos. Rachel helped out with those so we hope you enjoy them. We have some with just his trach nose on. Braden is now 6 lbs 1 oz.

Today

Braden had a really good bottle day today. He took two 60 cc bottles and two 45 cc bottles. If he continues to progress we may not have to face the g-tube. I hope he can keep it up. Braden also reached the 6 lb mark today. :-) He is 6 lbs and a quarter of an ounce. Braden had his trach change before one of his feedings so he really did have a good day. We are very proud of him. Rachel has him tonite and is working on helping him with his bottom rash. He is still really having a hard time. She had him on his belly and his rain forest sounds on when we left.

Today

Braden is having a pretty good day. He didn't take as much from his bottle as we would like to see. He took 20 cc's this morning 35 at noon 42 at 4 and 40 for me at 8 pm tonite. He needs to take 55 at each feeding. So we are still thinking he may have to have the g-tube. Which again isn't the end of the world. At least he can still feed on his bottles as he is now. We have to keep him growing so he will need to be tube fed whatever he doesn't take by bottle. So we at least won't have feeding issues in the future. Hopefully, the g-tube would be very short term. Maybe 3-6 months. Just long enough for him to get the strength and growth to eat completely on his own.

Today

Today was a good day for Braden. He is now on his trach nose with little oxygen support. He was also moved to the step down area. Someone else needed his private room. That's o.k. we like the change just fine. Thank you Missy and Rachel for the sweet scrapbook pages from Braden. They were a nice surprise. :-) Braden has consistently taken 35 to 40 cc's today on his bottle feedings.

Today

Braden is officially 4 months old today. He weighs 5lbs 14 oz's. We can hardly believe he is almost 6 lbs. Braden had a good day. He is having a bad bottom rash that is making him unhappy. The nurses are working very hard to fix it for him. His breathing is good and his bottle feeds are going well. He is still not taking an entire bottle at each feed. But he has been taking anywhere between 35 to 55 cc's. His full feeds are 55 cc's.

Also, Braden says hi to his cousin Corbin who turned one year on May 4th. Braden can't wait to meet you too. :-)

Today

Braden is looking good. He is now 5 lbs 12 oz's. He had another good day with his feedings. He did 30 cc's at 4 am, 40 cc's at 8 and then another 40 cc's at his 12 o'clock feeding. I didn't catch what he did at 4 this afternoon but Missy did not feed him a bottle at 8. She did his trach care and gave him a bath and decided to tube feed him instead. That way he could have a break and rest. He was snoozing really well for our late visit.

Today

Braden is doing so well on his bottle feeding. It's amazing... he did 50 cc's this morning, 43 cc's for me around lunch time, had an eye exam and then took 55 cc's at 4 pm. :-) We couldn't be more pleased with him today. He was so pooped out from all that activity he only took 20 cc's from me this evening. But, that is o.k. we understand. So, far he has done great on his eye exams. No ROP to report.

Today

Braden did really well today with his bottles. Patty said they have put him on a schedule to take a bottle at each feed. The exception is at nite. If he is not awake then they will let him sleep. This should get him on the right schedule of being awake on days and sleeping at nite. Braden took 25 cc's for two of his feedings and took 35 cc's for me tonite. We are very happy with his progress. Rachel has him tonite and they have moved him to his own room. He has so much stuff now they needed more space. So this works out well for all of us. :-) Braden is happy to have his own space and dimmer lighting. Braden now weighs 5 lbs 10 3/4 oz's.

Today

We had a really good day today. Stephen changed Braden's trach and did all the care. He did really well and so did Braden. Braden even took his bottle after the trach change. He took in 25 cc's this morning and 22 cc's during our nite visit. We are so proud of him. Braden has also continued to stay low on his O's.

Today

Braden had a good day. He wasn't as interested in the bottle as last nite. He took 20 cc's this morning and only 10 cc's tonite. He did seem really tired this evening. But we had a good visit with him anyway. He is getting so big and is so much fun to be around. It is so nice to be able to play with him. He also looks at people when they are talking. We always catch him when we are all talking and not paying attention. He'll just be staring at who ever is telling the story. It's really cute. He was also way down on his O's today. He stayed between 21 and 28. :-)

Today

Today was a great day for Braden. They have an artificial nose ordered for him because he is doing so well with his trach collar. He also took a record of 42 cc's during his nite time bottle feeding. Way to go little man. We are so very excited. The amazing thing is that he was still wide awake after taking in the 42 cc's. We gave him a bath, changed his clothes and his bed. He was still awake even after all that activity. Hopefully, he's asleep now so Stacy can have a break. :-) We have lots of new photos.

Today

Well today was an exciting day. Braden got to try out the trach collar. He is doing well. It'll take a few days to adjust so they have stopped his bottle feeds. They will start them back up soon. Braden is also growing like a weed. He is now 5 lbs 9 1/2 ozs. We are so excited about his progress. Nurse Stacy has him tonite. She had him viewing a rain forest toy that has sounds and lights by his bed. He really enjoys it.

Yesterday

Braden did well with both bottles. He took 18 CC's on his first bottle and 22 CC's on his second. We had a good visit and he was awake for both. We are being told that they will try the trach collar today. We were excited to learn that the EMT's who delivered Braden got to visit him yesterday. :-)

Tonite's visit

Braden weighs 5 lbs 4 ozs tonite. We had a good visit.

Today

Braden is looking good. His nurse Rachel gave him his first tub bath last nite. It is sooo cute to see how much he loved it in the pictures. We will try to get them on disk to post later. I tried feeding him a bottle today and he wasn't up for it. I think he was too tired and that he still has his days and nites mixed up. He is doing well though and I hear he slept really good after his bath last nite.

Last Night's Visit

Sorry for the delay in posting but yesterday was kinda hectic. Braden was doing very good last night. He was able to take 18 cc's for Nurse Rachel and stay awake for most of the visit. Stephanie stayed home to catch up on some rest so I held Braden for about 30 mins. He is still doing good on his new PEEP setting and we are hoping that the new feeding schedule will help him get stronger taking the bottle. A big thank you to all of the nurses working with Braden but a special thank you for Patti, Stacey and Rachel working with Braden to take more of his bottles.

You may remember the family we met at Baptist who had the twin boys - the Rays. One of the boys had to have a follow-up eye surgery so please keep him and the family in your prayers.