Braden Update

Yesterday was our Pediatrician visit and another round of shots. ugh! Poor little Braden those shots are so awful. But he is really good about getting over it quickly. The visit went well. Braden has head growth and length growth. However, he did not gain any weight since our last Dr. visit at the Ortho office. He weighed 7 lbs 3.6 ozs instead of 7 lbs 4 ozs. Braden is still not eating as well as he should. So we are hoping over the next two weeks he will pick it back up. The Pediatrician wants us to feed Braden what he wants when he wants. We had been feeding him when he wants but then coax him into eating the last 20 or 30 cc's to make 60. So, now we are just letting him eat till he stops. If he wants to eat in an hour we will give him a little more. On July 7th we will go for a weight check in.

Braden Update

Well Braden's Mini Habermin bottle came in on Sat.. It's taken several days but I am hoping Braden will be back on schedule and eating better today. He's had bouts with tummy issues. His bottom looks much improved but he seems to be a bit scarred and I'm not sure how long that will take to heal. We met with Tennessee Intervention today. They have signed Braden up for their services. TEIS will be following Braden's development. They provide teaching services which will assist Braden in his development. Braden should be caught up with his peers by age 3.

Braden Update

Well we get to stay home for a little while. Our next Doctor's appt. is with the pediatrician on June 27th. Braden's special bottle gave out and I had to order a new one. It wasn't easy to find. I had used the Dr. Browns for a bit but it seems to take Braden a lot longer to eat. I am still working on ways to make it easier for him. I just haven't found the right thing just yet. Hopefully, he'll still can weight over the next few days.

Braden has been doing pretty well on his trach nose. I am able to take him off of his O's at least twice a day for about 30 minutes. I just pack him in the Baby Bjorn so that I can take his monitor with me around the house. He really loves it.

Ortho visit

Braden went to see the Ortho Doctor yesterday. Braden has excellent new bone growth and the Dr. said Braden is doing impressively well. He said he looks perfectly normal and will not need to see him again unless something changes. Which he doesn't feel will be the case. :-) We are always thrilled to get good reports. It seems Braden at this point is doing everything a 6 week newborn should do. Which developmentally Braden is a 6 weeker. They will note delays based off his due date April 30th not his actual birthday.

Braden update

Today went very well at the Pulmonologist. He thinks Braden is doing very well. He is going to let us take Braden off his oxygen for 30 minutes at a time. We can roam about the house when Braden is awake. Yippee! We go back in 3 weeks. Next step will be Braden being off his O's all day and only on Oxygen at nite. We are thrilled. Braden loves to go places and I think being in other parts of the house will be good for him. We aren't ready for stroller rides but or leaving the house. But that will come soon enough. Tomorrow we have another appt. with the Ortho Doc.. I am expecting nothing. The last exam showed no yeast in his knee and new bone growth. I expect this to be the one and only visit with this Doctor.

Braden's weight on this Dr.s scale was 7 lbs 4 ozs. So we were right the other scale was a bit generous. I am anxious to see what the Pediatrician's scale says. We go back not this Friday but the next.

Braden update

Well I would have posted yesterday but we had a 4 hour Vandy visit and we were exhausted. Braden is doing well. He is now 7 lbs 8 ozs. We think there may be some variation in the scale. The last visit was in a different Dr.s office and this is such a huge jump in weight. Braden has to continue his meds. for the yeast. The Dr.'s see improvement and are hopeful the treatment in time will resolve the issue. They also did routine blood work and Braden was very upset over having that done. Poor little guy was so tired after this long day. Next time we will be pushy about getting him out of there. 4 hours is just too long. The rest of our days have just been calm and wonderful. Braden enjoys being home in a calm environment. He is eating really well and his bottom seems to be improving. Although I doubt it'll be completely healed till they take him off the antibiotics.

Braden Update

Braden had a good weekend. We are getting settled into a routine as much as possible. Braden has several nice toys that help ease the boredom in our one room. I will be so happy when we can move about the house. One item we purchased with our gift cards is this awesome rainforest swing. Braden loves it. It plays music, nature sounds, and it has a rotating mobile. It rocks like a cradle or a swing. It is very versatile and we think Braden will use it for a long time. We also have several play gyms. Braden really likes the bright colors and sometimes even watches the tv. I play the baby einstein dvds. I also use his bouncy seat and read all the story books he has been given.

Braden has an appt. with the Infectious disease department at Vandy on Thursday. We are hopeful Vandy will decrease some of his meds. Right now two of the three meds he is taking are related to the yeast and were ordered by the Infectious disease group.

Braden update

Today we went to Vandy Medical Center to visit Braden's ENT Dr. Cofer. She said Braden is doing very well and was pleased with his progress. Dr. Cofer will be leaving so we met our new ENT Doc. as well. He will follow up with Braden in 3 or 4 months. They will be doing another scoping (outpatient) to see how his growth has changed his airway. They will also check for any complications that may be developing. They will continue to monitor his progress in this way till he is ready for his Trach to be removed. Which could be 2 or 3 years or could be less. It all depends on Braden.

Braden was also weighed today and he is now 6 lbs 14.3 ozs. Everyone is pleased with his weight gain. :-) Braden endured his trip to the Doctor very well. Thankfully this trip didn't involve any shots.

Braden update

Yesteday was a fun day. Braden was wide awake and my sister (who is a photographer) took photos for us. I am so excited because Braden stayed awake the whole time. He seemed to really enjoy all the attention. You can see his new photos at http://www.momentsbypaula.blogspot.com/.

Braden is doing very well. He has been taking as much or even a little more than required on his feeds. I can hardly wait to see how much he has gained. Seeing him every day makes it difficult to tell. Yesterday we put him on his trach nose for photos and he did great. I didn't want to test him since we haven't seen the ENT. Hopefully, during tomorrow's Dr. visit we will have a chance to discuss. It would be really nice if Braden could use his trach nose some during the day. That would get us out of the one room and into the rest of the house.

Braden update

Well the past several days have been good. Very tiring but good. The electricity went out for a bit last nite. So we asked for a back up o2 tank. They brought it this afternoon. It seems supplies can run low quickly so they brought a few other items as well. It seems I have to call every other day. They said that as time goes on they will get our supplies on a schedule. Which will be very helpful.

Braden has been awake more and we have been trying to entertain him. It's alot of work between diapers, feedings, and changing of bed clothes and clothing. Not to mention trach care, meds and making sure the equipment is taken care of. Also today I started using the cloth diapers (temporarily) to try and clear up his bottom rash. He went thru a whole stack already today. I don't know if I have enough to keep up. Braden is worth every bit of our time and he is doing so well. He looks at us when we talk to him. If he's fussy he calms down when we read to him. He loves his play gyms and is even holding his wubbanub pacifier himself most of the time.

I will try to get some more photos over the next few days. We have our ENT doctor visit late Friday. So it'll be a busy day. With all the work to juggle I may not post every day. It's just a little tough. Somedays it either blog or sleep. I think I need sleep. ha ha!