This week

Braden has been doing really well. He is most interested in his stacker toys, small books (he loves to turn the pages) and bucket of blocks. He also enjoys knob puzzles. We are trying to raise his interest in electronic toys. But so far he doesn't seem to enjoys those as much. We have also had a really good week with feeding. Braden will now eat 3 to 4 ozs of food at a time. I have been trying to feed him by mouth twice daily. His naps sometimes get in the way. The hardest part of the feeding schedule is little room for changes. Braden has some new TV interests. He now loves Sesame street and Calliou. I try to limit his TV however he can't really play independantly so tv is a good option. The funny thing about Braden is he has moments of just wanting to be left alone. So TV works for those times as well. It seems we can exhaust him with play and learning. He'll start sighing and rubbing his eyes. You'd think he was sleepy but then he doesn't take a nap. Give him an hour with one of his favorite shows and some smaller toys to play with and he's good for another round.

Braden's hips

Some of you may want to know more about Braden and his hips. Here is a PDF link that will answer some questions.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/ULUZSlkXYaqdX9CFZ3bVYBlET20q-O276WbdOeM8tWnN56W2ChMiNy3WYTBuPEVDQxVgEhaHKwusuVkEWJuCEO3zbyAX/09MayEDGE%20HipD.pdf

Not all of this applies to Braden but it's a good resource for imformation. They also have a website called hipbaby.org for parents.

Update on Braden and his spica cast

Well this week has been an adjustment. The first cast is actually different than the second. So all my efforts for set up had to be modified. Poor Braden doesn't fit in his carseat very well either. Braden is being a trooper as always. He has managed to stay happy 99% of the time. Today we went for a ride in his new all terrain wagon. He loved it. He is so hilarious because he starts smiling as soon as he sees the camera. I was afraid he might not eat since he had not eatten by mouth in a week. But after yesterdays feeding therapy he seemed just fine. I am working on getting Braden a few new toys. I really want an art board that is short. Something with a chalkboard and magnet side. I'd love to buy him the alphabet magnets and play school with him. I think he might enjoy it since he is limited on what he can do. We bought knob puzzles for him recently and he is really loving them. After this 10 weeks is over Mommy will have arms of steel. Lifting him is a challenge but we are managing. Hope you enjoy the new pics.

Braden is home!

Braden made it home around lunchtime today. He is tired but very happy to be home. He has been playing and smiling since he got here. The CT scan looked good but we have an appointment to go back to the Ortho doc in a couple of weeks for a checkup. All in all we are very thankful that the surgery went well and the results look good so far - it is a huge relief to know we are better than we were on Monday afternoon.

It has been a long week for all of us so we are going to try and get some rest this weekend. We want to thank everyone again for all of your prayers and support. Braden, Stephanie and I really appreciate each and every one of you.

Tonight's Update

What a difference a few hours can make. I came home to do a few chores and when I came back Braden was a different boy! He is on a regular schedule of pain meds and they were able to take the catheter out so the combo of the two really helped his mood. He was able to get dressed and be held for quite a while. Still no word on the CT results but we hope to hear tomorrow. Braden is scheduled to come home sometime tomorrow but I will post on how everything is going.

Today's Update

Braden is doing better today than yesterday, but he still has times where he is in alot of pain. Most of the time it is from muscle spasms which could last about a week. Other than those episodes he is more active and awake. He did have the CT scan done this afternoon but right now we still don't have the results and we are anxious to get the report. If we hear anything tonight I will be sure to post.

We want to thank you all again for your prayers and support. It really helps to know there are so many people out there praying and thinking of Braden right now.

Today's Surgery

Braden came out of surgery around 2:30 this afternoon. It took about 4 hours but overall it was a success. The Dr. did open and repair both hips. We knew about his left hip but once the Dr. saw the right hip, he decided to do both. We hope this will help in the log run. He was able to clean some tissue out of the left hip which was keeping it from staying in socket.

Braden is still in recovery right now but if he keeps doing good he will get to move to his room within the hour. He is going to be in the hospital tonight and they will do a CT scan tomorrow to ensure everything has stayed in place. At this point that is all we know.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray for Braden's comfort as he is in quite a bit of pain right now. Also pray that the hips stay in socket and nothing else has to be done. I may post again tonight if there is anymore information but I will post tomorrow once we get the CT results.

Sooo tired

Well Braden got up a bit early this morning. So his Mommy hasn't gotten much sleep. Thankfully though Braden slept really well last nite. He did not set off his alarms and sats were good. Today Braden was just happy to be home. I so hate that he has to go back to the hospital tomorrow. Despite that we had a good day. I have found several ways to keep Braden propped up while still being able to play. I took several photos to share with everyone.

Surgery

Well today started off really well. We went in early got Braden into surgery and found out Braden's legs went easily back into their sockets. For several hours things were good. Braden was a little upset with his new cast. Which is to be expected and suffered a little with pain. But all in all things were going well. Then we had Braden's CT scan. Much to our disappointment and our Doctor's one of Braden's legs had already jumped out of it's socket. So we are home and have a new surgery scheduled for this coming Wednesday May 13th. There are a few upsides to all of this... we got a special carseat (the last one) today. Most people get put on a waiting list and their child goes home in an ambulance. We found out now instead of 6 weeks from now. Which would have put Braden in a cast for 16 weeks total instead of just 10. Our new surgery is scheduled right away. That rarely happens but thankfully our Doctor had a cancellation. :-) We are also getting a trial run with the cast. We are learning how to situate Braden, where is best for him to sleep etc... Much easier than trying to figure it all out when he's in more pain. The second surgery will be 3-4 hours. The Doctor is feeling good about what needs to be done and what he has to work with... He didn't have all the info. before the dye test today. He said there is plenty of soft tissue and no obstructions. Both are good things. So Wed. back to surgery and we will definitely be at the hospital for 2-3 days after. Maybe home for the weekend but we know better than to count on it.

As for the new trach, scoping and tubes in Braden's ears all this went well. Braden has made some slight progress in healing of his airway. Nothing huge but better than before.

Thanks again to all of our friends for all the prayers and support. We love all of you.

Quick update

Braden got out of lab work today. yippee!!! All we had to do was fill out paperwork and discuss a few things with the aneth. team. They said if Dr. Mencio feels he needs lab work they will do it while Braden is already sedated. Evidentally, they can get results fast enough on the day of. So different than last time but we are very thankful.

Next week...

Well Monday is surgery day. Tomorrow morning we are going to see the anethesiologist for blood work. That's always stressful. I am really hoping they can get someone who is great at finding a vein. Braden does pretty good if they can get it on the first try. Anything after that watch out. :-( Can't say I blame him. Surgery begins in the very early am on Monday. Stephen will try to post sometime later. Hopefully, things will go well and we will be back home mid-week or so. I'll take lots of photos and post when we get home.

Thanks to everyone following the blog. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family.

Daddy's favorite outfit :-)

Got a cute picture of Braden with his Daddy.