Crazy week...

Well this week has been pretty eventful. Not this Monday but the one before it I took a little slip n fall in the kitchen. I grabbed the trash cabinet to help break my fall. In doing so I got a small bruise on my left side just under my ribs. The rest of the day I felt fine no big deal. Then Tuesday and Wed. I had my OB appts. one for an ultrasound and the other for a check up. Grayson is doing great and my fall didn't bother him. Thursday and Friday I started feeling pain and by Sunday I was in level 10 pain. The last place I wanted to be was in a nasty germy ER but that's where I had to go. Baby Grayson is still good no worries with him but Mommy on the other hand not so much. I apparently either fractured or broke a rib. :-( The Dr. said with that amount of pain it has to be one or the other. No need to x-ray extensively especially since I am pregnant. He did one X ray to make sure I didn't hurt anything else and sent me home with pain meds. My recovery could be anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. Thank goodness for family... I have been told not to pick up Braden. :-( So that is rough.

Braden our amazing little man had the best OT session he has ever had this week. Unfortunately I was sleeping through the entire session since I was up all nite at the ER. He is also playing so well independently it amazes me. I got Dr. Sears Omega 3 and DHA liquid supplement about two weeks ago and it is really giving Braden focus. I was reluctant to try it but another preemie Mom was using it with her son and said they had great results. I also researched the website for Dr. Sears and found that their product guarantees no mercury in their fish oils. So I am really glad now that we tried it.

My sister took some great candid pics of Braden yesterday and I was all ready to post them. Well our computer can't handle the photo disk from her high tech camera. :-( So we will have to wait and post those later this week. In the meantime I shot just a few of Braden from this afternoon. I have included prego pic. Grayson is growing like a weed and I am so thankful to be almost 31 weeks. Not much longer and Grayson will be here. One really cute thing Braden did this week he kissed my belly. We talk to him about baby Grayson and how he is in Mommy's tummy. So he is fascinated with my belly.

Something else I'd like to share especially with my fellow preemie Mom's. I love feeding Braden Avocados. It is something he can tolerate that has tons of calories and good fats. However, I can only get groceries once a week. So here are some tips I was given on Avocados and how to keep them fresher longer. First I tend to buy the larger Avocados. Buy the non ripe ones and some Debbie Greenbags. Put the avocados in the fridge in the greenbags. When you are ready to use pull one out put in a brown paper bag to ripen. Now the large ones take a few days where the smaller ones can ripen in just one. Once ripe cut the top off carefully scoop out what you need and leave the rest with pit and skin in fridge. The avocado won't turn brown and I have used the same one up to 3 days.

Also, I'd like to give a special Thank you to Kay and Judi for the sweet gifts they got for Braden. He is really enjoying his books and bunny.

Update for this week...

Well we have been very busy with Dr. appts. This week I had two appts. Another Ultrasound to see how Grayson is doing. He is now estimated at 3 lbs 10 ozs and down to the 66th percentile. So not growing quite so fast. But my OB is very happy with his weight. I am now 30 weeks which is great and I am doing really well. All seems to be going like it should and that is a good thing. I am however getting very uncomfortable. This is the part of pregnancy that slows you down. I feel so HUGE and I still have a good ways to go. I don't sleep as well and carrying Braden around is getting more and more difficult. Especially up the stairs. I am very thankful to be home and not having to try and work.

Braden is doing well. He had his speech evaluation this week and his therapist was impressed with how much he knows. He did very well on her tests. She said she can definitely work with him on trying to communicate. Although he did not have her sign for him. lol I thought that was funny since he does that with us and his other therapist. I look forward to seeing if he will use the voice box they are going to try with him. It has buttons to push to indicate what he wants. I haven't seen it yet but am excited to see if he will use it. Currently, he is doing very well pushing buttons on his toys and switching things on and off. He is very independant and has started playing really well by himself.

Braden has also been cruising the furniture. He did this some with his brace but he is getting braver and doing it alot more now. He is also still experiencing alot of clumsy falls. Partly due to his pants being too long. Even though he has really grown his legs are still a little short for his body. I'll be glad when summer comes and he can just wear shorts. Even those come down to his calves. Kinda funny but work so much better than trying to keep his pants rolled up. He is still using a wider stance at times to try and balance. But he is getting better balancing with no hands. Funny thing is he usually does it when he is distracted and as soon as he realizes he's not holding on to something he falls. :-) We have been trying to work with him on walking but he just doesn't want to 90% of the time. So we will patiently wait for him to do it in his own time. I think he is plenty happy with crawling. He is really fast and can get what he needs so the effort of walking just doesn't seem important to him right now.

Quick update

Today we went to see Braden's Ortho Dr.. Good news.. Braden gets to be free of his brace during the day. He only has to wear it for naps and night time. :-) We are so excited because we feel it'll be easier for him to try and walk. I can tell he still has some ackwardness without the brace. But knowing Braden he will figure things out very quickly.

Last weeks Dr. appts.

This week both Braden and I had Dr.'s appts. Mine went well. My OB has set me up for another 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test. He said that he really doesn't think that I have GD because my numbers were so perfect the first time. He thinks I am just having a BIG baby. He also said that my due date is correct. No changing it because it is within the parameters of error. So June 3rd is still the due date. I already feel so huge. I didn't realize this until I asked my oldest sister Jennifer but her first and only child was 9 lbs 15 ozs. I am a bit nervous that our boy will be 9 or 10 lbs. My OB said if he is that big not to worry he'll just do a c-section. :-) Next week I have another ultrasound so we shall see how much bigger he has gotten. By the way for those of you who haven't heard we are naming the baby Grayson Paul. Paul is after my Dad who passed away April 2007. :-(

Braden has been doing some new things this week. I have a video I need to post but one of his toys has a button we've been trying forever to get him to push. Well he finally starting pushing it this week. He also crawled on the couch all by himself with his brace on to get to the remote. He has been standing with no hands for just a few seconds at a time. He's done this several times a day for the past few days. He drank by mouth 2 and 1/2 ozs of Nutrin Jr. out of his sippy cup today. I am going to offer him a sippy cup before his morning and afternoon tube feedings. He also has been bitting his ritz crackers and cheesy poofs. Use to he would just lick them but now he's actually trying to eat them. He still freaks a little when he bites off a piece but rarely gags. He makes some hilarious faces though while eating.

Friday we had a triple appt. for Braden with his ENT, GI and Pulmonary. Pulmonary is very pleased with Braden and have no concerns. GI wants to do another PH probe overnite test with meds to make sure Braden's reflux is under control. Our ENT shared some in general expectations for Braden's reconstructive surgery to remove the trach. The best we can hope for is that they can repair his airway with one surgery. This surgery has an 80-90% success rate of working the first time. The surgery will require Braden being hospitalized for two weeks. He will have to be on the vent for at least a week so that he can have some time to heal. Being on the vent means sedation to keep him from freaking out and pulling the vent out. :-( We went through the same thing when he had his trach put in. Sometimes a second surgery is required and the same routine would take place. Worst case scenario is they will have to remove the damaged section of his airway. We have heard this type of surgery will be very tough and we can expect complications over the next several years. No details on why or what will take place I'm sure each child is different. Braden will be scheduled to have his airway scoped again in the next month or so. At that time we should find out which type of surgery Braden will have to have to remove his trach. This is Braden's last big hurdle. Please keep him in your prayers and lets hope he will have the easier road at least this one time.

Baby report and Ped check up for Braden

Today we went for my 27 week check up with the high risk Dr.. I was so hoping they had 3D ultrasound but they have older equipment. Boo!!! Anyway, we still got a decent look at baby brother. He is in the 99th percentile for weight. Currently, they say he is 2 lbs 15 ozs. Wow!!! So the ultrasound tech said either my due date is wrong (June 3rd) and should be May 22nd or the Gestational Diabetes test needs to be redone. I told the Dr. that at my 6 week ultrasound the tech said I was at least 4 or 5 days further along than we thought. But they did not change my due date. So my hope is my OB will look at the past ultrasounds see the pattern and change my due date. We shall see... Oh and just so y'all know my ticker on this blog page is based off the original ultrasound tech's comment.

As for Braden he is doing much better. We met with his Pediatrician just as a follow up and she said he seemed good. Braden is gaining weight again as well. Let's hope he stays on track. Currently, he is 22 lbs 1 oz. Which is great. Steady weight gain is all we are looking for but with crawling and more activity it's been a challenge lately. Sickness doesn't help either.

Now that Braden is getting older he doesn't like the Dr. messing with me either. He actually comes close to crying when anyone touches me. :-( Sad but also VERY SWEET. He gets over it fairly quickly. So that keeps it from being heartbreaking. I so love my sweet boy. :-)