We've had an eventful past few days. I haven't had the chance to post for a couple of weeks, so this is a modge podge of pics of what we've been doing.
Sleeping baby pictures... :)
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| He can sleep in the oddest positions. |
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| Left to right: Dia, me, Kristen, Kelley, Christi, Casey, and Candace. |
Our Sunday school class got together after the shower that day to make 100 Operation Christmas Child boxes. Last year, we made 50 boxes, and we decided we'd try for 100 this year. I think we're shooting for 200 next year. I feel so blessed to be involved with a group of young adults who are so giving and are allowing the Lord to work through them.
Mom, Dad, and Sister came down to visit after we put the OCC boxes together. Dad was holding Brayden, and Bray linked his little fingers all on his own. How precious is that?!
This was late one night. I was feeding Brayden his bedtime bottle, and Satchel curled up in the Boppy. I think Satch thinks it's his. :)
Nick gave Brayden a bath Monday night. It was only Bray's 4th bath, but it was Nick's first time to bathe him. It was funny because Bray kept trying to eat his hand. Brayden loves his baths!
It got super cold last week, and Brayden got to get all bundled up. He's too cute!
Yet again, another sleeping baby picture. I took this for my Mom. She got him these pjs, and I wanted her to see him in it.
Now for the fun we've had the past week. Monday night, Brayden had had his bath, and he was sitting in Nick's lap. He had been done with his bed time bottle for about 20 minutes when he threw up the entire bottle (about 3 oz). It scared Nick & I both. Brayden had to have another bath, and Nick had to change clothes. He had spit up a few times before this, but nothing like this. We switched over to Similac Sensitive after that thinking he tummy wasn't handling the other formula well.
Tuesday, he held his bottles down fine, but he wasn't eating as much. Then Wednesday morning, he threw up entire bottle again. It was about 9:00am. I changed clothes, cleaned Brayden, and changed his clothes. He was still acting hungry, so I gave him an ounce and he fell asleep. I called Casey and asked what we should do. She said that switching formulas could cause an upset stomach. So we switched back to the original kind. He did fine the rest of Wednesday.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Bray spit up another entire bottle about 1:00am. I think I went through three outfits, and Bray went through four throughout the night. He couldn't keep anything down and just didn't seem to feel well. So, I called his pediatrician's office Thursday morning. They wanted to see him and got us in for a 4:00 appointment that day. Dr. Ramos checked him out, asked us lots of questions, and ordered some blood work and an ultrasound. She told us to switch back to the Sensitive formula just in case it was reflux. She said that he could possibly have something called pyloric stenosis. I didn't think anything of this. She didn't seem too concerned, and I honestly thought it was probably just reflux. We did the blood work as soon as we were done with the appointment, but we were having to wait until Friday for the ultrasound. He wasn't really able to keep much down all night and Friday morning.
Friday morning, Amber, Dr. Ramos' nurse, called me and told me to head up to the hospital to get Bray's ultrasound. We got there about 10:00, and they did his ultrasound. After the radio tech and radiologist had looked at everything, Brayden was diagnosed with the pyloric stenosis. Now, I hadn't looked this up at all and didn't know what it was or how it was fixed. I asked, "So, what are they going to do to fix it?" The radiologist said, "He'll more than likely have to have surgery." I about had a heart attack. I called Nick and told him what was going on. He told me to call Casey and ask her to explain this to me. I called Casey, and she said she'd go talk to Dr. Ramos. After I got off the phone with Casey, Dr. Ramos called me to explain what was going on. She is a wonderful pediatrician. She said, "I'm sure you are freaking out. But everything is going to be okay." She had already talked with a pediatric surgeon at Medical City in Dallas that had agreed to do the surgery. We just had to get there as soon as possible.
Pyloric stenosis has to deal with the muscle at the connection of the stomach and the small intestine. The stomach is supposed to send that muscle a signal to relax and empty, but the stomach wasn't doing that. The pyloric muscle ended up getting really thick walls and not able to relax at all. So, the food only had one way to come... back up. This is common, but we've never heard of it before now. It's actually very common in first born males. The anesthesiologist said in the 20 years he's been working, he's probably only had 5 girls have the procedure performed. Of course, this is hereditary, so Brayden's kids may have to have it done.
I got home as quickly as possible, packed a bag, and Nick & I packed the car to head to Dallas. My Dad & Sister headed towards Dallas to meet us there. My Mom had been sick and didn't want to pass it on to anybody, so she stayed home. We picked Melanie up on the way out of town. Joe took care of the dogs for us while we were in Dallas.
Once we arrived at Medical City at 2:00pm, they got us set up in an exam room. They did their own sonogram, and then Bray was scheduled for his surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Black, was awesome. He explained everything to us very in depth and made me feel like everything was going to be okay. He went in at 4:50pm. He was in recovery by 6:00pm. We were able to go back once he had come out of the anesthesia a bit. He was kinda fussy coming out. They let me hold him to help calm him down. I got to sing his lullaby to him, and he got some pain meds. Once they got him into his room, Dad & Sister brought us Papa John's pizza for dinner. It was very good because we hadn't eaten anything all day other than some chips/crackers and an ICEE. We all hung out in the room for a while. Dad & Sister headed back to NB close to 10:00pm. We were able to feed him for the first time at 10:00. He did not like the pedialyte. He wanted something a little more stout.
My sweet husband offered to stay at the hospital with Brayden and allow me to go get some rest at the hotel with his mom. I had slept a total of 6 hours probably in the past 48 hours, so I really needed rest. And not to mention the fact that I had been through an emotional rollercoaster all day. From being told my son was going to have to have surgery in Dallas, to his IV being put in, to him coming out of surgery, I had cried a good portion of the day and was absolutely exhausted. Melanie and I arrived at the hotel around 10:45pm. I wasn't able to really drop off to sleep until almost midnight. I was still so worried about Brayden and felt slightly guilty for leaving the hospital. However, I got a great night's sleep and was headed back to the hospital by 8:00 the next morning. Nick sent me regular updates, so if I woke up, I'd know what was going on. Brayden was already getting back to his normal happy self by the morning. He was eating well, and having wet diapers like he was supposed to. We were discharged and headed home by 11:00am.
Our friends, Cole & Kathryn, met us at Bass Pro Shops in Garland to meet him. Bray got his picture taken with Santa, and then we all went to eat at Logan's Steakhouse for lunch. We got home a little before 5:00pm. He's done great since then. He's kept down all of his bottles, been super hungry, and has had wet and dirty diapers. I'm so happy to have our sweet, happy baby boy back.
I've never been so scared in all my life as I was Friday. I thank the Lord for protecting Brayden, giving us and Dr. Ramos the knowledge to know something wasn't right, guiding the surgeon's hands, and helping Brayden bounce back so well.
Funny side story: When Melanie and I came back on Saturday morning, we parked in a different parking lot than what we originally parked in the day before. Nick was going to take some bags down to the car, and I needed to give him directions. I said, "Find the giant chipmunks, and take those elevators." Nick busted out laughing, and said, "Am I going to go through the land of swirly, twirly gumdrops? Is this a real story or a fairy tale?" I said, "No, I'm serious! There are giant Alvin & The Chipmunks next to the elevator." We were on a children's floor. So, I had to take a photo of the chipmunks. :)
Wanted to add the photos Sister took while at the hospital. The first is the hospital that we were at. The others are of the monitor that let us know when he went back, when he was being stitched up, and when he was in recovery. He's "Ro...n, B" on the monitor.
I also wanted to say "Thank you" to all of the friends and family who prayed for us and offered us a place to stay. Y'all don't know how much it meant to us!
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