1 Month Old Today

Hey guess what I am a month old today!!!! Can you believe I have been terrorizing this hospital that long. In all reality all the nurses think I am the cutest baby on the Fourth Floor and constantly are stopping in to check in and say hi. Yep a ladies man already. Not hard to believe if you have seen my pics. Starting to chunk up too almost up to five pounds.

So if you haven't heard I am busting out of this place tomorrow. That's right I am going home. Look out Maverick and Bailey you are no longer the spoiled ones of the house. I will still need to be on my baby fortifier aka "baby Creatine" three times a day to help me gain weight faster for the next year. Other than that ist back to baby business as usual...eat, sleep, and diaper changes.

Stay tuned for all my crazy times in Lowell Indiana.

Love ya, Brayden

May 4th

Brayden had a great weekend. On Friday he was moved to the big boy bed which means he is able to keep is body temperature and no longer needs the incubator. Thanks to some aggressive nurses he now gets all his feedings from the bottle now. He still has the tube just in case he doesn't finish but that usually happens just once a day.





As of today Brayden's weight is 4 lbs 6.5 oz and is 18 inches long.





We are prepping to go home. hopefully in the next week or so. All Brayden has to do is keep his heart rate from dropping below 100 for 5 straight days. As of yet we have not had one successful day but I feel that tomorrow will be a good day.



Thank you to everyone for all your help, books, and gifts. We hope to see you soon!!

Jill

May 1st

Brayden has become a little spoiled since I have moved in with him. He has learned that if he cries I will be there to pick him up. Yesterday the only way the little guy would sleep was if I was holding him.

Yesterday he was such a great little eater, eating 3 full bottles during the day. I am hoping that he will soon be on bottle feeds every 6 hours. He is weighing in at a whole 4 pounds 2 ounces as of last night,

Everytime the nurses swaddle him in his blanket he wiggles himself out which enables him to pull out his feeding tube on a continuous basis. I think its his way of saying he wants the bottle everytime.

Have a great weekend!!!

Jill

April 28th

Brayden has been moved out of the NICU unit to the transition floor. This is the last stop before home. Hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks we will be able to bring him home. We were able to receive a private room so I can stay with him all the time. A TV in the room is a huge bonus.

They put him back on bottle feeds once a day and today he took the whole bottle for the first time. They are hoping to move him out of the incubator into a regular baby bed in the next couple of days.

Brayden continues to be a very active baby constantly kicking and grabbing at things. He is also becoming quite the cuddler.

Can't wait for you all to see what a precious lil guy he is and by far the cutest baby ever.

April 25

Sweet little Brayden has decided to pull some pranks on the staff these last couple of days. On Thursday night the nurse put him on his little bed in the incubator and Brayden decided he wanted to roll off the bed and try kicking himself out of the incubator. Yes I said he rolled off the bed not sure how he did it but like I said he is a little stinker. Yesterday his first diaper change of the morning he decided to pee on his bedding on his second diaper change he decided it would be funny to shoot poop all over his incubator. This weekend he has mastered pulling out his feeding tube which really upsets the nurses.

Otherwise his weight is up to 3lb 12.5 oz and gaining every day. They stopped the bottle feedings for a couple of days after a vomitting episode on Thursday's feeding(I personally think it was the way they fed him the leftover amount and not the bottle feed. Otherwise no other mentionings of moving out of the NICU unit since last Sunday. Hopefully soon though

April 22nd

Today Brayden is up to 30 cc of feedings every 3 hours. He is able to feed from a bottle every 12 hours. He only eats around 15 cc but it still a huge accomplishment for only being 32 weeks of age. All IVs have been removed. His weight is still around the same as when he was born. We are hoping that he will be moved out of NICU anyday now.

Thanks for all your support

Jayme and Jill

April 19th Brayden's a week old

Hello all from Crib 16. Can you believe that I am already a week old. Lets look back at what I have all accomplished in such a short amount of time.....

Rid of Apnea- check

Breathing on own - Check

Get rid of Jaundice- Check

Digesting food - Check

Feeding from a bottle-No problem even when the nurse said that usually doesn't happen for another couple of weeks.

Stress the parental units out-Check...of course I will be doing that the rest of their lives.

Add Weight...have they looked at me genes(uncle Chris, Cousin Troy, Cousin Adam, dad, Uncle Dan) I mean come on the odds are against me right now tall and skinny is what's in my blood.

Man am I doing great or what! I am waiting for the next challenge that the nurses throw at me.

This weekend uncle Chris came to visit me. I can tell we are going to get a long really well once he gets over the whole tiny baby thing. Yesterday my daddy changed my diaper for the first time I was so proud of him. I had a chance to squirt him but I refrained this time...look out pops one of these times I will get you. He forgot to have the second diaper handy right away he will learn the hard way.

Looks like I will be bustin out of the NICU any day now. That's a little disappointing because twin girls just joined me in my section. There pretty cute but man are they needy. My dad says that never changes.

Peace out from Crib 16.....Love Brayden