A Bunch of Fun Changes

My mom watched both kids today and Jerry and Rita brought Ali to the hospital. Brady had a bunch of fun changes today.

They took one final blood draw from the line in his belly button. His liver numbers are still a little elevated, but they're comfortable enough with the results that they won't need any more blood work from that location. They removed that line and now Brady is able to wear clothes.

Ali was excited to dress Brady. Since he's already outgrown all of our newborn clothes, Ali had picked out the perfect 3 month outfit for Brady to wear.

Brady also moved from a high flow nasal cannula to a low flow one. He now is needing less and less assistance to breathe. Our atmosphere contains 21 percent oxygen and Brady right now needs 30 percent in very small amounts (.5 l).

It's been fun to watch all of the machines being rolled away as he's needed less and less assistance. Gone are the monitors for brain waves (seizures) and blood pressure. They now are only monitoring his heart beat and blood oxygen levels.

His body also isn't connected to as many wires and tubes. Gone are the ventilator, CPAP, catheter, blood draw tubes from his hand and belly button, etc. All Brady has on his body now are three heart montiors (two on chest on one on a leg), the breathing cannula in his nose, the feeding tube in his nose, and a pulse oximetry, which measures how much oxygen is in the blood using a small light sensor that's taped on the bottom of his foot. It's much easier to move him and hold him without all of the wires around.

Brady was also moved into a more traditional crib setting to start getting him ready for life outside the NICU. The OT visited early this morning and placed Brady in a bouncy chair and allowed him to look out the window.

Today was also the first day that the OT tried feeding him with a bottle. It took Brady about 25 minutes to drink 7 ml. He is also at capacity (100 ml) for his feedings through the tube in his nose.

Brady is now opening his eyes more. The OT is working with him on tracking. The splints on his hands seem to be working very well.

They are moving Brady from phenobarbital to keppra for his anti-seizure medicine. It has less side effects and is the medicine babies use once they leave the NICU. Brady will probably still use it for a couple of months after he leaves. We noticed that Brady had some tremoring with his jaw today. Again, we hope it is just the medications and not something more serious.

Ali spent most of the day holding him and I had the chance to hold him for about an hour after work. Overall, it was a day filled with good news of Brady's progress. It was just what we needed.

I was visited at school today by the Sherwin family who brought an amazing collection of toys, food, and gift cards from the staff at Eastview. We have now received three fruit baskets at home and even had one delivered from the Burnsville football program to the NICU nurses (which was a fantastic idea). One of my students drove up to the hospital and delivered cookies, bread and other gifts.

Ali and I have been overwhelmed with the offers of meals, watching our kids, etc. It's been fun to read messages, prayers and words of encouragement from friends and family members we wish we could see more often. Times of adversity bring out the best in people and bring us closer together. We hope that we'll be able to repay the favor to all of you someday. Thanks again for everything!

With love,

Tyler, Ali, Ava, Casey and Brady