Tough Brayden

You read right, we are home and enjoying every minute of it. Here is a quick overview for everyone how the last couple of days went. While we were living each minute they seemed to go by so slowly but now thinking back I realize a lot happened in such a short amount of time.

Friday morning we all woke up about 5 and were on the road to the hospital by 5:30. Brayden woke up when we were getting ready and he was happy as can be. We got checked in and were given time to play before surgery so we pulled Brayden up and down the halls in a wagon. He loved it and made sure to smile at all the other patients, doctors, and nurses walking by. At 7:00 the anesthesiologist came back and let us know that one of us could go into the operating room with Brayden until he was asleep. Andrew decided he would do it so he was given some scrubs, a hair cover, and mask. There was a whole group of people who went into surgery between 7:00-7:30 and since there were only a couple of babies Brayden was one of the last ones. They told us that they like to have extra help with the babies because they take such good care of them! Brayden and Andrew went back around 7:30. Brayden gave me a kiss as I said good-bye. I went up to the waiting room and got checked in. Andrew came up about 15 minutes later and said Brayden did great. While Andrew was holding him in the OR he made sure to smile and win over the nurses and other doctors in there! They were all saying how adorable he was. We were told surgery would last about 4-5 hours. At 11:30 we saw one of the neuro doctors walking down the hall and he told us that Brayden was in the PICU and they were requesting us to go up there because he was starting to wake up from the anesthesia and they want parents to be there when this happens so if they wake up they are with someone familiar. As we were packing up our stuff Dr. G came around and wanted to talk to us about the surgery. I was so nervous as we walked into a room with him because he is not one to show much emotion through his facial expressions so until we got into the consultation room we didn't know how it went. He told us surgery went great! He said everything went very smoothly and he was very happy with how it went. He went into great detail with us the procedure and we really appreciated that. He then told us Brayden had started waking up on the way out of the OR and that we should go find him.

Saying my prayers in the wagon before surgery!

All ready in my hospital pj's.

Daddy, is that you under there?

A picture with Mommy before I left for surgery.

We went up to the PICU and upon checking in the nurse said he is ready for mom and dad so I left Andrew at the counter to check us in and I took off. When I got into Brayden's room he was actually being held by one of the nurses and there were a couple other nurses and two doctors in the room. We later learned that our nurse was trying to take his A-line (it keeps track of his heart rate during surgery) out and Brayden rolled over and tried to climb out of the crib. It took 3 nurses to hold him down. He was a little restless but when he heard Andrew and I talk he opened his eyes a bit. Once I held him he snuggled in and went back to sleep. The nurses were fighting over which one got to snuggle him.

This is about 30 minutes after surgery.

Mommy's turn with sleepy Brayden.


This was about 4:30 Friday afternoon! He woke up and was so happy. It was an absolutely amazing to see him awake and wanting to read and play.

They wanted us to stay in the PICU over night for observation. Our nurse, Brynna was amazing! At about 4 o'clock Brayden woke up and sat up and wanted to play. It was so awesome that he was jabbering away. Our doctor requested an MRI later that night so at about 6 on Friday night we went down for an MRI. Brayden was still kind of sleepy from some medicine that he was on so they didn't even have to sedate him for it. I got to go in the machine too. I just kind of laid on top of Brayden's tummy and held his hands to keep him calm.

This is Saturday morning! Not connected to anything! Good job Brayden!

Saturday morning our favorite nurse came back in and saw Brayden awake and said we could turn off the monitors and let Brayden play. She said they weren't used to such active babies because usually ones in the PICU aren't able to get out of bed so we took his monitors off and let him play with toys in his bed. He was so happy. When the doctors came to do rounds one of them commented that he was a very active baby and that orders said to move him to just the pediatric unit until after his second round of an antibiotic and if that went well we would be on our way home. The doctors also commented on impressed they were with his progress.

Brayden all packed up in his bed and ready to move to the Pediatric Inpatient Unit.

We moved down to the Pediatric unit and they took some vitals and then allowed him to go play in there playroom. He was excited to see so many toys. He rode around on a John Deere bike which was pretty fun. We ordered some lunch and he was able to eat actual food not just soft stuff so that was another step to getting us to go home. He got an antibiotic to reduce the chance of his sutures getting infected. Once he got that we were discharged and on our way home. Brayden slept the entire way home. Brayden slept for eight and a half hours straight last night! You could tell Brayden was happy to be home.

Brayden and Daddy riding a bike around the unit.



While Brayden was eating his lunch Daddy went to get us some lunch and when he returned he had a balloon. Brayden looked and just smiled. He loved that balloon.