New Cribby hehe...and he needs your vote today!

So Branston graduated from the warmer bed to the awesome metal cribby :-) They do that when they are able to maintain their temperature and a few other things. He's been on the fentanyl only as needed but it's sad cuz if he goes all day without it he'll suddenly get uncomfortable and inconsolable. They've doubled the amount he's able to eat and he's doing pretty well! I think it probably just hurts his tummy a little. But he's not a spitter upper yet so that's good! I'm hoping & praying that things just keep progressing so little my little man can come home!!
P.S.
Today is the last day to vote... for the silly bump pic! I just couldn't pass up the chance to win stuff for baby bear so puh-puh-please take a second and go to this link and vote for number 17! :-)

http://www.971zht.com/pages/babywatch/vote.html

We cracked the code!

Come to find out it really was just the taste of the tasteless pedialite! They mixed it with my milk half and half and he took it! I got to feed him two bottles yesterday. They said they might try straight milk today so I'm excited to go see how he's doing with that :-) He's still a little funny about latching on the the bottle. He'll latch and then poke it around with his tongue for a minute. But he's definitely getting the hang of it! We also got to see Branston wearing clothes for the first time, just a onesie. I'll post a picture later of his awesome "Flashdance" look. He has the pick line IV in his arm still so they couldn't put both arms in his onesie. Therefore he had the awesome top off one shoulder look going on HEHE :-)

The feeding....

Come to find out they actually give our lil guy pedialite (sp?) first before trying milk. And once he does well with that then they'll try the milk. When we got there to see him today the nurse was sitting in the rocker with him and he was sleeping. She said she'd been trying to get him to take the pedialite but he kept spitting it out! It's the flavorless kind so the flavor shouldn't be a problem. My guess is he's so used to his binky and not having anything come out, it's probably just weird to have a leaky binky! He's going to have to get used to swallowing and everything...even though it's only been 6 days he seems to be set in his ways...for now :-) I tried giving him the pedialite and his bottle had 6 ml. He spit out about 4, but while he was sleeping I was tricky and got him to take about 2 ml without spitting it out. Hey it's a start!
And I just want to say that I love the nurses at Primary Children's. They always answer all our questions in detail and let us help with taking care of our little honey in any way that we're able to. Branston couldn't be at a better place with better Dr's & nurses to take care of him right now :-)

Smiles :-)

Yay the Anderson tube is out!!!

Look Mommy! No tubies!!!




Branston hated that dang tube. The nurse said he'd gag on it when he'd wake up and when it'd suck the stuff out in his tummy he'd get so upset! I'm so glad it's gone and now he's so much more comfortable! Tomorrow they are going to try giving him a little milk and see how he does. I hope his little tummy can handle it cuz that will make him much closer to coming home!
I tried to post a video of him smiling but blogger is being weirdo. I'm sleepy so I'll try again tomorrow :-)

New piccies :-)

We've been wanting to see him with his eyes open, but it seems he and the nurses had a funny joke going and he'd wake up and open his eyes as soon as we left! Today he was a bright eyed little guy!






Dreamy little smile :-)







We can't get enough of the our little sweetness! Today we got to hold him for the first time since the day he was born. And even then I only got to hold him for about 2 minutes before they rushed him off to Primary's. Today I got to hold him for over 3 hours straight! :-)

Branston wants to come home!!

Branston must want to come home pretty bad, he's doing awesome! They took him off the ventilator yesterday! He's been doing really well breathing on his own. I called this morning to check on him (we came home yesterday) and they said he's doing great and had a huuuuge poopie diaper! His first one...awweee how cute lol. No but really it's a great thing because it means his intestines are starting to "wake up". The next step would be taking out the Anderson tube, which is the one going into his stomach sucking out the air and stomach secretions. As soon as that starts looking like it's not sucking much out, they'll know his digestive system is really doing it's job and moving along. And then they can start giving him milk! They've also cut back his fentynal (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) so he won't be as sedated. I can't wait to see him today! I'll try to post new pics tonight :-) Thanks for everyones prayers. We couldn't be more happy with his progress....he's an amazing baby!!!

WOW! Amazing baby!!

So today they were going to do the surgery to attach a protective silo to cover Branston's parts. They had been covered by just gauze before. What happens is they put the silo on and tighten it as needed to help the little parts go back into place in his abdomen. So He went into surgery and we waited to talk to the surgeon to see how things went. Afterwards we asked him how it went and he says "things went well. We didn't need the silo. Everything is back in". WHAT?!!! Can you believe that?!!??!! Here we were prepared for this to be this huge long process and they fixed him! I know we're not out of the woods yet. He'll be on a ventilator until his abdomen stretches some so that there's not so much pressure on his lungs. But omg we are SOOOOOOO happy and excited that they were able to do that! Someone is definitely watching out for our little angel. Look at the pictures above. In the first one you can see the omphalocele is wrapped with gauze and is about the size of an orange. The next pic is after surgery, bump gone! YAAAY BABY BEAR! I'm so glad for the amazing team at Primary's helping our baby!

Baby Branston is here!

Well if I thought my anxiety was bad last night...it was nothing compared to this morning! For those women who prefer c-sections, more power to ya, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why lol. Seriously I'm in so much more pain than my other two. And that to me was just creepy feeling like someone is rearranging your insides! It took quite a bit longer than I thought it would. On TV it always looks like such a quick procedure. But... once I heard little Branston's cute little cry all was ok :-)
He was born at 11:24 this morning weighing 6lbs 14oz. I don't even know his length! They rushed him away before I could see him but then brought him to me about an hour later so I could see him before they took him over to Primary's. He seemed so uncomfortable with all the tubes down his throat, in his veins and in his nose. I felt so bad that I couldn't comfort the poor little honey :-( I felt so much better when we (Jared, Taysen, Braylee, my parents & His mom & Bro) to see Branston at the NICU & Primary Childrens and he was sleeping peacefully. He looked all comfy with a soft blanky under him. I was just so worried he'd be uncomfortable the whole time. Anyways, he's doing really well and I just can't wait until we can take him home :-) We don't know how long it will be yet but I'm just so thankful that he's here and healthy and doing so well!

yikes!

Wow, it's kind of weird knowing I'm getting sliced open and baby taken out tomorrow. A common procedure but a creepy thought. Labor can be painful but at least when it comes, it comes and I don't get much anxiety over it! I'm excited to see our baby though! I'm pretty sure I'll have lots of free time to blog while in recovery :-) Next bloggy minus the bump~! Woo HOO! I can't wait to meet baby bear!

Fun Girl Time :-)

Well now that I've been given and extra week before all the madness begins, I thought it would be fun to have the girls come over for dessert this weekend and give my mom a chance to show off her awesome Silpada Designs while she's here in Utah! I'd love to have alllll y'all come over 6-8 this Saturday the 13th. I will miss time with my girls over the next few months so please come play! I know it's short notice, but that was all I was given :-)
Hope to see you!

Yay we're home!.... for now :-)

At the hospital tonight they monitored baby's heart rate from about 6pm to 9pm. I got a fun shot of steroids in the bum (ouchie!) and a lovely "pelvic exam" to make sure I wasn't going in to labor because I was having some contractions. But hey all is good now! Tomorrow I need to go to my OB and get another one of the lovely steroid shots and also schedule the c-section for next week. They said I do NOT have to get another amnio (thank goodness, those needles are huge!)so I guess he'll for sure be here next week! I think he knew I didn't have the rooms switched yet (I'm moving him into Braylee's room and moving her to another room)and he was like "um no mom, I'm not coming into this world with out my room ready". Hmmm... I better get on that this week! :-)

and by the way

I just thought I'd share...
ALL I WANT IS A DRINK OF WATER!!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? lol.... I'm sooooo thirsty and I can't eat or drink anythink... wah wah wah HAHA

Latest on baby bear

SO.... here I sit in a hospital bed and the U of U hospital. Thank goodness for hubby being here with me and a laptop to keep us occupied!
Today we went to UVRMC to get the amnio to see if baby bears lungs are ready for him to enter this world. As we waited for the results we got another non-stress test. His heart rate kept dipping and it concerned them so they kept us there quite a while. After being there almost 3 hrs we find out the amnio shows his lungs aren't quite ready and they are worried the omphalocele is putting pressure on the umbilical cord causing his heart rate to drop. So they sent us here to the U of U so they can watch his heart rate and I'm getting a shot of steroids to help his lungs develop. For now I'm not sure when he'll be coming. His heart rate seems to be doing better now. I'll give an update if possible as soon as we know more!

Braylee's B-day.... Um yah that was in July!!

July 10th was Braylee's birthday and we had a little party for her with her friends the following weekend. It was so cute to see them all playing and splashing in the water together! Poor little Jake was the only boy besides Tays. Thanks for being a good sport Jake! Well it will give him practice since he has an older sister and his mom is pregnant with twin girls! Hey maybe I'll post Taysen's August b-day pics by October :-)












Fun in the sun!




Sugar rush from her sucker? hehe






Loving da cup cakeys!


After all the fun in the sun, sis had fun with her princess tea party set she got from Ellie. It's still one of her favorite toys! Thanks Ash & Ellie!