A Day in the Life of Brayden

Below are some pictures from a day in the life of a sick boy named Brayden. As you can tell he is feeling much better. We did lots of activities today because we weren't supposed leave the house, but we did sneak out for some ice cream after dinner. Shhhh, don't tell!

-Sue - 

* Painting with Mommy
* Being silly with Daddy during craft time
* I love to color!

* We told him we were going to get "yum yums", aka ice cream, and Daddy thought it was funny to suddenly say we weren't going anymore.


* Walking around the fountain with Nana
* I love ice cream!!!

* So happy to be out of the house for thte first time in a week!!!
* Brayden being a big boy and getting his breathing treatment

* Not happy about, but still so cooperative

Brayden's Health Update

As most of you know Brayden was hospitalized this week for pneumonia. Those of you who didn’t know here is a recap of our hellish week.

Brett came down with a cold a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t think anything of it when Brayden started to get some symptoms of a cold as well. Brayden started getting cold symptoms last Thursday and by Saturday evening he wasn’t sleeping through the night due to coughing fits and wheezing.

I still just thought he had Brett’s bad cold, but decided to take him to the walk-in sick clinic at his pediatrician’s office on Monday morning. Well, low and behold they told me he had pneumonia! (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pneumonia/DS00135)

So it was home with some antibiotics and told to keep our activity levels low. By Tuesday afternoon he was much worse with cold chills, sweating and more wheezing. I took him back to the pediatrician’s office and they said that his lungs sounded much worse and he was going to need breathing treatments with a nebulizer every 4-6 hours.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulizer)

This time it was home with a nebulizer, a prescription for Albuterol, and instructions to keep our activity levels low.

By the time Wednesday came along we were back in the pediatrician’s office because he was requiring the breathing treatments every 2 hours instead of every 4-6 hours. The pediatrician said this was dangerous so we were off to the hospital for a chest x-ray to see what was going on in his little chest.

Once the chest x-ray came back showing nothing interesting, yet he was still requiring the breathing treatments every 2 hours we got a call from our pediatrician saying she was admitting him to the hospital for further testing and monitoring.

Wednesday night was spent in the hospital with more breathing treatments, oxygen treatments, lots of monitoring, and NO sleep. I must say, with all the doctor visits and lack of sleep Brayden has had over the last couple of weeks, he has still been in the best mood and has been such a little trooper. Kids are really resilient.

We were discharged on Thursday afternoon with the diagnosis of Reactive Airway Disease/ RAD (http://www.medhelp.org/forums/RespiratoryDisorders/messages/1052.html). Basically this is asthma brought on by a viral infection.

We were sent home with a prescription for a steroid to decrease the inflammation in his lungs, instructions to do the breathing treatments every 4 hours, and instructions to keep him in the house and away from sick people until the beginning of next week. (His steroid makes him more susceptible to infection…great…)

My mom flew out the moment she got the word he was in the hospital, mostly to help with Brett and I. I have become extremely rundown with all this excitement and my OBGYN is very nervous I will come down with this infection as well. So, my mom was able to come and help me get the rest I need to get back on my feet.

Brayden is doing great and has slowly become accustomed to the breathing treatments. We try to make it fun by watching a movie while we do them, make a big deal when we are finished, and he gets to pick out a special sticker from his sticker book to wear for the rest of the day. He has really been great about all this even though you can tell he doesn’t like it.

We are hoping this will all end once the infection is completely gone and we are keeping our fingers crossed this isn’t the beginning of Brayden telling us he has asthma.

Thanks for all your thoughts and love through this rough time for us! We love you!

- Sue -

Brett's 30th Birthday

I didn't have my camera for Brett's 30th birthday weekend extravaganza, so Lindsey was in charge of taking pictures. Here are the pictures from her and Jason's visit! Sorry they are so late!

- Sue -

He Man

When Brett and I went back to CA for Jason and Lindsey's wedding Brett went up into his parent's attic to find all of his toys from his childhood. He was so excited to find all his matchbox car, Transformers, Star Wars figures and He Man figures. He was especially excited about showing Brayden He Man. We had an argument about whether or not Brayden was ready for He Man. Brett thought he would love it and I thought it was too old for him.

Well...looks like Mommy was right! HA! Brayden wanted nothing to do with He Man. He was actually petrified by He Man and his Battle Cat. Sorry Daddy maybe in a couple for years.

- Sue -

"Binky the Tur Tur"

A couple of weeks ago I made the decision that it was time to say good-bye to Brayden's binky. We had been working on getting rid of this thing for a while and had managed to get down to only naptime and bedtime for over two months. He never asked for it anymore during the day and I never brought one with me when we went out, so I figured the nighttime transition wouldn't be that traumatic.

I decided D-day would be Sunday, so on Thursday I started cutting the tips off his binkies for naptime and bedtime. He didn't even seem to notice that something was different until the tip was practically gone and then he just got annoyed with it and threw it out of his crib. I was so excited and decided to think of a special way to celebrate this big transition.

I decided the Build-a-Bear Workshop at the mall would be a fun place to start. Brett and I took him there to let me pick out any toy he wanted to make and we would put his binky inside the toy so if he ever needed his binky or asked for it, we could hand him the toy and he would be comforted. He was completely overwhelmed by this place and freaked out by the noises of the toys being stuffed, but he managed to set his eyes on a giant turtle (or "tur tur" as Brayden calls them). Below are some pictures of our adventure in making "Binky the Tur Tur".

- Sue -





It is my pleasure to introduce you all to "Binky the Tur Tur"!

Jason and Lindsey's Wedding

Brett and I went back to CA recently for Jason and Lindsey's wedding. Jason and Lindsey are a couple of our closest friends and we wouldn't have missed this for the world!

We did this trip without the little man because it was such a short trip, only four days. This was the first time Brayden would be away from mommy and daddy! More importantly, this was the first time Brayden and Mommy would be separated. My mom flew down to stay with Brayden while we were away and through daily phone calls we found out that Brayden could have cared less that we were gone.

Brett and I tried to prepare him as much as we could for our trip by showing him the calendar and telling him we were going on an airplane, but we would be back. My mom said that it worked because when he would get upset and ask for Mommy he wouldn't immediately say, "Mommy...airplane."

The wedding was a huge success and lots of fun for all. Lindsey looked beautiful and Jason looked so handsome in his suit. Below are some of the pictures from the wedding and from the dress rehearsal the night before.

- Sue -

Boy or Girl?

Well...it is official!

We are having a little girl! Brett and I both thought it was going to be a little girl because this pregnancy has been so difficult.

Valentine's Day 2009 is still the due date and we will be welcoming a little girl to our ever growing family!

- Sue -