Merry Christmas (A Little Late)

Merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a great week of celebrating Christmas and having Brayden meet the rest of the family. Below are a bunch of pictures that tell the story of our week.

Daddy thinks I need a haircut, what do you think?

Playdate with the boys: Colin (11 weeks), Mason (16 weeks), and Brayden (6 weeks)

Mommy's wish for Christmas, A silent night

It didn't happen, but he has been doing much better sleeping at night

Daddy got me a book about going to the dentist

We opened our presents on Christmas Eve morning since we were traveling

All dressed up ready for Christmas Eve dinner at Great Grandma O's house

Waiting for Santa and his reindeer to come

Opening presents Christmas morning

Daddy has found my tickle spot

Sorry I couldn't resist putting him in a sweater vest for Christmas

Look at my new hat (I love this picture)

Our First Christmas

He has so much hair, we couldn't resist giving him a mohawk

My first pony (Thanks to uncle Jimmy)

Week in review

Sorry I have not updated the blog lately. My goal is once a week but we got a little busy (ie. my child just didn't sleep) and therefore the blog didn't get updated. So quickly I will recap what we have been up to for the past week and a half. Brayden had his first visit to the dental office. He loved flirting with all of the staff and best part, no cavities!!! He had a special outfit that he wore that day. His shirt said "Teeth are overrated", very appropriate at this age.

The dentist office wore me out!!

The next day we headed out again for a 3 hour car ride to see Jon's family. He is actually a really good traveler, he usually passes out about 2 minutes into the car trip and stays asleep the whole time! Here he is all bundled up and ready to go.

I'm ready for another car ride.

The last time we went to the mall we saw the line for Santa. We decided while we were at Auburn, we would take a trip to see Santa on the square. There were only 2 people in line in front of us and best part was that you could take as many pictures as you wanted with your own camera. On Saturday morning Brayden got a bath and all dressed up in his Christmas outfit to go see Santa. We bundled him all up and headed out on the 2 minute car ride that it would take us to go see him. Well by the time we got there Brayden was passed out. We tried everything we could to get him to awake to take a picture with Santa, and needless to say we failed. Funny thing is the second we snapped him back in the car seat he was wide awake. The only ten minutes he slept all morning were on Santa's lap. Just goes to show who is the boss around here!

Dreaming of all the good stuff he will get for Christmas

Since we have been traveling so much for the past few weekends, we have not put up the Christmas tree. So we decided to take some candid pictures by the grandparents tree so that someday when we look back on it, he won't feel deprived that we didn't really celebrate his first Christmas.

His bib says "Result of mommy kissing Santa"
(Thanks Aimee for the bib)
We had a great trip to Auburn, Brayden was an absolute angel and slept great. Of course, we returned home and found out how quickly things change. The kid wouldn't sleep at all!! When we have help to watch him he just sleeps, then we get home and it is just him and I, he sleeps maybe an hour all day. So once again, nothing gets done and I am extremely exhausted. At this point, I will take sleep wherever and whenever it comes. Thank goodness for my mom, she came up and relieved me for a night and let me sleep and she took him all night (Jon was out of town).

Getting some Z's in mommy and daddy's bed

Passed out in the boppy pillow
His shirt says "Dear Santa, I've been good all year. Just ask my mom"
Jon comes home from work and almost every night Brayden is up for about an hour to play with him and then he nicely lays down for bed and is out for the night. So Jon jokes around with me and is like I don't know what you are doing, but look how good he is for me. I had a doctors appt. on Friday and had a serious talk with Brayden before I left. I told him if he give daddy hell the whole time that I am gone, I will get him a really big Christmas present. I left hoping that Jon would see how Brayden really is all day long and why I am so tired. Well of course, I come home to find Brayden all snuggled in his swing. He slept the whole 3 hours I was gone. Not a peep!! He never does that for me which is not fair at all!!
I guess Daddy has the magic touch!!

The only other exciting thing that has been going on this week is that we were on poop watch. Funny how your life changes in every aspect when you have a kid. Sorry if this is a little too graphic for some!! Brayden pooped on Monday and then for the next five days we had nothing. Poor guy, we called the doctor several times, put suppositories in the little guy, and we still had nothing!! The doctor told us that he could be going through a growth spurt right now, so he could just be using all the milk and having no waste. Well that was definitely not the case. After 5 days of not pooping, you will see in the picture below what we got!! So hopefully we will have a better week this week in many different aspects.

Indy trip

We made it!! We had a great trip down and back from Indy. Brayden did really well considering we were gone for three nights. He didn't seem to mind sleeping in the pack and play, so that is a great thing. We just hope that our neighbors at the hotel got some sleep.

We had a busy couple of days meeting up with college friends and their kids. I forgot to get the camera out and take pictures of all of them, so there are a few pictures below. Brayden got to meet Zachary, Layne, Hayden, Cole, Lilly, and Addy.

We are 0 for 1 on babysitters so far too. We thought that we would try to run out to dinner one night since both of our brothers are down there and just have one of them watch Brayden for a little bit. It sounded like a good idea, but didn't exactly work out that way. Joey was sick with the flu, so we wouldn't allow him near Brayden at all. So Josh (Jon's brother) offered to watch him. When we left the hotel room Brayden was laying in his pack and play almost about to fall asleep. So we all thought, he would just sleep the whole time. We literally went out to dinner about one block away from the hotel, so just in case there was any problems we could get home quickly. I guess Brayden woke up not long after we left and cried the entire time. Josh tried to feed him and he didn't want that. He said the only thing that worked was putting his pacifier in, but as soon as he spit it out the crying would start again. So needless to say I don't think Brayden left a good impression on him, so he probably won't babysit for us again. Maybe when he gets a little bigger.

On a different note, Brayden's great grandpa Oley Worthington passed away last night. We were truly blessed that Brayden got to meet him a couple weeks ago when we were home for Thanksgiving. He loved meeting Brayden and actually was following the blog on his progress. I have included another picture of him holding Brayden in remembrance.

Great Grandpa Worthington

Brayden's favorite stretching position

I just thought this pictures was funny, so I included it

Just relaxing in my pack and play

Jon, Brayden, Chris, and Zachary (Jon's college friend)

Aimee with her twins Addy and Lilly (my college friend)

Olivia and Brayden (my college friend)

Whatever works...

We went to the pediatrician again on Tuesday. So far, so good. He is definitely putting on the pounds though, he weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs. 8 oz!! He has gained so much weight already, he's getting some chubby cheeks now. The doctor actually had to adjust his medicine because he has gained so much weight so quickly that it was no longer affective at the previous dose. So she upped it just a little so that we can prevent the seizures from occurring.

My mom came up yesterday to help with us and it was a good thing that she came. For some reason Brayden was having one of those days where he was off the whole day. He got about 2 hours of sleep in about a 12 hour period. Since he was a little crabby my mom took over for a little bit so I could get some sleep. Finally at the end of the day Brayden broke down and was completely over tired and was screaming at the top of his lungs. So we tried everything we could to get him to go to sleep. For some reason Jon placed him on the changing table and about ten seconds later he was passed out. Since he didn't sleep all day we didn't want to move him. Knowing that the changing table was not safe, Jon and I carefully lifted the mattress up and placed it in the crib. I know it is not conventional, but we really needed him to sleep. Below is a picture of the changing pad inside the crib. Pretty funny but it worked really well.

Thanksgiving weekend...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are blessed to have Brayden in our lives. We are also truly blessed to have such great family and friends. We have felt everyones love and support over the past few weeks and we are forever grateful.

We had a big weekend of introducing Brayden to most of our immediate family. We did the trip between my grandma's house in Chicago to Jon's grandmas' house in Auburn. Brayden did really well on the 3 hour car ride. I think he got passed around a little too much though because our first night at Jon's parents house was not a good one at all. He was completely over tired and didn't sleep for us at all. Every time we laid him down he was up ten minutes later screaming at the top of his lungs. Luckily he made up for it the next day and slept most of the day and the remaining nights he was much better.

Brayden had his first black Friday with mommy, Aunt Jamie, and Grandma Patty. I thought it was a good idea because he was sleeping, but I was wrong. First off, most of the time Jon is in charge of the stroller and car seat. So when it was my turn, I didn't remember my tutorial from Jon so it took a long time out in the cold to try to figure out how to attach the car seat to the stroller. Second, it was really crowded. We didn't get out until 9 am and there were already tons of people out shopping. Third, I forgot the logistics of a stroller and how we needed to take the elevator to go up or down. What a bad shopping trip and the worst part is that I only bought ONE thing. Not a good trip at all. I learned my lesson, no more black Friday shopping with a baby.

Overall Brayden was really good on our trip. He loves to be held and be put to sleep. We are actually going to try it again this upcoming weekend. Jon has to go to Indy for work for a few days, so we are going to tag along for the ride and visit our friends in Indy. My goal right now is just to try and get some stuff done around the house. For some reason nothing ever gets done during the day. My mom is going to come up for a couple of days to help out and let us get some rest. We are super excited about that.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

All dressed up to meet the family

Great Grandma Orchowski

Great Grandma Morr

Great Grandma Worthington

Four generations of Worthingtons

Grandpa Dave, Great Grandpa Oley, Jon and Brayden

Uncle Josh

(No it is not a typo, Brayden has 3 Uncle Josh's)

All bundled up after a bath

You would think that we don't feed the kid since he's eating his arm!

Typical picture of Brayden. He gets freaked out by the lights of the camera

Weekend out...

First off let me say that Brayden has been sleeping much better. He is back to his normal sleep patterns again where he will sleep about 3 hours at a time. We were definitely tired the first couple of days, but not we are surviving. We seemed to have figured out a good schedule so that both of us can get at least a few hours of un-interupted sleep. Jon takes the first shift, so he feeds Brayden around 10:30, then usually again around 2. Then we switch out and I get the rest of the feedings.

We decided to take Brayden out on Saturday. We were getting a little stir crazy staying in the house, so we took him with us to do a bunch of errands. We didn't know how he was going to be, but the kid was an angel. As soon as we placed him in the car seat, he was out. We went to lunch at Culvers, shopping at the mall, then to Target. He didn't really flinch at all, he got up two times in 6 hours to chug down a bottle and then went immediately back to sleep. I guess we will have to take him out more because he was great!

Brayden also got his first sponge bath at home. We totally thought he was going to freak out at us, but he didn't mind being washed at all. He didn't even peep. He did give us the quivering lip after we were done, he was slightly cold, but that was about it. There is a picture below of us giving him a comb over after the bath.

We had visitors again today. Brayden got to meet more of his uncles. Uncle Jimmy and Joey came home from college this weekend for Thanksgiving, they came up with grandma. Speaking of Uncle Jimmy, we did a pool prior to the birth of Brayden where you could guess the sex, date of birth, and weight and he won the game. He was pretty on, he was only off by 14 minutes for what time he would be born. You can check out the link to the game and see peoples guesses at http://www.expectnet.com/games/babyWorthington

Here are more pictures, we can't stop taking pictures of him!!

He already learned to suck his thumb
Typical pose of how he sleeps (Note that mommy needs to stop putting him in newborn clothes because they do NOT fit - look at the sleeves)

The comb-over after his bath

Sleeping in the stroller while we run errands

Uncle Jimmy

Uncle Joey

No sleep

We are still so excited to have Brayden home. It is sort of surreal to actually have him here. He definitely through us for a loop though. When he was at the hospital he would sleep 3-4 hours at a time and then get up to feed. Then get up for an hour or so sometime during the day for interactive playtime. That didn't seem to be the case the first night home. He got up almost every hour on the hour wanting to eat. Jon and I got NO sleep at all. By the time we fed him and put him down and then tried to lay ourselves down, it was time to get back up again. I am not sure what happened between the hospital and our house.

I will say though that last night was much better. It didn't really help that he had shots before we left the hospital, so he was a little crabby. He was on more of a 2 1/2 - 3 hour sleeping schedule last night. At least we all got a little bit more sleep. It is amazing how this tiny little thing completely rules your world. He is definitely getting adjusted to being home. He is very curious and checks everything out.

We had our first appointment with the pediatrician today. Everything looks good so far. They decided that we will not have to check out his blood level of the phenobarbital. I guess as long as he was in a good range when they started the maintenance dose, there should be no reason that the level should spike again, since it is based on his weight. Speaking of weight, we have a piggy on our hands!! The doctor said that by day 10 he likes babies to be their birth weight, since most babies loose 10% of their weight in the first week. Not Brayden, he has gained 10 ounces in 11 days. We are officially at 9 pounds already! He loves to eat, which I guess is a good thing.

Home Sweet Home

We did it!! We got to take Brayden home today. They sort of hinted at it yesterday, but you never can tell and they told us not to get our hopes up too much. I packed the car this morning with his carseat and stuff to go home just in case. So it was a nice surprise when they did rounds this morning and decided that he could go home and we could do visual monitoring and follow up with the pediatrician.

They didn't take another phenobarbital level before we left. They want to give it a few days with the maintenance dose and will have the pediatrician check the level on Thursday when we go.

He slept the whole ten minute car ride home. When we got him home we put him in his crib and just stood there for about 20 minutes staring at him relieved to have him home. It is definitely going to be a long night of checking in on him just to make sure he is ok, but I will take that.

On a side note, it is Uncle Jimmy's Birthday today and we can't wait to celebrate with him!

Getting ready to go home!!!

Daddy reading me my first book, "The Tooth Book", guess I am going to be a dentist

Mr. Teddy and I taking a snooze in my new bed

Blood Level

First off, let me say I am sorry that I did not update this earlier in the day. I spent another 12 hours at the hospital today. Jon decided to go to work today for a little bit, so that he could spend more time with Brayden when he gets released from the hospital. So of course before Jon could go to work, he had to visit with him at 8 this morning. I decided to stay the whole day to try to get Brayden on a regular schedule with feedings.

They took his phenobartibal level early this morning to measure the amount of seizure medicine in his system. The goal range is between 25- 40. Brayden was at 26.2!! Great news. We were waiting for this level to go down from the initial loading doses so that we could start him on his maintenance dose.

Dr. Ritacco (the neurologist) stopped by and checked him out again today. He was very happy with the progress of Brayden. He checked out his muscle tone and thought that he was very even between the right and left side. We discussed his future treatment and where we are going to go from here. The initial plan is to start him on the maintenance dose, which they did today. The dosage is based on his current weight. It could take a week or two before the level is stable, but according to his weight this is a good level to start him at. If we notice any seizures at all then we will have to up the medication. He is hoping that Brayden will only have to be on the medicine for about 3 months and just outgrow the dosage. As he grows over the next 3 months the dosage will stay the same as it is today, so over time there will be less and less of the medication in his system. He is hoping that during this 3 month period, his brain will start to take more shape and compensate for the loss in the area. Therefore the likelihood of having seizures will diminish over time. Definitely a good report to hear from him, but we will still not know what sort of damage is done until later on.

They are also going to do a slew of blood tests to see if he has any problems with clotting or any gene markers that we should be aware of. The doctor actually said it will be a blessing if they all come back negative. The reason being, if they come back negative then we know that the stroke was a fluke incident. On the other hand if there is something there, then he would be more apt to have another stroke in the future. And for our peace of mind, having nothing there would be much easier to deal with going forward from here.

We still don't know exactly when he is coming home, but the nurse was hopeful that it will be in the next few days here. They will probably wait another day or two to measure the blood levels before he gets sent home. Definitely another good thing to hear. Overall it was a great day. I got to bond with Brayden all day and got good reports from all the doctors. Hopefully I'll have more good news to post tomorrow.

Pictures...

We must admit that we are completely obsessed with Brayden!! We spent 12 hours at the hospital yesterday. He is a great sleeper, when he is out he is out. And when he is awake he is really animated and gives us tons of faces. Here are some pictures from the past few days.

Finally I get to hold him and give him a bottle (look at the hair)

He is a deep thinker when sleeping

Daddy burping Brayden

I'm mad you guys are keeping me here, let's get out of here!!

Daddy telling me a very serious story

You got any more food for me?

All bundled up ready for bed