Brody slept through the night on Saturday and Sunday night(s) for the first time since the hospitalization. We are very excited, not only because we can now sleep for a full night, but also because he is getting back to normal. His happy and flirtatious personality came back and he is playing again and being silly. The irritability is gone and his appetite is much better. He looks forward to our visitors from therapy. I think he gets bored being in the house all day with Mom. The other day, he went over to the closet and pointed at his coat. I could tell he really had cabin fever, so I took him to Walmart. I don't like taking him to very many places, but we are quickly approaching the time when he will go back to daycare. I know he is mentally ready, but I still worry about his physical stamina and health. Right now, he is able to rest whenever he gets tired; daycare will be so different. But, we also need to get back into a routine. The Mulhollands came down Saturday and Brody had such a great time with Avery and Brooke. We are very proud of our niece Avery for taking 1st place in her dance competition Sunday. This Saturday, the 13th, is the March Of Dimes March for Babies. It is a 5 mile walk we did last year and we are walking again this year. It starts at the field house at Hallenback Hall (SCSU). We hope we have nice weather!

Update

Brody ran into a small bump in the road last week when it came time to stop the drugs. He was having withdrawal problems and none of us slept much at all. His appetite was non-existant and he was incredibly anxious and irritable. We are getting through it, though. We put him back on the drugs for three days and now we are trying it again without the drugs. He still isn't sleeping more than two hours at a time around the clock. He has been taking one morning nap and one afternoon, for about an hour each and then falling asleep around 7 or 8:00. He will sleep for an hour or two and wake up crying again. He doesn't want to sleep in his crib. He wants to be in our arms. This is much better than last week, though, when he would scream when we tried to put him down at all (even when awake). Every day is getting a little better, so we hope that he will be sleeping through the night again soon. We saw his Pulmonologist yesterday. Good news; he can be without oxygen during the day as long as we spot check his saturations with the oximeter. He is still on the oxygen at night. The doctor said something interesting yesterday about Brody's inability to oxygenate his blood when he was sick. He said that when parts of the lung are not working, the human body knows not to route blood to those parts because it knows it will not oxygenate. He has seen it before with preemies that are so early that this doesn't function the way it is supposed to. They do not know why, but it is speculated that it has something to do with the way the body compensates to make the lungs work before they are supposed to. Brody is less than the 5th percentile for weight and height, so they told us to give him calories and try to help him gain weight again. We picked up some Pediasure shakes that have vitamins and protein and we hope that will help. He is slowly getting his appetite back. He likes eggs and toast for breakfast, but only wants junk food the rest of the time! We are trying to get him to eat good meals but he isn't him self right now. Well, he just woke up again so I need to go!

Brody is doing really well at home. We have been keeping busy caring for Brody, but it is also difficult to stay home all the time. He was done with one of the meds yesterday and he is mildly jittery and emotional today. The other med is done Thursday and we expect some more difficulty this week. He is getting stronger and can walk on his own now. But he still grabs on to the walls and furniture for support. That's about all going on here.

Home

Hello. We got home late Thursday afternoon and it took a little while to get adjusted. We are so glad to be home. Brody requires medication every three hours around the clock, so it is a little like having a newborn again. He slept a lot this weekend, but today he seemed to get back into somewhat of a routine. We were able to take him to church this morning and it was really good to see people again. We follow up with his pediatrician tomorrow. We have a nurse coming out twice a week to check on him and we will be setting up a heavy schedule of therapy. Physical, Occupational, and Speech will be helping him recover. He has walking braces now and needs help standing and walking. He can stand for a couple of seconds but then falls down. He can walk while hanging on to hands, sort of like when he was learning to walk. In his mind, he can do it, but then he falls so he needs to be watched closely. He still vomits when eating, so we need to work on that with Speech. We are thickening his liquids and he is doing really well with that. Other than that, he is acting like a typical 2 year old and testing his limits. We tell him "no" and he proceeds to do it again. Tonight, he was kicking kitty. Good times...

I'm home!!!!!!

Brody is 2 years old today!!!  Here are some of his gifts!!! He thanks you for making his birthday extra special.

Guess Who's 2!?

Happy Birthday to our 2 year old! Today is Brody's birthday. We had cupcakes and had a great time! Chelsea will post some pictures later.