Totally stressed out...

Kaden ended up going to the ER today (we were there for almost 4 hours, 1 1/2 hours we spent in the waiting room, well what my dad and I made into a waiting room). We found out that he has RSV. He did a good job being a big boy though. He actually made out with 12 stickers between three different women there, we came home with one and I was wearing that one. The rest ended up getting "dirty" and he decided he wanted to throw them away.

So there is nothing we can do for Kaden besides continue alternating the tylenol and motrin as well as giving him his breathing treatments. Not only am I concerned for Kaden but I also worry about Brody. It scares me knowing what can happen with such a young baby getting this crud. What really has me paranoid, is that on Monday Kaden told us that he was a baby and put Brody's binkie in his mouth. I did rinse it off with hot water, but did not sterilize it. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking of what could go wrong with both of the boys. I really hope that we can keep Brody healthy and get Kaden back to himself really soon.

Sleepless night...

Last night was a sleepless night for us all, well except for Brody. Poor Kaden needed so much suctioning, it felt like Nate and I didn't even get to close our eyes long enough to fall asleep. Every time Kaden started coughing, he started crying. It seems like it really hurts him to cough. So, I called to make an appt for him after he showed that he couldn't get rid of his fever for good, however his doctor was already "full" for the day. I wanted to yell through the phone "My kid is SICK, it is Friday do you want me to wait until Monday???", but I didn't. Instead I asked how I could change to a different peds office (it didn't help that they wouldn't take Brody as a new patient). So, I am changing Kaden's doc to Brody's. Well, I ended up calling our doctor at Children's Mercy, but got the on-call doctor. I explained to him what was going on and he said it sounded like a respitory virus...SIGH. I worry about Kaden but I also worry about Brody getting it. I checked Kaden's O2 levels and it is riding at about 93-94%. This is low for him. I feel absolutely horrible for him. I wish that there was something I could do to make him feel better. He looks miserable and seems very weak. I think tomorrow I will take him to the ER and have them do x-rays and tests to see exactly what is going on and that way we can get meds if he needs them. Please say some extra prayers for us, to get Kaden healthy and keep Brody healthy. Thanks.

My poor big boy...

Kaden is not feeling well. He had a rough morning yesterday. It started by him needing continous suctioning. We got to school and he just sat down in the middle of the hallway whining because he needed so much suctioning. I ended up changing his trach to make sure it wasn't blocked. After everything was done he got up and walked to class like not much had happened. I told his nurse that if he isn't himself later on to call me and I would pick him up. He stayed at school all day and came home and seemed to be alright. Later on in the evening he began to get real cuddlely and whiny. As I was holding him he felt really hot. I took his temp and he had a fever. At 6:30 he told me he was ready for bed. Today he has had a fever off and on. I have been giving him motrin or tylenol and it seems to break it for a little while. I hope he gets over whatever it is and starts acting like himself soon. I also hope that the rest of us do not get it. I feel so bad for him when he doesn't feel well. I wish I could make him feel better. I think if he continues to act like this tomorrow I will take him to the doctor. I am worried that it could be bronchitis again or even pneumonia. He has a cough but tries hard not to do so. My poor baby.

Brody is doing well. He is a really good baby. Either he sleeps good at night or I thought it would be worse then it really is. He had his first appt and the doctor said he is gaining weight really well, I should hope so, the kid eats like a little piggy. Kaden is adjusting to having his new baby brother at home. I think he is a little confused with all of the changes and has a little bit of jealousy. I do not blame him, he has been use to getting all of the attention for pretty much the last 4 1/2 years. It doesn't help that daddy has been working on our new house every day.

Cute...

I just have a couple of cute stories to share with you.

First one:
Yesterday, I had just finished feeding Brody (which is going much better)and said "ok, now mommy needs to burp you." My nephew, Miles (he's five), was near me and said "oh you bought one of those things to put in his belly like Kaden" (talking about Kaden's mickey-button).

Second one:
I was letting Kaden pick out his two bedtime stories, one for himself, one for Ava. Miles was there and asked why he gets two bedtime stories. I explained it to him and his response was "because she is a spirit in the sky that we can't see?"

Third one:
I was feeding Brody (with a bottle because he is a little piggy and I (most of the time) have to follow breast feeding with a bottle of formula. Anyway I said something about Brody eating and Kaden lifted up his shirt and showed Brody his mickey-button and signed "eat".

I love how innocent little kids' minds are.

On another note...
Things are going well. I am really sore (mostly in my back). I think it is from my spinal. I am getting bad headaches and backaches. Hopefully they will go away soon. Brody has his first doctors appt tomorrow. I am anxious to see how much he weighs now. When we left the hospital he was at 10 lbs 4 oz. I am not sure if he is back up some or not. Well, I am going to feed Mr. Brody and hit the sack. I am so tired!!!

Picture Time...

I not only posted the pictures of Mr. Brody, but I also finally posted the pictures I have promised a little while ago.

Meet Mr. Brody:






Here is Kaden, being a big boy waiting for his bronch.






Here we are releasing balloons for Angel Ava's birthday. If you can see it was a really windy day. We had a ton of balloons that ended up getting tangled together. My dad ended up cutting them apart so Kaden could send them one by one. He seemed to really enjoy that.







Sorry it has taken me so long to download pictures. I hope you enjoyed them.

We Are Home!!!

We got home about an hour ago. Sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I had Nate take the laptop home b/c we couldn't get internet in the hospital, but I kept the camera and never downloaded any pictures. I did hear from him however that I needed to post pictures b/c we got a lot of request for them. I will download them tonight when everything settles down and get some posted.

Things are going well. It sure was different to have a baby in a hospital so close to home. Nate was able to go home and hang out with Kaden at night and then take him to school in the mornings. I am sure Kaden enjoyed that very much. I am just so excited to be home!!! It is all to real.

I am really sore, but I hear that time will heal that...I sure hope so. The pain meds make me too drowsey so I really want to try to take as little as those as I have too. Hopefully the motrin helps out. Breastfeeding isn't going too well. The first time we put him on, he did awesome and I thought "wow, this is going to go great." So...I have changed my mind. This big guy is hungry and my milk hasn't come in. He isn't a dummy, he figures "Why in the world am I working so hard for nothing," so he gets really frustrated when it is time to feed and I have the hardest time getting him latched on. Hopefully within the next day or so my milk will start coming in, or I might just break down and give him a bottle.

The c-section went alright...but boy am I glad I decided to go that route. The doctor even had trouble getting Brody's shoulders through the incision. The nurse said that she thought he was going to have to cut it bigger, but he didn't. Nate told me that he thought the doctor was going to rip his head off with the amount of force he needed to use to get him out. Once Brody's head was out the first thing I heard from everyone was "look at those chubby cheeks!!!" Then I heard that he was 11 lbs. I knew he was going to be big, but not that big. The good news is that I love chubby babies : ).

So be on the look out tonight. I will post pictures soon.

Brody Jace Boeckman Born 02-09-09

We checked into the hospital around 7:15 a.m. and about 1230 p.m. the doctor began the c-section procedure. Brody Jace Boeckman was born big and healthy at 1241 p.m.
Brody weighed 11 lbs and was 23 inches in length. Everyone is doing good. Looks like Wednesday is the day to bring Brody home. Kaden wanted to hold Brody as soon as he saw Brody. Kaden was done holding Brody after about two minutes. Kaden told Brody bye bye and then tried to push Brody off his lap towards grandma. We had to have a talk with Kaden about how little (if you can call Brody that)Brody is and he has to be really gentle with him.

It feels great to hold Brody and know that he will be coming home soon.

Pictures will be coming soon.

Tomorrow is the BIG day!!!

I can't believe we are finally going to meet Brody tomorrow. I am so excited, but nervous at the same time. Nate or I will keep everyone posted tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Monday...

Today we had our doctor appt and sonogram. We did the sono first. I heard several times how large Brody is measuring, his stomach was too large for the ultrasound to actually measure. I knew there was a reason I am always hungry!!! Anyway, at the end of the sonogram I asked how big he was measuring. Ok guys, remember it can be off some, but at this time it measured him at 10 lbs 13 oz. My due date is Feb. 17th, however with the size of him my doctor wants to induce on Monday. Fine by me. I am so ready. We talked about the concerns the doctor has with him measuring so big. He even talked about the possibility of having a c-section. He is leaving everything up to us, and I think we are leaning towards the c-section after hearing what could go wrong.

I am really anxious to see just how big he really is. 10 lbs 13 oz??? Really, who has kids that big, and to think that is not even at full term. I will not be surprised if he is actually in the 9's though. We have determined that he has some chubby cheeks from looking at the ultrasound. I can not wait to see him and meet him. Nate thinks he will be born with a lot of dark hair, me I am thinking he may be more blond to start off with (like me, ok actually I was more bald then blond)but there is no way he should be bald with all the reflux I have been having. Both Kaden and Ava had the dark hair, like Nate when he was born. I am just getting very excited!!! I do have some shopping to finish this weekend before he comes. Man, did I put things off.

So, Monday we will have our new addition. I am excited for Kaden to meet him and see that our life will go back to "normal" shortly after. I worry for him and what he is thinking is going to happen after Brody is born. Today he did go through one of his toy boxes and showed me what toys are his and the ONE toy Brody can play with. I did get him talked into letting Brody play with more, it was kind of cute. I am not sure how cute it will be later when they are fighting over the toys, but for now I can smile at it.

So stay tuned, and Monday we should be able to post about Mr. Brody.

Good News...

First of all, I am sorry that I didn't keep everyone updated. I am very tired and coming down with something...probably just a cold but I feel horrible. However it comes and goes and since we have been home it has come and not gone away. Oh, yeah that brings me to this...WE ARE HOME!!! I was very surprised, something I wasn't expecting. The doctor that was on the day that Ava passed, was actually in the PICU today. He came down to the surgery waiting room and asked us if we would feel comfortable taking Kaden home today if it was ok with the surgeon. Of course we said "YES".

Today started very early for us with little sleep from the night. I was very proud of Kaden though. He was in a great mood from the start. We got to the hospital and he had a blast playing with all the toys in the waiting room. They called us back and he was such a big boy...no tears!!! He might actually be getting the hang of all this hospital business : ). We had actually made a trip to the ER Sunday morning because his mickey-button had come out sometime before we woke up. The hole closes up so fast, and I wasn't able to get the replacement in. They got in in pretty easily though in the ER. Ok, so back to today. One of us was able to walk back with Kaden until he was sedated. I let Nate go thinking I might be too anxious. The OR nurse was amazing and Kaden really warmed up to her. She told him to tell mommy bye and he did without hesitation. I gave him kisses and a hug and then he looked at Nate and told him "bye-bye." He wasn't nervous at all. Nate still walked back with him and told me he was a big boy the whole time.

After we heard that we were able to take him home we met him outside of the recovery room. He was so drowsy and not in the same great mood he had been in. In fact, I think he hit me like...three times, just because. Or maybe he was mad at me for letting him go back there...who knows.

So to the good news...awhile back we heard that Kaden's vocal chords are paralyzed closed (letting him make noise, but not get air past them). We were told that most likely Kaden will always need a trach, but that he could come off the vent. Well, today after the bronch and another procedure (do not know how to spell) they found that Kaden had some scar tissue that went from one side of his vocal chords to the other. They cut that out. He also had some tissue built up that they cut out from his trachea. The surgeon stated that she believes that his vocal chords might work and that she wants to do another scope sometime soon when he is awake to see how well, if at all they work. She continued by saying that she is going to talk to Kaden's vent doc and recommend that we work hard at getting him off the vent and if everything goes well with the next scope that we start working on weaning him from the trach as well. I know this is probably coming out to be very confusing. I guess I am just saying that there is a possibility that Kaden can come off the vent and get rid of the trach. I do not know how to explain how happy Nate and I were to here this. I can not wait to be able to get this other scope done...expect for the fact that I know that Kaden will be very, very upset.

I wish I had my camera later on today. We stopped at Nebraska Furniture Mart and Kaden was riding in the cart. He was so grouchy, I can't blame him really. He ended up leaning over the handle and put his head on my belly. I look down a little later and he was out. So here I am, leaning over a cart, Kaden has his head on my belly (drooling may I add) and pushing it around without trying to disturb him. Very comfortable may I add. Nate tried to switch spots with me, but I guess his "belly" wasn't cutting it because Kaden woke up, reached for me and feel back to sleep on the belly.

I do have pictures that I need to get posted. I know I take forever to do this, but I will get it done one day. I am sorry if this is confusing or does not make sense, but I am too tired to proof read it.