The Brothers Finally Meet!!

We were finally fortunate enough to take Braden to meet his baby brother on Saturday! :) It was AWESOME!! We were not 100% sure that Braden would even know what was going on but he caught on very quickly. As soon as we checked him in and scrubbed him in, we headed into the nursery. We went over to Brant's bed and right away he said "Baby Brant". :) He went straight for the isolette and wanted to look in. It was the most precious thing, and a moment that we will remember forever!

We did take Brant out and we sat down so Braden could see him. He was pretty mesmerized and we let him touch his feet. :) When it was time to go we put Brant back into the isolette and we covered it up. Braden just started crying. It broke my heart b.c it was at that moment that I think we realized that he knew what was going on. He kept saying "Bye Brant, Bye Brant". I think they will be best friends for life!! That is my prayer at least! :)

It was a short visit but a much needed one. Siblings only get 15 min visits per week but I think it really helped put into perspective that Brant is actually HERE now...and not inside my belly anymore. :)

The first time they saw one another. It almost looks like Brant is waving at Braden in this pic! :)
We love you precious boys! We cannot wait to start our life as a family of four at home all together! :)

A Cheesy Dinner...

During our 4 weeks in the NICU, we have been trying to keep life as normal for Braden as possible. :) So we still have dinner together as a family every night, and we keep his playtime, bath, and bedtime routines the same during the week. Then on the weekends we try to have as much fun as possible in between NICU visits. :) He has had to adjust some to one of us not being there all of the time, and to me not being able to pick him up...but I think he has done expectionally well considering we have been living 2 lives. :)

Friday night we took him on his first adventure to Chuck E Cheese, and it is safe to say he LOVED it! :) He was into everything about it from the games and the rides to actually getting to meet the mouse himself. :) I think it was a success. :)
Skee ball is the game for me! :) I love tokens! :) They let me do all kinds of fun things! What's up Bob the Builder? :)Hey Barney!I like to watch the show! :) The mouse came to visit me! :) I am pretty sure that Braden is looking forward to going back soon! :)

T-Shirt Fun To Welcome Brant....

I had wanted to make some shirts for my boys for the hospital when Brant was born. Since I did not think that I was going to be delivering 7 weeks early, I did not have the shirts ready by Week 32. :) When I found out I was being admitted to the hospital, one of the first things that I said was "I am so sad b.c I did not get to make those shirts!" :( That is such a Heidii thing to say. LOL! :)

I also got a little sad b.c I thought about the fact that I would not get to have the picture that I wanted....the one with my entire family in the hospital bed with me. I hated that I would not get to have the "one big happy family picture" b.c one of my babies would be in the NICU. So I decided really quickly that I would have to take other kinds of pictures instead.

Our sweet friends Amy, Jenny, and Jack ended up getting the shirts from my mom and putting them together for us. Amy and Jenny brought them to the hospital for me so that the boys could wear them. Thank you guys!!

Here are a few pics that we took just for fun. :)

NICU....Day 24

We are now in Day 24 of the NICU....and our sweet little boy has just hit 3 lbs!! YAY!!! We are thrilled by this progress as every single ounce is a milestone!! In Brant's case it is one step closer to going home each time he gains weight. He is such a little fighter!! :)

Some folks have asked me how I know that I am doing better after 3 1/2 weeks in the NICU. My only answer is that I cry a lot less...so I have to be doing better! HA! :) Those dang pregnancy hormones combined with NICU life and recovering from a c-section will get you every time! :)

Seriously though...it is so neat to see Brant take 8 bottles per day and do really well with them. It is a blessing to be off the feeding tube, and so cool to see him on "volume as tolerated" now. :) That pretty much means that he has to take a minimum of one ounce per feeding but he can take as much as he wants. So they give us a bottle full of 2 ounces (1/2 breastmilk and 1/2 preemie formula), and he just gets to eat to his hearts desire. LOVE IT!!

Some of my friends have also asked me what the hardest part of being in the NICU is, and outside of the obvious answers of it is exhausting, I am not a fan of living at the hospital, and my baby is not home with me...I have two others that come to mind. Two of the hardest things about the NICU for me are:

1) Watching babies around us get discharged each week. Babies come and babies go...and it is just so hard for me to see them go home. As happy as I am for those parents (b.c a lot of them we have gotten to know), it just reminds you that you are not going home yet...and you will be up here again tomorrow.

2) It is hard to walk into the hospital near the Women's Center and see the mom in the wheelchair with the nurse, holding her baby on her lap in the carseat, and the dad loading up the car with all of the their bags and goodies from the hospital...and eventually the baby. Then of course they take pictures of the baby in the car before the ride home, just like we did with Braden. That is hard to watch. I know it gets me a little more simply b.c that is EXACTLY how I was with Braden when he was born, and I had no idea how much I was taking for granted when I had a short 2 night stay in the hospital, and then I got to bring him home. You never know until you go through something completely different. But God is good...and every day it gets easier to go up there. He gives you some kind of supernatural strength. :)

Hopefully just a few more weeks until we get to bring our little man home. HOORAY!! :) Until then, we patiently wait. :)

Bless You, Thank You, and Squeal Fest...

Well the good news is that there are no excuses for Braden not being polite to everyone now. :) It is official...when you sneeze he says "Bless You", and when you give him something he says "Thank You". I especially like it when he adds the person's name to the end of it as well like "Thank You Mama". :) Too cute! So we should expect only the best manners from here on out! HA! :) I am sure that is something that we have to keep working on for years to come. :)

One other cute one that is so sweet is when he says "I Love You Jesus!" Melts my heart! :)

And he does know how to say "yes" now when he wants something (finally it is not JUST no). :) However, what he likes to do even more than saying "yes" is to just squeal in pure excitement...and that pretty much means the same thing! :)

Love all of the new things that come out of his mouth everyday. There is not a day that goes by that Chris and I don't look at one another and go "Did he really just say that?" So much fun! :)

Officially Shhhhh'ed....

Well Chris and I have officially been "shhhhed" by our 18 month old. HA! LOL! :)

I got to experience it first..so that was fun for me. :) I was cooking breakfast and I was talking and rattling off some story to Chris...and all of a sudden I hear Braden go "SHHHHHHHHHHH". I look over at his highchair and he has his finger over his mouth telling me to be quiet. WOW!! Really? He is a little too big for his britches sometimes but I could NOT stop laughing! :) I just looked at Chris and said "Did he REALLY just shush me?" HA!

Then yesterday we were sitting in the living room and Chris was talking. Braden looks at him and goes "Shhhh Dada!" Well ok sassy pants! :) It is seriously one of the funniest things ever but I try hard not to laugh in front of him. :)

Sometimes I cannot help it. :)

Three Weeks Old and Day 22 In The NICU.....

Our precious Brant turned 3 weeks old!! :) What a sweet baby he is. We are in LOVE! :)

I had mentioned in my last post that he was moved to the step down nursery...and what a good experience that has been. It is just so much more low key...much more like a postpartum nursery. It is nice b.c you do not feel like you are going into critical care whenever you walk in there every day. And the nurses let you spend as much time with your baby as you want...and leave you be while you enjoy them.

In honor of his birthday, I spent 5 hours up there with him today. I just cannot get enough of that sweet bundle. Sometimes I just sit there and watch him in amazement. He is such a fighter, and what a blessing God has given our family. This experience has made us take nothing for granted with our boys. I am sure that was one of the things that God wanted to teach us on this journey.

We think Brant is starting to look like Braden as a baby. :) His hair is light brown but it looks like it might fall out and come back in blonde too. It is lightening up. :)

We have great news to report on our sweet boy as of Day 22 in the NICU. :) He is doing so awesome!!
1) He is already on 8 bottles per day.....so that means that we can go up there at anytime and hold/feed him. It is the best!! :) He is doing a great job on the bottles...and they are very impressed. It is hard to remember that babies have to learn how to suck well...and they usually develop that around Week 34-36. He is 36 weeks on Tuesday...and he has pretty much mastered it by now.

2) The feeding tube is out!! HOORAY!! :) They usually leave it in for 24 hours after he starts taking bottles...and we are so excited that it is out. He does not have any tubes left. The only thing that he still has are the monitors that check his heart rate, pulse, and breathing. All of the babies have that in the NICU.

3) His warmer is turned down as low as it can go-to 27 degrees C. So that means he is doing a great job of staying warm. :) Once they get down to 27 and gain enough weight, they get to move into an open crib. We are hoping that is coming very soon!

4) He is still gaining weight! YAY! He is 3 lbs...and we are thrilled!! That was a milestone to us for some reason. Hopefully b.c it might mean he will gain more than an ounce a day. Plus the more weight he gains, the more food he gets, and the more he grows. :) We are setting our sights on 4 lbs now, and lots of good stuff happens then. :)

5) We were watching one of his liver numbers to make sure it came down under 1...and it did. :) It was at .7 yesterday...YAY!! :) Sometimes preemies can have immature livers so the liver panel numbers can be high until they grow a little more.

Again...we marvel at the power of prayer. I always knew that it was powerful but it has truly been amazing over these past few weeks. I have just never felt so covered by it like I do know. I have a peace that I have not felt before regarding any type of health issues. Thank you everyone...you are wonderful!!

Just a couple of pics of life in the NICU and our baby boy... :)

Brant's new nursery. We are nestled in the back corner with is kind of nice. :)
His new bedroom. :)

His little bed. Open crib coming soon... :)We have been able to give our little man 3 baths.. :)
All clean.....and tired now!! :) Those are preemie diapers by the way! :) Time to eat! :) In a milk coma.... :)Daddy time.....Love this pic of my little man. He looks so cuddly. :) I am three weeks old and getting bigger/stronger every day! :)

"BB" is not only for Brant Bugbee but for BIG BLESSING!!! We love you sweet boy! :)