Wednesday, March 18, 2009

March Update

It's mid-March. Braden has finally passed the 10 lb. mark, most likely due to his rediscovered love of nursing. We are loving the baby chub we see him developing. He has recently discovered the "baby" in the mirror, smiling and talking to himself. Braden is continuing to show us his personality, laid back and easy to please, loving a good laugh and entertainment, a cuddle bug.

This past week, Braden has shown marked improvement in neck strength while doing tummy time. I have spoken with several people lately that weren't understanding Braden's challenges in that department. Basically, since Braden's pacemaker is placed in his abdomen, right under the skin, above his bellybutton, time spent on his belly is uncomfortable. But, that is the way to develop neck strength and the skills he will eventually need to start crawling some day. So. . . we persist with the dreaded tummy time. He doesn't detest it like he did so he must be getting used to the pressure on the pacer unit. We just received the equipment to call in Braden's pacemaker to check battery life and activity. It is so easy to feel normal with him these days. We are of course grateful for the technology, but receiving the equipment was a unwelcome reminder of his continued dependence on the pacer.

I met another mom this week who has a baby with physical challenges. It was a breath of fresh air to compare stories and to have that mutual understanding of a mother's heart. This family has walked a long road too and they continue to face difficult days. Without breaching their privacy, I'd like to ask people to please pray for this mom, her baby and family.

Braden was actually sick with a fever last Thursday and thankfully it seemed to be a 24 hour bug. Just as a precaution, he ended up on the yucky "pink stuff" (antibiotic) and it is really a fun job to try to get that dose in him. He has been taking meds orally for a long time so he is quite experienced with the funny tastes, BUT, he has put his little foot down on this one and has invented new ways to get it out as quick as we put it in. TEN DAYS of this. Yikes! At least we can give the girls their meds with marshmallows (yes, we really do that), but we're kind of stuck with him. Oh the fun!

1 comment:

Hydee said...

Oh the dreaded medicine. I remember crying after giving super-yucky white stuff to one of our babies. If you need any help or support over the next 5 days or so just call. I'll come be the yucky-medicine administrator if you need it, you can be the super-cool mom and rescues him. Oh wait, you're already the super-cool mom!