Superwoman

I wish I could take a picture of the scene before me.  Cristy is sitting in the NICU with Branson sleeping up on her chest, she's pumping milk for him, and text messaging and checking her email on her phone.  Normally I would tell her to put the phone down and rest, but the lactation specialist told us that she would pump more if she was distracted.  So, we'll let this one slide.  

But next time you see her, tell her to take it easy.  

Improving gradually

So, it's been quite a week. Branson is now officially one week old! (as of last night at 11pm) 

His stay in the NICU has been relatively free of complications. He's breathing on his own (no oxygen), keeping down almost all his food (babies spit up, it's normal), and has graduated up to his own little "condo".  The incubator pictured below looks like a step down, but it's actually a better place for him to live.  He can regulate his own temperature, and he's slightly more protected from all the bugs that live in the hospital. He's also been gaining weight like a champ. He's up to 2010 grams (he was born at 1963 grams).

We're really thankful that he's here at UNC.  It's a little weird to spend so much time at the same place that we work and not have any real clinical responsibilities other than taking care of this little guy.  But we've learned a lot about our home institution.  It's a fantastic place!  The nurses, residents, and attendings in the NICU are phenomenal.  What a blessing.

So, that's the scoop for the day.  I'll post another video and some pictures later today.

I get clothes now, too!

I am the Incubator!!

First smile!

Happy Mommy

Off the oxygen

Little B is finally free from the oxygen. Breathing just fine on his own today and doing a little better with feeding too.  It's amazing what a difference a day makes.  He looks so much stronger.  

Cristy's mom and sister were here most of the day to help out around the house.  I took Caroline to Little Gym this morning so she could burn off a little pent up energy.  I can't wait for her to actually see Branson in person, but that won't be for several weeks.  Until then, he just keeps "giving" her presents (two stuffed animals so far) so that she'll be really happy to have him around in a few weeks.  

Thanks to everyone for all the beautiful flowers.  They're at home now and really making the house smell oh-so-fresh.

Blue Lights

Not long now

We're leaving the hospital in a few short hours.  The team rounded this morning and gave us the all clear.  Unfortunately, little B will still be hanging out in the NICU for a few more weeks.  We're going to spend some time with him this morning before heading home.  

I plan to keep the blog updated regularly on his progress.  I'll keep adding pictures and video as I get them, so please check back if you're interested.  

Thanks again to everyone!  I couldn't even begin to name all the people that have been so kind to us this last week.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  

Now it's my turn....

Hallelujah!!!  Praise the Lord!  This is Cristy here, and I'm back in the land of the living.  I am filled with praise and thankfulness that God has and is carrying us through this.  I can't thank you enough for your prayers and support....it's like baby Branson got a little bit fatter with every prayer!  It is such a miracle that he weighed over 4 pounds!  Truly amazing.

I am feeling so much better.  We are thrilled that little B is doing well and that we will be going home tomorrow.  It will be hard to leave him here in the hospital but it will be good to be home. Now we've just got to focus on full recovery of my liver, successful pumping of breastmilk, and continued prayer that Branson has an uneventful first few weeks of life in the NICU.  Please pray for his health, my endurance, and a full, speedy recovery of my body so I can be a good mommy.  And pray that our family will continue to be strengthened in the Lord that we might be strong witnesses to the power of God.  Praise the King!!!

Split Pea Soup

Good stuff. The fact that Cristy is eating split pea soup is amazing. She's back to eating semi-regular food, walking around on her own, and feeling 1000% better.

We woke up this morning after moving to our new room. The OB team rounded and gave us good news about her lab results. Still slowly trending down. We are so thankful for that. Hopefully she'll be discharged tomorrow morning, as planned.

We had a good time with Branson this morning. Cristy got to hold him again for about an hour. The NICU team rounded on him and gave us more encouraging news. He has looked great since landing in the NICU. Still, a NICU course can be long with several ups and downs along the way. I had a great conversation with a friend who has a set of twins born at 29 weeks who are still in the NICU. They're getting along great, but it hasn't been without a few scares.

We had a nice visit this morning from Nat Stine and Dave Ward, two pastors from our church. Good prayers. Good times. Good friends. Thanks.

Getting better all the time...

Cristy is feeling much better now.  We've been moved off of Labor & Delivery to a "normal" hospital bed.  No more magnesium. She already feels much, much better than before. Some of the lab work that they are following is also improving. Feels like we're finally seeing a healthy Cristy again.  I'm very thankful for that.  

She actually got to hold little Branson before we changed rooms. He's still in the NICU, but he is doing great.  We'll start feeding him tomorrow.  He's off the CPAP device to support his airway and just getting a little extra oxygen when he needs it.  

We're looking forward to seeing Caroline again tomorrow. Unfortunately, she's too young to go to the NICU so she'll have to wait a few weeks to see Branson.  

Thanks for all the flowers, cards, and offers for meals.  We will definitely take you up on it.  Hopefully Cristy will be getting out of the hospital on Friday.  We'll keep updating the website!  Add it to your feed reader or you can subscribe for email updates.  (If you don't use Google Reader for checking RSS feeds or news websites regularly then you're missing out.)

Thanks and good night!

3 hours to go

It's 8pm.  Only three more hours on magnesium.  Go Cristy go!!  Fight fight fight!!

Meanwhile, little Branson and I are going to watch UNC beat up on Miami.  I'm sure they'll have the game on in the NICU.  He's a huge fan and might raise a stink (in so many ways) if he can't see the game. 

Little hands

I got the chance to hold Branson for about 45 minutes earlier today.  They encourage "kangaroo kare" in the NICU.  (I don't know if care is spelled with a "k" but it seems like it should be.)  This is where a family member has regular skin to skin contact with the baby, allowing him to feel the warmth, get used to the rise and fall of my chest, and feel my heartbeat and breath.  There are actually studies showing this to be beneficial to babies' health.  So I got an excuse to go snuggle for a little while.

He's still doing well.  He needs a little extra oxygen from time to time, but overall we're very pleased with his progress.

Cristy's not doing quite as well.  I don't know exactly what is going on.  I still attribute how she feels to the magnesium, so hopefully by tomorrow things will be looking up.  She's just really tired, nauseous, and overall feeling like crap.  We're trying to give her lots of love and attention.  I'm sure she'd love to see her friends, but with the way she's feeling I don't think it's a good idea to have any visitors just yet.  Please continue to pray for her.

Praise

Branson's still doing great this morning.  He's off oxygen.  I sat in with the NICU team on their rounds this morning.  He was a pretty boring case (which is very good).  There's not much that they need to do right now except continue to give him nutrition a little bit at a time.  

 

Cristy's doing okay today as well.  She's still not close to 100%.  Her liver function tests have been out of whack for the last few days.  They still haven't really come down to normal levels yet, so please continue to pray for her recovery.  My expectation is that she will start feeling better after the magnesium is turned off.  

All in all, we are joyous and thankful that Branson is as healthy as he is right now.  What a blessing that he is almost 4 1/2 pounds!  All your prayers have really paid off.  

Look at all that hair!

Touchdown!

Well, we couldn't have asked for a better situation than we had tonight.  Cristy's labor progressed along steadily.  She wasn't in too much pain.  And when we were ready to have the baby she was clutch.  Honestly, she acted like she'd done this once before.

When Branson was delivered he pretty much started crying right away.  This is in stark contrast to Caroline who gave us nearly a full minute of silence after she was born.  She isn't quiet anymore.

The NICU team did a great job looking after him immediately.  He pinked up and started peeing all over everything.  (That's my boy!)  Cristy had a chance to hold him right away.  Then he was off to the NICU for a little extra TLC. 

Cristy's still worn out from the whole affair.  They're going to keep her on magnesium until tomorrow night just as a precaution to prevent complications from preeclampsia.  It makes her feel like crap, but it's the right thing to do.  After that I expect her to start feeling much better.

Thanks again to everyone for all your prayers over the last few days.  We are so thankful for his and Cristy's health right now.  Please continue to pray that he would have an uneventful course in the hospital and we would be able to bring him home healthy very soon.  

Love my mommy...

Born 11:09pm, 1/22/08, 4 lbs 5 oz, healthy!

Getting a little closer now

Water is broken now. Baby looks great on the monitor. We're all
getting ready.

"I can't wait to see my little brother!!"

Tuesday evening

Cristy is doing well.  Tomorrow morning she'll be 32 weeks pregnant.  However, at the rate we're going I doubt she'll still be pregnant tomorrow morning.  Due to some complications, her doctors have decided that we need to go ahead and deliver for her safety and the safety of Baby Branson.  

The good news is that the baby looks great.  She's in the middle of induction right now.  At this rate, I imagine there will be some good news within the next few hours!

The difficult thing is that he'll only be 32 weeks at delivery, which means his little lungs and other organs won't be quite as developed as we would like.  But he's been getting some medicine that will help speed up the maturation process so he'll be ready to fight when the time comes.  Even still, we predict a good 4 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  This is one of the best NICU's in the country so we're very confident that he'll be in good hands.   As soon as we have pictures of him, we'll share.  Until then please enjoy some selections from UNC's defeat of Dook in football back in November!

Baby Branson is almost here

We created this to keep everyone informed about what is going on with Cristy and Baby Branson (or Little Branson, as the blog title suggests).  I'll try to keep it updated as things go along.  Please feel free to email Cristy or me.  We have so much appreciated everyone's concern, prayers, and well wishes.