Homecoming

Finally, our little Bradley got to come home today. I tried not to let myself get excited about it just in case it didn't really happen today--the nurses kept saying "don't get your hopes up" when they told us he might be discharged this weekend. But he is home at last! It didn't really sink in until I got to sit and snuggle with him for the first time. I sat on the couch with him and looked at him in his new outfit and soft blanket and finally felt like the whole ordeal was over with and it felt so good to let all the emotions go. This has been a great lesson in patience, faith, and hope. Thank you for all of your support, prayers, concern, and encouragement over these past two weeks. It helped us get through this in one piece.

Here are some pictures from today:

This is the outfit we brought to bring him home in. He looked so sweet and we had him all buckled in the car seat ready to go, and then he spit up all over.

Luckily I brought two outfits (one size Newborn and one 0 - 3 Months), so this is Brad in outfit Number Two.

Miranda saw him last night at the hospital through the NICU window, but this was her first time meeting her baby brother. She had a sweet little look on her face the whole time. She will be a good big sister and helper for mom!

In this picture Jeremy is explaining to Miranda that her baby brother doesn't have any teeth yet.

Now we can't wait to spend a few days at home, just enjoying our little family of four!

Yesterday I went and saw Bradley four times at the hospital. It's been great to have the support of family to go with me since Jeremy's been back to work and can usually only make it to the hospital at night to see Brad.

Anyway, Brad's doing pretty well, but he was struggling to eat on most of the feedings. He acted like he wanted to eat, but didn't feel well and I think his tummy or the NG Tube or probably both were bugging him.

The 2:00 feeding was the worst. He just struggled and struggled to finish his bottle and I finally coaxed him into eating everything but about a fourth of an ounce, but no matter how little the amount that's left, they want him to eat every drop. So the nurse came over and was trying to help him finish and he was crying and not wanting it and she kept threatening to just put the remainder milk through the NG Tube. But I did NOT want to start all over again with the NG Tube because even though it was still in, he hadn't needed to use it for 24 hours. (One of the requirements for him to come home is to have all his feedings by bottle only (no tube) for 48 to 72 hours.) So I kept being an annoying mother and stressing how I didn't want them to use the tube and to just keep trying the bottle. And the nurse kept being an annoying nurse and saying how he had spent an hour eating when they only are supposed to give them half an hour to eat anyway. In the end, she sort of gave up and I left worried that the next feeding he might need it. He didn't, thank goodness, and the rest of the night he ate really good for the night shift nurse and today's nurse. They took the tube out this morning and he looks great.

Jeremy and I had to watch a CPR video last night and we had Grandpa Mark bring his carseat because they have them do a "Carseat Test" where they watch their oxygen levels while they sit in their carseat for two hours. Brad passed that test and a hearing test, so it looks like we're hopefully on track to bring him home this weekend! He keeps having a small issue with gaining weight, so it's sort of dependant on that now.

It's been nice to be close to the hospital at my parent's house, but we're going to come home tonight. It's been hard on Miranda for all the changes going on, and she's ready to go home I think. I forgot my camera's SD card at home in the computer, so I'll try and post some pictures tonight or tomorrow!

Since yesterday we have been staying with Heidi's parents in Cottonwood Heights. The commute was killer from Lehi to the hospital, and this has been nice to be so much closer to go see Brad. Heidi even went three times today to see him.

Overall, he's still doing well. He's not taking any medication necessarily, and his breathing has been pretty good, just with one little episode today. He hasn't gained weight for two days, but he's just an ounce under eight pounds, so they started adding extra calories to the breast milk to help him gain weight faster. Right now he has what is called an NG Tube to help with the feedings. It's a small hose that goes in one nostril and all the way to the stomach. When he can't finish all his bottle or if he's too tired to even take a bottle, they just feed him the milk straight through the tube. It's a lot of work for him to drink all the milk he needs to in order to gain weight and go home soon. The doctor said it is the equivalent of an adult having to drink 3 to 4 liters every three hours. I hate to see the NG Tube in him, though. I asked the nurse about it and she said it 'supposedly' doesn't bother babies that bad. I said, "That's funny, because I have had one and it was terrible." You feel it all the way in the back of your nose and the back of your throat every time you move your head or swallow or anything. And when they insert it, it triggers a gag reflex that is not fun, either.

So I'm hoping he will take his bottle feedings well tonight and tomorrow morning, and maybe they'll be able to remove the NG Tube soon. It's been fun the past couple of days I've gone with Jeremy at night and then during the day with either Holli, Merilynn, or Ranee. It's really neat for them to be able to hold him for the first time. I'll try and take pictures tomorrow to post...

One Week Old

Brad is one week old today. This week has been a blur. It feels weird, like there's still something I need to do in order to bring him home. But it's not up to me. Talking with the doctor and the nurses, it sounds like it won't be until this weekend when he can come home. And they aren't giving us dates, we're just adding up the time it's going to take for him to meet all his goals before being discharged.

He was so awake after we fed him today, we got the first picture of him with his eyes open wide. (I didn't want to use the flash on the camera, so the color is a little weird.) We also got a picture of him in a little outfit. He sleeps a lot better now that he can be wrapped up all nice and cozy in a blanket.

Little Yellow Ducks

Today we went for Brad's 11:00 feeding. (He gets a bottle every three hours.) We were a little bit late because of the snow, and the nurse had just finished changing his diaper, which they usually let us 'help' do. Then she asked if I wanted to dress him in a little outfit with yellow ducks on it. This is the first time the baby has been able to wear clothes because he has had to be under special lights to help his jaundice levels go down. It was fun to see him in a little outfit, and then she quickly wrapped him up in a blanket so we could feed him.
Other good news is that the doctor increased the amount of food he can have in each bottle. He's been tolerating his feedings well and is hungry, so that makes us all happy. The bad news is, it looks like it might not be the beginning of this week when he comes home. The doctor said once the amount in the bottle is increased, babies usually have to go back on oxygen for a few days. So, we're still being patient and just grateful that he's getting better every day!

Bradley Update

Little Bradley is making progress, slowly but surely. On Thursday they took out the arterial line that was in his belly button, so that meant we could hold him. The doctors also started to take him off of the sedation medicine, so it has been so fun to go and hold him and just stare at him and his little newborn faces that he makes.
Today was a fun surprise when we walked in the NICU and he was moved from the back room where the more serious cases are. He is no longer needing oxygen support, also. And his doctor started prescribing small amounts of breast milk for him to consume from a bottle. He's doing really well with the bottle feedings and as long as he can keep his breathing under control, they will increase the amount he can have. They also told us today that we can help change his diaper and feed him his bottle. We brought the camera to take a picture, but he finished it so quickly and we were so excited by it all that we forgot to take a picture of him eating, but we'll get one sometime! It was so cute, the minute he got the bottle, he was so happy and pretty much immediately fell asleep, he was so content. He even gave us a little 'smile'. Here are a couple more pictures. This first one is from today. (They had to put a PICC line in his head.)

Our Little Buddy

Monday January 19th at 8:00 am we welcomed Bradley Douglas Lloyd into our family. Heidi is doing very well but Brad has had a few complications.

Miranda came to visit Mom and baby brother but she only got to see mom.

Brad is doing a lot better now and he should be coming home the first of next week. They took him off the ventilator last night and he continues to improve every time we see him.

We wanted to thank everyone who came by to show support and for everyone who kept us in their prayers as well. Brad is doing much better!

Not Nesting

Jeremy says I'm "nesting". I hate when he says that. I prefer the term "preparing". "Nesting" makes me think of our family dog, Tootsie, when she was pregnant, panting and scratching for hours at the blankets in her cardboard box to fluff them up. My sisters and I asked our mom what she was doing, and my mom said she was "nesting". That's what I think of when I hear that term.
So, anyway. We have been preparing for the baby, and we're mostly ready. I think it's like preparing for your wedding or even for Christmas, though, you could just keep adding projects and never be really be ready, no matter when the Big Day is--not to mention emotionally and mentally ready, too. Only five more days to go, ready or not!
Jeremy's way more excited and ready than me, but he's always been that way about kids. I love that he's such a natural at being a dad. He helps me feel more at peace about the new arrival and the changes our baby boy will bring.
I am excited about the projects we've done to get ready, too. Here are some details:

This is something I didn't have with Miranda, but I thought would be nice, especially for a winter baby. I don't know what this is called exactly, but I call it a car seat tent. It's made out of super soft white fleece with blue argyle straps on the handle. My mom sewed it for me and whipped it up in about 20 minutes. I think I'll really like it. Miranda has been playing with it, and putting her dollies in and out of it.


These are pictures of the nursery. I love how it turned out. It was a lot of planning and designing how to change it into a "boy theme" while working with the black furniture and the red rocker. And to keep it within budget. I shopped for the perfect fabric for a long time, and finally found the print with dots that had red in them. I wanted it to be modern but still juvenile, and I wanted to bring in other colors than just having red, black, and white. I like the dog theme, and I like that it's a subtle dog theme, too, not over-the-top. I painted the dog pictures and re-vamped Miranda's crib mobile with the puppies, but my mother-in-law Merilynn, sewed all the pieces--the diaper stacker, the crib bumper, the crib skirt, and the table linens. She did it in less than two days and didn't use any patterns or anything. She is so talented and it all turned out perfect.





On the diaper stacker, I used a drawing from one of my paintings to use as a pattern for embroidering the dog detail.

"Fried Green Tomatoes"

There is a little spot on the pond behind our house where the water doesn't freeze and the ducks all gather there. But on these cold, cold nights, I wake up and check to see if maybe the water has completely frozen overnight, and I think of the quote from Fried Green Tomotoes:


Ruth: I love your stories. Tell me a story, Idgie. Go on, you old bee charmer. Tell me a good tall tale. Tell me the one about the lake.

Idgie: What lake?

Ruth: The one that use to be here.

Idgie: Well, that was just a lie.

Ruth: I know that, fool. Tell me anyway. Tell me a story.

Idgie: Uh. One time... there was this lake... And it was right outside of town. We used to go fishing and swimming and canoeing in it. And, uh, see, one November, this big flock of ducks came in and landed on that lake. And then the temperature dropped so fast that the lake just froze right there. And they... er... the ducks... they... flew off, you see, and they took that lake right with them. Now they say that lake is somewhere over in Georgia. Can you imagine that?

Big Girl Bedroom

This is Miranda on Christmas morning when we showed her her new "Big Girl" bed and bedroom. She loves it. I cannot believe how easy the transition has been. I hope she adjusts this easily to a new brother in two weeks...

Daddy's Little Helper

2009 and Other Numbers

Here we are in 2009! Jeremy did this picture--he calls it "Year of the Oxbama".
Now that it's 1/2009, we've been thinking about some other numbers in our life right now. Here are some:
37 Weeks - Pregnant for Heidi
21 Months- Age of our Mandy Mae
2nd Year - Jeremy is Top Salesman at his work
19th - The day the baby is coming!
0 - Times Miranda has gotten out of her "big girl room" since switching her from the crib (yea!)
1 - Christmas present still to buy (Hey--take advantage of relatives being out of town for the holidays and shop when the stores aren't packed!)
22 - Babies born in our ward in 2008
$60/Month - Amount we're saving by switching to Geico last week (seriously!)