Home for Christmas

Brodie got out of the ICU on Monday the 22nd. It didn't take long for him to get back to his happy self. However he does seem to be in more pain after this surgery than the first one. But that should all go away in about a week.

Being in the hospital for so long, makes you hate anything that looks like it was hospital issued, so Joe and I decided that we were going to make blankets for all the kids in the cardiac unit for Christmas.

Boys Blankets

baby boys blanket

baby girls blanket

Brodie and his "sleigh" getting reading to pass out all of our presents, we made 14 blankets for all the kids in Inpatient and the CICU.

On Christmas Eve our doctor surprised us with the best Christmas present of all. He said that we were getting discharged and that we would be spending Christmas at home. I think that Brodie was the most excited about being home. His little eyes lit up right away and he just couldn't stop smiling. That was followed by the longest nap i have ever seen him take.

Christmas morning

What a spoiled boy

My new diaper bag

I couldn't resist, isn't he the cutest angry elf

Joe's parents, nany and poppy

Day two in ICU

Today Brodie has continued to make improvements. This morning he was taken off of the ventilator. He is now breathing on his own and the doctors are very pleased with his progress. His eyes are open most of the time, and when Joe or I are near him, he just wants to touch us. This evening he would only be quiet if he held my hand. Despite everything he has been through, he still doesn't cry. although he will growl occasionally.

Back in the hospital

Well, unfortunately we have found ourselves back in AI DuPont. On Monday the 16th I received a call from Dr. Goudy, Brodies cardiologist. They were reviewing an echo that Brodie had just had in one of his outpatient check ups. They were concerned with some of the measurements. They asked us to come in for a follow up ECHO. Unfortunately the area they needed to see was at an impossible angle, so they scheduled us for a CT SCAN the following day. So yesterday at 9:00 AM we arrived to have our scan. The scan revealed that the Aorta was severely pinched in one area creating a massive amount of pressure on his left and only ventricle. This could easily cause a heart attack from something as simple as crying. The narrowing was a result of complications from his previous surgery. They scheduled us for surgery first thing this morning and had to go back in and open up and patch that area. Brodie was in surgery from 8:45am to 1:30pm. When he came out we were able to see him for just a few minutes while they were trying to admit him into CICU. Once he was settled in we were able to spend much more time with him. He looks like he handled everything very well. I think that he looks much better than he did after his last surgery. After Joe and I ate dinner we got to go back and see him again. They let him wake up, and are only keeping him under light sedation. His eyes are open and he recognized Joe and me immediately. He is still fully hooked up to pain meds so he shouldn't be in any kind of pain, however he does look somewhat uncomfortable because of all the wires and tubes.

The day before, he was such a trooper during all the tests.

Just after surgery in CICU

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Brodie had to get all Bundled up to go look at Christmas trees

After careful searching we found the perfect one

Family photo with our first Christmas tree

Test driving one of the new presents



He is one spoiled boy

Might as well start at the beginning

Well Mom, you said that I should write this all down before I forget it. So here it goes. On October 7th at 1:30 AM I started having Contractions. I wanted to wait to wake Joe up until they were ten minutes apart. That surprisingly only took 45 minutes. Now at about 2:15 am we are packing our hospital bag frantically and heading to the hospital. But not before Joe got his coffee. Thank god Dunkin Donuts are open 24 hours. By the time we filled out all the papers, and got into our room it was almost 4:00 am. I then got an epiderdal, and fell asleep for the next two and a half hours. When i woke up my mom was in the room and I was starting to feel alot of pressure. Not long after I started pushing. Brodie was born at 8:30 AM.The First thing he did was stretch his arms up by his face, and that's were they stayed for the rest of the day. Brodie was not a fan of being bundled.

Everything was perfect for about 24 hours. We had lots of visitors and Little Brodie turned out to be quit the entertainer. On October 8th his pediatrician came to see him. Dr. Cohn thought he heard a slight heart murmur, but assured us it was nothing to worry about. However to error on the side of caution he ordered and ECHO. That was when we found out that Brodie was born with a single ventricle Heart and would require surgery. The next 24 hours was the scariest time of my life. He was immediately transferred the Christana's NICU, where he waited to be transported to another hospital.

We Arrived at A.I. Dupont children's hospital where we met Dr. Goudy who is now Brodie's Cardiologist. Everyone in the hospital were unbelievably nice to us. We were given a room in the Neo-natal cardiac center. Joe and I were able to stay there and have Brodie in our room, So even though we were in a hospital, we still got to be a family

My mom had only planned on being in town for a week, but she spent every day that she was here with us at A.I. Dupont.

After about a week at Dupont, they told we could put our own clothes on Brodie. That was a big day for us. I think I was ready to burn those hospital gowns. This was Brodie's first outfit. It lasted about five minutes, then he pooped on it.

Brit came to visit me as often as she could, which broke up the solitude of being stuck in a bright yellow room that was 30x40 feet. At this point it began to feel like we were in jail.

Finally after days of complaining, they told us we could leave the Cardiac center as long as we stayed in the hospital. This was probably the most exciting day of my life. For the next few days Brodie lived in his stroller.

Before we knew it the Cardiac center felt like home. Joe was riding everyday, because Dupont was only about 15 minutes from Delaware park. At this point we had been in Dupont for over two weeks, and they had finally scheduled Brodie's surgery

After surgery Brodie spent 5 days in CICU. We were grateful to be out of surgery, but
frustrated because we were not allowed to touch him. Joe and I spent about 20 hours a day in there sitting next to him.

Once he was able to come back to our room, we had about 5 days worth of holding to make up for.

We had hoped to be home before Halloween, but we weren't, so we got dressed up in the hospital anyways.

On November 2nd we were discharged and got to bring Brodie home for the first time. Soon after his wound had closed up, we got to give Brodie is first real bath. This quickly became his favorite activity

Our little apartment was pretty crowded, so tummy gummy and sweatpea went to Florida to live at grandmas.

Being in the hospital, meant lots of visitors and lots of gifts. This kid now officially has everything you can think of.

So now Brodie is fully adjusted to being home. At 7 weeks old, he started sleeping through the night. and at 8 weeks he reached 8 lbs. He is spoiled rotten and cracks me up all the time.