A Happy, Happy Birthday

You can see the scar from his latest surgery.

Holding Brandon, even while he was on the ventilator.

Brandon and Katelyn turned 4 months old on the 10th. It was a good day. It’s still weird to have babies that are four months old but are only 1 month older than full-term.

The week before his 4-month mark, Brandon saw a lot of changes to his ventilator. At first so many changes really concerned us but, after a little digging, we learned that it was more a difference of opinions among the doctors that were caring for Brandon than it was a sign of a major problem.

On the night of the 9th they decided that Brandon was ready and they extubated him. He is now off the ventilator. For the most part he has done well since being taken off the ventilator. However there have been some ups and downs. Because he has spent so much time on a ventilator his lungs are pretty damaged. He has pulmonary hypertension and it causes a lot of problems with his breathing. The interesting thing about his lung condition is no one knows what long-term effects it will have. Lungs grow and develop for up to 12 years so there is a lot of time to heal. However, Brandon has a pretty severe case of chronic lung disease. I still feel confident that he will make a good recovery but it is likely that he will experience a lot of asthma like symptoms and be very susceptible to pneumonia. The doctors just say he probably won’t ever be a long distance runner, but I think that has a lot more to do with the genes his dad gave him.

Considering all of the potential problems these babies could have had, I consider ourselves really blessed. I also believe that all your prayers have had a big impact. I have high hopes for Brandon and Katleyn’s future. I joke about Brandon being a star football player because he is turning out to be a pretty big looking kid. Because of everything I have seen him conquer, while I understand that his lungs would make this a surprising outcome, I believe it is still possible.

Give me some of that Popcorn!

Katelyn continues to do well and she continues to keep us up in the night. She seems to have a lot of problem with reflux and gas so she doesn’t sleep well after eating. She seems to do OK if she is held upright. As you can imagine this leads to some long nights.
Blake and Derek have done really well with Katleyn home. They don’t show any signs of jealousy and they are great big brothers. They rush to see what is wrong any time she cries. They love to help. They are very gentle and love to give her hugs and kisses. They often tell us how cute she is and how much they love her. They too are anxious to bring Brandon home. It is now even harder because it is RSV season, so they have closed the NICU at Primary Children’s to siblings.