another update

This morning, we spoke with the neonatal intensive care dr. who is taking care of Brayden. He says that he is doing well and breathing great on his own. He thinks that I'll actually get to hold him in a few days! Which makes me so happy. :-) His white blood cell count has been low, so we haven't been able to touch him, but can go into the NICU to see him as much as we want. He hasn't gained or lost any weight, which is good and they will start him slowly on breastmilk in the next few days to see how his tummy reacts to it.

In the meantime, I am still in the hospital but have been able to get around much more today. I have been up walking around quite a bit and was actually able to take a shower today. My dr thinks I may be able to head home tomorrow but honestly, I don't really feel like I'm in any rush to get home. I like being here where I know Brayden is safe and I can see him anytime I want. It's going to get quite a bit harder once we go home.

Benjamin still has not seen his little brother and I don't think he really knows he's a big brother yet. We've talked to him a little bit about it but he just kind of looks at us funny and then goes on with his normal day. I haven't seen the little guy since Saturday and have been missing him so much. I'll get to see him for a little bit this afternoon when Brian brings him up here to the hospital. I think he knows something is up but isn't quite sure what it is. So for now, he is just enjoying being spoiled by his grandparents.

Brian's mom and dad got here Sunday afternoon and it's been nice to have them here to help with Benjamin and with things around the house. My father-in-law will go home on Thursday but my mother-in-law is going to stay until Saturday and ride home with Brian's little brother Brady when he gets here tomorrow. Brian's other brother, Blake and his wife Andrea came into town first thing Sunday morning and left to go home Monday afternoon. They will return at a later time when Brayden is home and healthy.

We are all doing well and just praying that the Lord continues to watch over Brayden and help him grow to be a strong, healthy little boy. We are very much looking forward to bringing him home in a few weeks. I'll post pictures as soon as I can

A big surprise!

I woke up Saturday Jan. 2nd feeling like it was just another ordinary day. I wanted to run some errands and get some things done around the house. Then Brian and I went car shopping for a little bit. While we were looking at a car we want to buy, i started feeling really sick. Mainly just a really bad stomach ache and some nausea. I told him I needed to go home and lay down. The pain went away after a little bit but then quickly returned around 3pm and kept getting worse as the day went on. I tried to eat something and tried to take a nap but was just so restless. It's hard to describe the feeling I had but the closest thing I can say is that it just felt like someone was beating me in the stomach none stop and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. 7 hours later, I finally decided it was the best thing to go into the hospital just to be safe. So, we called up a friend and asked if she would keep Benjamin while we went to the hospital. She gladly said yes. :-) We arrive at the hospital a little after 10pm. They checked my blood pressure and the baby's heart rate. My blood pressure was off the charts, due to severe preeclampsia (pregnancy induced high blood pressure) and the baby's heart rate was only down to 70, where a normal heart rate is anywhere between 120-160. They quickly prepped me for surgery in case they needed to do an emergency c-section. Everything was a complete blur to me and it was all happening so fast that I didn't have time (or energy) to even comprehend what was going on. The next thing I know they are wheeling me into an OR and putting me to sleep. I woke up an hour and a half later in recovery as a mom of a premature infant boy.

Although, this wasn't at all how I wanted things to go this time, I am thankful that we are all doing okay. The drs have reassured me that it was a good thing that I came in when I did because if I hadn't come into the hospital, I would have had a seizure and Brayden would have died.

We thought that Brayden was going to have to be flown to AR Children's Hospital in Little Rock because he wasn't able to breathe on his own, however, that evening we had a bad snow storm and neither the helicopter or ambulance could make it here from LR so, Brayden was able to stay here. He is now off of the breathing machine and breathing well on his own. We still have a long road ahead of us but am so thankful he is healthy and alive! That is the most important thing.

People have been asking what caused this....basically having high blood pressure is what caused all of this to happen. My blood pressure only gets high when I am pregnant, for some reason, and Brayden was just not able to tolerate it as well as we though.

This was not at all what we expected, especially since I woke up feeling fine in the morning.

We don't know how long either of us will be in the hospital but we are just taking things one day at a time and thanking Jesus that we have another beautiful boy to call our own.

Brayden Seth VanAuken

born 01-02-2010 (exactly 2 months early)

at 10:52pm

3 lbs 2 oz

16 1/4 inches

Pictures to follow later

Thanks for all of your prayers. He's a strong little guy and such a fighter but we still have a long ways to go! I will keep you updated as much as I can.

Thanks so much

Love,

Brian, Andrea, Benjamin and Brayden VanAuken

Happy Birthday!

Today my baby turned 2! The past 2 years have literally flown by and it's so hard to realize he's 2 already.


12-19-2007


12-18-2009

Happy Birthday Little guy! I love you so much and look forward to many more years

Love,
Momma

As I prepare to have another baby in 4 months, I've been looking back at pictures of Benjamin when he was little. Just thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.

Fall Fun and 22 months

I love Fall. It's my favorite time of year. I love the weather, the leaves, the pumpkins, and the way my house feels on a cold fall evening. A few weeks ago, we went to McGarrah farms and picked pumpkins and went on a hay ride. Benjamin didn't really seem too interested in it but we had a nice day, nonetheless.


This past weekend, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came for a couple days to go the War Eagle Craft Fair. I hadn't seen my mother-in-law for 5 months and my sister-in-law for 3 1/2 months so it was nice to spend some time with them.


Today, Benjamin is 22 months old. Which means, he will be 2 in 2 months from today....and that also means Christmas is only 2 months away. It's so hard to believe how quickly kids grow up. I still remember seeing him take his first breathe, while the Lord, coincidentally, took mine away for a second. And now, he's almost 2...and going to be a big brother.

I am so thankful to be his mom and think it's the best job in the world! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

It's a...........

BOY! We were very surprised to hear that our little one is another boy, but are very happy and excited to meet him. We both were very convinced it was a girl, but there is no doubt that it's a boy. I'm excited that Benjamin will have a little brother to play with

.

It's a boy!

His feet

His face

baby update

I had my first OB appointment about a week and a half ago. Everything went great, and was surprisingly fast. They gave me some tips on what to do if my iron gets to low, like it did when I was pregnant with Benjamin, and gave me a due date of March 2, 2010, which happens to be my sister Lisa's birthday. So far I'm feeling pretty good, other than being extremely tired and look forward to meeting our little one in March.