Little Scuba!

Usually the nurses bathe Brecken, but this week we were allowed to give him a bath. I think we were more nervous then he was. It was a wonderful experience. His cords were taken off and his heart monitors stickers were removed. He looked perfect. At first he squirmed and cried, but once we began to pour the water over his body he began to calm down. He really enjoyed having water slowly poured over his head. He was adorable. He laid in the water cooing.





Earlier this week the doctors decided to turn down his Vapotherm (pressurized oxygen) again for the third time. He seemed to be doing well the first day with his oxygen at 2.5 liters, but by the second day he was squirming a lot, and he was pulling a lot with his chest so the doctors turned him back up to 3 liters. Tomorrow they are planning to turn him down again. We really don't have any high expectations that it will work again, but we are hoping that the new dieretic he is on will make a difference.

The main problem is that his kidneys are still premature and instead of telling his body to get rid of excess fluid, the fluid is left in his body. Therefore, he gets swollen and his lungs fill with fluid. The medication that he was on would basically tell his body to get rid of all the excess fluid. He would have HUGE wet diapers, to the point that he was need new clothes, blankets and sheets. The new medication that he is on is not as intense and does not pull all the fluid out of his body. We are hoping that it will make his weight loss and gain more stable.

{Swing, Swing, Swing}

Brecken is starting to wake up a lot more during the day so the nurses decided he might like to sit in a swing and look around. He was so *cute* he sat there sucking on his pajamas and staring at his little stuffed dog.






First time I have seen Brecken without tubes on his face...


Being weighed on a scale before breastfeeding so we can "attempt" to guess how much he has eaten.


my new "fave"!!!

{Frustrating is the name of the game}

So a couple days ago we went into the hospital and Brecken had this horrible rash under his tendergrips (aka the bandages on his face). I kind of freaked out because my first thought was that they weren't checking or changing his bandages enough and the end result was my poor little baby breaking out in a horrible rash. We really tried not to complain because we knew it wouldn't make the situation any better. Cyndee, my sister-in-law, who always make reference to her trailer trash roots decided to call the hospital and give them the 411. Disclaimer: we didn't know she called. So her tactful smackdown basicallly led to her telling them to get their crap in gear and take care of Baby Brecken.

So when we got to the hospital that day the nurses and doctors were VERY attentive. I mean not just attentive, they were so attentive that it was kind of funny. And because of the lack of communication (thus them assuming we knew hospital terms that we didn't know), we were able to find out that the rash was caused because Brecken has very sensitve skin, and we also learned that Brecken has Chronic Lung Disease. here it is, check it out: Chronic Lung Disease.

So since the "incident" Brecken has had awesome care. His rash is clearing up, his eyes are getting better, and they turned down his Vaportherm to 2.5 leters. However, they turned the Vapotherm back to 3 this morning. John and I are both kind of frustrated but we realize that we need to just be patient and do what is best for Brecken.

On a good note, well actually there are two good notes, Brecken took a bath and he {LOOOOOVED} the water. He splashed and kicked around and had a good ol' time. The second good thing has nothing really to do with Brecken, it focuses on trailer trash Cyndee, again, she had us open one of our Christmas presents this morning. She and Kelty got together (scary I know...) and sent our Christmas tree decorations so we could experience a little bit of home. Now everyone say "ahhhhhh". We love both of them (Kelty and Cyndee) they bring a new definition to the word crazy.

Merry Christmakwansika!

So we attempted to take a family Christmas picture. Brecken kept moving around, John forgot to take off his name tag, and I was blurry in every photo. We managed to get finally get a good picture.


Try to hold yourself back. I know you are jealous of the hats;)
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Love the Bishops!!!

{new car seat}

Brecken had an uneventful week. John and I joke that we are in the home stretch, but we know that this phase may take the longest. He is still at 3 on his Vapotherm, but he seems to be breathing a lot better. When we go see him he is able to drink around 40 cc's from a bottle and he is usually wide awake when we show up. Last night he was rather comical. He would smile, pucker his lips and stick out his tongue. The doctor's say the only thing holding him back right now our his lungs.


You may not recognize this guy...it is John with a haircut;)


Brecken taking a bottle from John for the first time!


One of John's co-workers had this hat made for Brecken.


His car seat finally arrived in the mail, Austin (John's 3 year-old nephew) keeps sitting in it. He says that it is his new car seat.

"Oh I loooove those eyes...."

Brecken is officially flirting with all the nurses. When he is awake he is constantly smiling and flashing those big beautiful eyes at all the nurses. Today one of the nurses kept saying, "Oh I loooove those eyes..." He has quite a fan base with the ladies.

He also got some new clothes. Aunt Cyndee bought him the cutest dinosaur sleeper and Aunt Liz bought him a sleeper that has reindeer on the feet, it is adorable.

Besides the new wardrobe, the doctors also started him on a new medication called Lasix. Because he is still having a difficult time breathing and his vapotherm had to be turned up to 4 leters again, the doctors are hoping this new medication will help to extract fluid from his lungs. So far he has been doing great with the medication. He has lost some weight, which is to be expected, and the nurses have been able to turn down his oxygen. Tomorrow they are also hoping to turn down his Vapotherm.

He also drank 25 cc's from a bottle today. The doctors are surprised that he is able to drink from the bottle, but is not able to breathe on his own very well. They said that most babies at this age are breathing fine, but have a difficult time eating--Brecken is the exact opposite. I told the doctors that he just craves the attention ;)