Aiden is 21 days old

Greetings from the 4th floor of St. Francis Medical Hospital via the NICU. Aiden turned 21 days old today. This is a miracle! What a blessing he is. He is still breathing on his own, no respirator. He is receiving oxygen from a canula, nose piece. Aiden is still residing in the isolette and doing ok in there. Its hard to take good pictures while he is in there, but I try often. We have had a couple hiccups this week that we have had to overcome and have been something we have to battle everyday. First was Aidens stomach and digestive system filled up and far lack of better terms: just stopped. So we had to stop feeding for a couple of days, we are back on schedule now with reduced amounts but increasing almost every feeding. We have also changed from a continuous feeding to a bolus (spelling???) method: they put the amount in his stomach over 30 minutes for the 3 hour feeding schedule, we are up to 14cc/hr. They are increasing the amount about every two feedings. Second part of the hiccup is apnea. This showed up Tuesday afternoon. He has had several episodes, some very minor: only showed on the monitors for a few seconds, some severe: they have had to put the bag on him to make him breath. With the minor ones they are just watching him to make sure he comes out of it himself, which he does on his own. When there is a severe episode, they have to massage his chest and lightly tap his chest, twice they have had to put the bag on him and pump air into his lungs. The staff does not have an answer to what is causing this to happen. Its either caused by the lungs of being a premie, the brain stopping sending the order, or by the feedings causing reflux. They are working on him diligently!!


The staff is going above and beyond for our little angel, we would like to thank them for all they are doing for him. They are working with him withthe goal of us being able to take him home. They have given us a little hope as to our goals of what we need to have in place so we can take our little man home. We want to be able to watch him sleep in his crib, swing in his swing, take a bottle with the family at the dinner table, hang out with the boys as they play. This is a big goal but one that we know is possible.


We would like to take this time to say thank you to all of our friends and family that has gone out of their comfort zones to help, visit and pray for our little miracle. We would like to thank you for the visits, phone calls, text, food, snacks, gifts for Aiden, and anything I have missed. Thank you B.H. for the wonderful food for Thanksgiving. Thank you S.S. for the visit to our house with all the stuff for us. That is going out of your comfort zone for someone else. That is a blessing! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Shane

Pictures of the NICU Visit

Finally figured out the picture post thing, these are the pictures from the boys: Hunter & Mason's visit back into the NICU on Wed Nov 12th. As stated in the last blog, the boys were allowed to visit Aiden in the NICU. These pictures were taken by Stephanie Thornton of SRT Photography, if you need excellent pictures taken, I can only tell you and show you she is awesome! She has documented this adventure for us in a way that no words can express. Thank you Stephanie, you rock!!!!!!!!!

This rates as one of the greatest moments in my life, it was wonderful to have my family together for the first time. Thank you to the Drs., nurses and SRT. What a blessing it was. God is working through Aiden everyday.

Hunter & Mason visit the NICU

Last Wednesday Hunter and Mason were allowed back into the NICU from an order written by our NICU Dr. This was a suggestion from one of the nurses, thank you J.P. The boys had to put on the gowns, gloves, mask and they added the dr. cap last. They were excited to see their little brother for the first time since he was born, so far all they had seen of him was about 10 seconds when they moved him from the surgery to the NICU. Hunter tried to follow us but we had to stop him. The boys were also excited to dress up and put on all the dr stuff. We got suited up and then went on back. We had a great visit with the boys acting like perfect angels, well as perfect as a 5 year old and a 2 year old can act. They were good. Hunter kept wanting to touch baby Aiden, Ashley helped him to touch his feet then the top of his head. Mason then wanted to touch him as well. They did enjoy seeing their baby brother for the first time and ask now when they can go back to see him again. We shall see, Aiden is doing great. They have increased his feeding rates again, he has gained weight, all seems to be coming along fine now. All the problems that we have faced are from him being a premie and none really so far from the Trisomy 18. What a blessing he has been to us and others. Thank you for the continuing prayers, thoughts and visits. This has shown many people how friends can affect others. We have had so many comments of how many people have come to visit and are allowed to visit with baby Aiden. We love for our friends and family to go back and visit with him. God is great! Enjoy the pictures and thank you!

Shane, Ashley, Hunter, Mason and Aiden

Greetings from the 4th Floor of St. Francis Hospital

All is well tonight, Aiden is stable with the breathing tube removed. He has been off of the respirator for 36 hours and doing great. He is looking better each time we go back and see him.


He enjoys the touch of his parents, friends and family.

We now have this thing removed out of his mouth. They started the feeding this afternoon. So far all looks well. They had started some medication for the anticipation of feeding for 2 days now.

Ashley was able to hold him for a while this week, she was so excited. Thank you A.C. for the help and support for that. I did get to hold him today as well. Sarah took my camera card before I could copy the pictures, so they are coming soon. Also pics of the boys coming in to see Aiden are coming soon too. The boys were very excited to be able to see their little brother. They had to put on the gown, gloves, the dr hat and a mask. They looked so cute, the nursing staff gave them stethescopes, tongue depressors, and all the other stuff that would make them think they were doctors. They were saying, " Look we are doctors". It was so cute.

Aiden has been moved from his little bed to an incubator. Its a change to see him inside a clear box, but the nurses all say that it is best for him and also its an improvement for him.

Thanks to all of our family and friends that have called, texted, or came by. It goes to show a person how much others think about others. It truly shows compassion. Its a blessing to give and recieve. I hope all have enjoyed seeing Aiden as much as we like to show him to our friends and family. We are so proud of our little miracle. He truly is a miracle!

5 Day and Counting

Aiden is doing good right now, We have made it 5 1/2 days now. Aiden is improving his breathing, this is due to the surgery he had yesterday that closed a valve in his heart. This should improve his fluid retention in his lungs. He is better today. He is our little fighter. We are so proud of him.

We would like to thank Dr. deSolar and nurse Jennifer for the written order that allowed our two boys to be able to go back into NICU to see their little brother. That was the first time we have had our family together since last Thursday. Thanks to Stephanie for coming back down to Monroe to take pictures that we will post when we get them, also thanks to Tisha for bringing Hunter and my parents for bringing Mason. We thank all of our nursing staff, nurse practicioners, and Drs. that have taken excellent care of our little man. They are being so wonderful. Thank you to all of our friends that have visited us and the ones that ask to see Aiden. Thanks to all of the people that have brought by snack food, coffee for me, and food for us! For some that is a small detail but for us it is great. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also Ashley was surprised when yesterday before the surgery, the nurses and nurse practitioner asked her if she wanted to hold Aiden: the answer was a resounding YES! She held him for about 45 minutes, wonderful, wonderful!!!
How happy does she look?

Thank you to all,

Shane

Aiden Mathew Bray is here and is almost 60 hours old!!!!

Aiden Mathew Bray was born at 8:57 am on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. He weighed in at 2 lbs. 10 oz. and 14 inches long. He is truly our little miracle.
It is Sunday evening and we are awaiting time to go back and see him again. He is almost 60 hours old (2 1/2 days) and beating the odds. We are amazed at him everytime we see him and our love for him grows stronger and faith in God never stumbles. God is great and we have living proof. Just to give everyone an update - his heart has a slight murmur and small hole that most babies have at birth and heals over time (doctor said this is not a problem or concern), his kidneys and stomach are normal, eyes look good, he is breathing mostly (75%) on his own, and shows signs of sucking. Everytime we go back to see him, he opens his eyes and looks around to see who is talking and listens. He has quite a grip for such a little guy. I love to hold his little feet and rub those adorable toes. He is prooving he is a little fighter. Aiden has a buddy in NICU already, our neighbor's little baby is Aiden's neighbor. The nurses get a kick out of the "neighborhood boys". Granted Deacon has a little weight on him but Aiden has more hair, which is surprising since neither Hunter nor Mason really had hair until they were 2. Lake Providence has been well represented here at St. Francis, with the Brays, Howards, and Thorntons all delivering little boys within a spam of 27 hours. Everytime the nurses walk the hall they see groups of friends and family floating from 1 room to the next. There must have been something in the water!!

Shane and I want to thank everyone that has been praying, come to visit, called/texted/e-mailed sweet messages of love, prayer and faith. We love hearing from everyone and it shows there is power in numbers and through Him and Prayer all things are possible!

Friday November 6th

Today we went to our last doctor appointment & ultrasound before meeting the newest addition to our family. Of course I tried to talk the doctor into going one more week without any luck. We will be delivering baby Aiden at St. Francis Hospital on Friday, Nov. 6. We arrive at 6:00 am with the c-section to start at 8:00 am. We went to the hospital today to get all the labwork done so we will be ready to go. I have been hesitate about having a c-section but I know that this will put less stress on Aiden and that is the important thing and Dr. Wilson has assured me that he has not had a problem yet.

At the ultrasound, Aiden was proving he is definitely one of our little boys, he was very stubborn and would not show us a good profile no matter what Tina tried, but we did get some good pictures. Tina has been our ultrasound tech from the beginning with the exception of one time when we saw Tracey, both have been great and tried to answer all questions and show us everything - We want to thank them very much!!!

In less than 2 days we will meet Aiden, not knowing what to expect or what the future holds, we are both joyful and saddened that the long pregnancy is over.

Stephanie Thornton will be at the hospital to record all the memories of the day, as this is very important to us and we are greatful to have a good friend/photographer to do this for us. Many people have asked about coming to the hospital and we would love the visitors. We want Aiden to know and if possible see everyone that has been praying for him. With that being said, this journey has led us down a road with many unknowns and questions, this part of the journey is over with another behind it. We pray for wisdom on ours and the doctors part. Please pray for baby Aiden and myself Friday morning and Godspeed.