Showing Lots of Improvements :-)

Craig just received a phone call from one of Braxton's nurses. It made me nervous when he told me she called. Here is where he is at...
**Ventilator is being turned down to 30 - however he was breathing above and beyond 30 for quite some time now. They are talking that they will be taking the vent tube out tonight. YEAH!!!!
**They are going to take him off of the medicine that has kept him sedated for the last 3 days also tonight.
**They completed the spinal tap in the last hour and we should hear the results in the next couple of hours. I am praying for a clear scan.
**If all goes well I should be able to hold my BABY BOY again tonight. Reminder - I have not held him since Wednesday night and it was for only about 15-20 min. It brings lots of HAPPY tears to my eyes.

**I will be going to stay over night with him tonight and come back home tomorrow. There has been a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

I will be updating from the hospital hopefully tonight.

Thanks Again for the continued prayers, thoughts, offers for help, etc... We will definitely let you know if we need some help.

Craig, Tifanie, Payton, Brooks, and Braxton

Update on the "Little-Big Man"

I took my Mom and Craig's Mom to Sioux Falls today so they could spend some time with Braxton. It was a nice visit and I don't think they could get enough of them. Of course there is no hugging and kissing so that about drove them crazy. He has continued to make great progess which is awesome to see and hear. ALL of the nurses and dr.'s that we have encountered from the time that we stepped foot in Brookings on Wednesday to those in Sanford have been more than helpful, wonderful, just OUTSTANDING. There is a reason that they do what they do for a living.
They are still not 100% sure what kind of an infection he has. He is being treated for Pneumonia and has reacted to the treatments like a baby who has Pneumonia however when looking at the x-rays of his lungs they don't see much for Pneumonia. They will be attempting another spinal tap tomorrow some time to make sure that this infection hasn't spread to his brain. They have taken him off of the "nitric", which was being forced into his lungs, as he wasn't needing it anymore (one thing down). Tonight they are planning on taking him off of the blood pressure medicine (another thing down) as well as dropping the setting on the ventilator (one more thing down). I guess that's 3 major steps right there that he is getting rid of today so as you can see we are very very happy about his progress.
I have not held Braxton except for 15-20 min after he was born - we are hoping that by mid-week we can possibly hold him. I can't wait for that day - when that day comes I will probably be spending more time there with him as that's what they say helps them to heal even faster. I know that Craig is really looking forward to this day as well.
Thanks Again for all of the thoughts and prayers. At this time visitors are not being encouraged. He really needs his rest and the least amount of stimulation as possible. We appreciate those who have asked about visiting and trust us - when the day comes to where we can come home we will be more than happy to have visitors.
I will keep you posted on any changes... Remember - No news is Good news!!!
Thanks Again...

Braxton Ben Hess

Craig, Payton, Brooks, and Myself would like to introduce to you the newest member of our family BRAXTON BEN HESS. He joined us on Wednesday Sept. 5th at 6:28pm. He was the biggest of the 3 boys weighing 8lb 15oz and was 20 3/4 " long.
Just a quick low down on what has been going on the last 2 days...
*I went in to be induced on Wednesday - they started me out with the pill - Citotec (sp). First pill at 8:30am and second around 12:00pm. My water broke at contractions were coming fairly regular & strong by 2:30 - however I was not dilated nor was my cervix even open. They were not wanting to give me an epidural as that could stop my contractions and defeat the purpose of being induced. I went as long as I could without anything and finally @ 4:30pm I was blessed with the holy medicine - an epidural. I honestly don't know if I have ever felt more relieved in my life. The nurse checked my cervix and nothing had changed. "Ahhh...." We waited 1 hr. 15 min. for the dr. to come and she checked me again - "please tell me I am at a 4 or something" I told her. She said your not at a 4 - you are at a 9. I perked right up and was ready to go... It is now 6:00pm and soon after I knew I had to start pushing - from the pressure. I had one set of practice pushes and when it came time for the "real" ones - he came out on the first 2 pushes. As you can see from the pictures - he dropped down into my pelvis and pushed out faster than normal so he is pretty bruised in the face.
*About 2 hours after birth Braxton was taken in for his first bath - the nurses noticed that he was grunting and having a hard time breathing so called in for the dr. to evaluate Braxton. After numerous testing and debating - and 24 hours of attempting to fix his "problem" it was decided that it would be best to transfer Braxton to Sioux Falls. He was "air-lifted" to Sanford Children's NICU @ 9:00pm last night and will stay with them for at least 7-10 days, possibly 2 weeks.
*Wow... what a shock. When you are told for 9 months that the baby inside you sounds and looks healthy you picture nothing but delivering your baby and going home in a couple days. It's a weird feeling being at home tonight without this baby - either inside me or beside me. I know he is in great great hands and would not be home if I didn't feel confident but I have 2 other boys who were needing their Mommy and Daddy. I honestly needed them too.
*Here is a run-down of what they have done so far...
~They have determined that he has Pneumonia.
~They have intibated (tubed) him so he is on a ventilator to help him breathe. (He was
working way too hard trying to breath on his own.)
~They have him on Oxygen - however the amount has steadily dropped. As of 7pm
tonight they had him at 39% - when he came in last night he was @ 100%.
~They do have him on 3 different antibiotics - to help with the infection and it seems to be
working fabulous.
~They attempted a spinal tap this afternoon - however he wasn't handling it well so they
had to back off and will wait until he is more stable.
~When we talked to the nurses last they said that they were just going to leave him at his
current levels and not "pester" him with anything else for a day or so.

****I am going back up tomorrow morning to spend some time with him - can't wait to see him and see his many more improvements. I will try to keep the blog page updated with the updates that I receive. Please be thinking and praying for Braxton to have a quick recovery so he can come meet his new brothers, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many many friends... Thanks to all for the generous offers of help and thoughts and prayers already - It is all very very much appreciated.

Braxton getting all cleaned up shortly after birth.
Braxton's first bath.
They placed him under an oxygen tent while in Brookings.
Quick picture with the tent off. His face looks a little rough - but still cute.
Before being "air-lifted" to SF he was looking for his Momma - I came to his rescue.

Helicopter all ready for the little man.

Braxton is all loaded up on the chopper ready for a ride.

And he is off...

They have him all tucked in for the night...

This looks like his current set-up - can't wait to start eliminating those wires.

The Big TWO!!!

Happy Birthday to Brooks... Today is his 'official' birthday however we celebrated his birthday on Saturday with lots of family. As some of you know I have made each and every one of the boys' birthday cakes. I was running out of ideas when I came across an amazing website (http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/kids-birthday-cakes.html) with tons and tons of ideas. This year for Brooks I made a robot cake. As you can see from the pictures - it was full of candy. Brooks had a fabulous time at his party - so much fun that he decided he wasn't going to need a nap. He has NEVER EVER done that in 2 years. He did crash once all of the guests were gone (@ 6:55pm) - but we only let that last for 5 minutes. I was pretty impressed - he was in a great mood all day. He got some awesome presents - that he has really enjoyed. Thanks to all for the wonderful gifts - like I said he has enjoyed them and will continue to get good use out of them. Where does the time go??? It's hard to believe that he is 2 years old already. He sure has quite the personality and attitude - way different than what Payton was ever like. It wouldn't be much fun if they were "identical".

Nothing New... Yet...

Well it's hard to believe that a month has gone by since I last posted on my blog page. We haven't done anything too exciting this last month - just our 'regular' summer events. Posted are pictures of some of the things that we (the boys') have been up to. From swimming lessons, to Aebleskiver Day's, the Lincoln County Fair, free swimming, fishing, and Dad's big salmon.
As for me I am on the count down of just over 5 weeks to go until we have our "what's said to be" the last addition to our family. My dr. will be possibly doing another ultrasound in a couple weeks to measure the baby. At 32 weeks I was measuring 35.5cm (instead of 32) - she said she would possibly induce a couple weeks earlier depending on the size. I will be game for that - if that's the case. I measured big with Brooks also - until week 36 and then it all evened out. So I don't want to get too excited.

Payton swimming the front crawl.

Learning how to do "kneel-dives"

Payton & Brooks bringing home the "gold" at the Junior Olympics

Payton participating in the Kiddie Tractor Pull @ the Fair

Brooks & Andrea on the car ride.

Brooks & Jacob on the car ride.

Brooks thinks he's cool now that he can swim around with his floaty.
Payton & Brooks having fun in the pool.
Coming up for air...
"Cheese... this sun is bright"
Look at this big fish... Nice bunny ears Brooks.
Payton casting, catching, and releasing his own fish (sunfish)

Paint Chips, Cement Dust, or Cigarette Butts???

Quite the title huh? How about more like "quite the cravings".
At my 28 week appt. I had to drink the delicious "flat orange soda" to check for gestational diabetes. It all turned out great however when they checked my blood they told me my hemoglobin was low - 10.5. They said that 11 is the "low low" end so they mentioned that if I was feeling 'fatigued' at all that I could take some iron supplements. That really explained the reason for feeling like I had just ran a marathon after walking up a flight of stairs. Granted being (at the time) 28 weeks pregnant most normal people don't feel spunky all the time - but I am use to go go go - so it seemed odd for me to be that tired. I have since started taking iron pills and I can't believe the difference.
Now where the title comes into play... At my 30 week appt my dr. mentioned that since I was a little on the anemic side that some people tend to crave odd things. She was telling me how some of her patients would scrape the basement walls and eat the cement dust and another actually ate cigarette butts.
I was maybe a little anemic ~ but not bad enough to have any odd cravings. I guess if I did - I would have thought that something was really wrong with me. I guess not being in the medical field I had never heard such a thing so I found this absolutely CRAZY.
I am now at 31 weeks - 9 weeks left (or less hopefully). I am feeling great just getting tired of having my belly in the way. Other than that I can't complain much. I am still riding bike or walking every morning before daycare (when Craig is home). This will hopefully help to take this weight off after the baby comes.

Tribute to Maximus

For those of you who know my husband he is an avid hunter. Therefore, we own a couple hunting dogs. In March Payton became the proud owner of 8 Lab puppies - which he seemed very hesitant to let go to other homes. A number of them stayed within the local area and went to awesome homes where we know the owners will take great care of them. However, one of them hadn't found a home yet so he had to come and live with us. It didn't take long and the boys grew fond of him and loved to play catch with him. Soon after we came up with a perfect name for him ~ Maximus (Max for short). Brooks couldn't wait to feed the "puppas" in the morning and when the daycare kids would leave. He knew their bowls, how much they got, etc. He never let me forget that they needed to be fed twice a day. (May I remind you Brooks is only 23 months).

As you can tell by the title this story doesn't have a very happy ending. Thursday - instead of running into his kennel after his supper - he quickly dodged past me and went towards the road (which the last couple of days he had gone across to the neighbors ~ naughty). At that same moment our neighbor across the street was also coming home from work - I saw her and saw him however figured that one or both of them would stop. Before I knew it he went under the front of her car and didn't come out until he got to the back end. The worse part yet - Payton is standing right at the kennel with me and watching this horrific scene with his own eyes. Max slowly made it back to the kennel - however obviously he had a wounded leg (if not more).

Not knowing what to do, as Craig left that morning for 4 days on a fishing trip, I called my in-laws as they too have dogs and would know exactly what to do. Bev quickly came over and brought him out to the vet - in the mean time I called Craig to tell him what's going on. Phone calls are exchanged for the next 1/2 hour between me, the vet, Craig, Craig and the Vet, Bev, etc... One of the last phone calls that I got came from Craig to inform me that Max had to be put to sleep. His back leg was damaged beyond repair as well as broken rib(s) that more than likely punctured some organs/tissue.

Before I knew it Payton was out of sight - I walked around the house looking for him. I finally found him in the basement shedding tears. He was so hurt that he wouldn't even talk to his Dad on the phone until the next afternoon. All night Thursday he just cried and cried. The only thing he had on his mind was that he wanted to see Max and help his Gpa Doug bury him.

I helped Payton to gather his feelings and we then went over Gma Bev's and Gpa Doug's to pay our last respects for Max. Payton headed right for the garage knowing that Max would be in there - Gma took him to see him one last time. When Gpa came home we went out to the lake and Payton helped his to bury Max with the other family dogs. This was also one of the worst things to see Payton go through. In a way I wish I had a camera as it's such an awesome view as it over looks a lake. Before leaving town Payton was asking Gma what Max would be buried in Payton didn't want to just lay him in the ground he felt he needed a blanket so Payton layed a blanket down for him and Gpa had him wrapped up in one too. Payton helped to push the dirt back in and while standing there you could see he was getting emotional again - he turned and had "dirt tear tracks" down his face. It has been so hard to see him this way of course all I can do is cry too. He was such a big man though and handled it like a trooper. Once he was done Gpa made a quick cross for him to put in and of course to make me cry even worse - Gpa held the cross while Payton pounded it into the ground with an ax. I didn't even know he could hold and work something so big. He was so proud of what he did and I can't wait for him to show his dad what he did to take care of Max.

As I am updating this (Monday) Payton is bringing his Dad out to show where Max was buried and to complete the cross that was made for Max.

Boobley's litter of 8 puppies (3.15.08)

Boobley (left) & Maximus (right)