July 10, 2008 afternoon

I showed up at the hospital around lunch time to see a group of doctors and nurses around Brandon. They would not let me near him since they were working on him. All I was told was that he was bleeding and they led me to a room to wait. How scary! His doctor came in a few minutes later and told me that he was okay. When they were taking out the line from his belly button it caught on a stitch which caused the bleeding. The doctor had to put pressure on his stomach to stop the bleeding which Brandon did not enjoy but the bleeding did stop. I talked to his doctor for awhile after that. She told me that Brandon was going to be getting a blood transfusion since he had lost blood when the stitch started bleeding. He probably would have had one anyway within a few days. She said they were going to hold off on feeding him for a few more days because of what happened. She also said that 26 weekers do well. They have had many in the past as well as ones as young as 23 weeks. She said the first month is usually the hardest since there are many ups and downs but then things really start to pick up. She also said that Brandon will most likely be there until between 38 and 40 weeks. Once preemies leave they continue to track them for two years. They will provide early intervention if things do arise during that time. She said since they are developing they do really well with the intervention and catch up. The green stuff they found in his stomach is not a concern. Most little babies have it.

I wanted to thank Maurita Vecchio for making a blood transfusion this afternoon for Brandon. Her blood type is the same as his so hers will be used the next time that he needs a transfusion. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to Stu and me.