Another Ear Infection and Nebulizer Treatments

Brandon has his second ear infection and is also on the nebulizer again for a cough. 1 1/2 weeks ago he started waking up at night hysterical. This is not at all like him. He has been sleeping through the night since August. I thought he was having night terrors because he would wake up suddenly and start crying a cry that I had never heard and jumping up and down in his crib holding onto the rail. A week after that started, this past Sunday, Brandon got a runny nose. Monday it continued to be runny. Monday night Brandon kept waking up crying hysterically. I only had 3 1/2 hours of sleep all night because all he wanted was to be held. I had to go to work on Tuesday morning since I didn't set up my classroom. I took a half sick day in the afternoon so that I could bring Brandon to the pediatrician. It turns out he has an ear infection again in his left ear which is the same ear that was infected a few weeks ago. He is on augmentin this time which is a stronger medicine. He also needs nebulizer treatments again with xopenex since he started coughing and is wheezing some. Despite all of this Brandon continues to be happy for the most part and playful.

Prematurity Awareness Day

November 17th is designated by the March of Dimes as Prematurity Awareness Day. Preemie moms are asked to blog about their experiences with prematurity and how it has affected our lives.

Brandon was born 14 weeks early on July 5, 2008 at 26 weeks, 1 day gestation. He weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces and was 13 inches long. Prior to my sac rupturing at 19 1/2 weeks with Brandon's twin sister and delivering her a week later at 20 1/2 weeks I had never known anyone who had a preemie. I also never knew that a baby wasn't considered viable until 24 weeks (although many babies born at 23 weeks are living now).

Having a premature baby has changed my life in many ways. I have learned about so many things that I never thought I would know about. I am not the same person that I was before I had Brandon. I don't take the small things for granted anymore. I have met many other preemie moms and have formed some amazing friendships from it.

Brandon has been a fighter since day 1. He came out crying and fighting for his life. He spent 12 weeks in the NICU and the day he came home was the happiest day in my life. I have not once taken Brandon's life for granted. Brandon truly is my hero. He has been through so much in the 16 months that he has been alive. More than anyone should have to go through in a lifetime. Even though he has been through so much he is a very happy, smiley baby. I went out to dinner a few nights ago with some other preemie moms and one mom who I was with summed it up well with what she said about her preemie son. He is always smiling because he is happy to be alive. I believe the same thing about Brandon. I think the reason he is so smiley is because he is happy to just be alive.

One group that I have learned a lot about since Brandon was born is the March of Dimes. If it were not for the March of Dimes Brandon would not be where he is today. Visit the March of Dimes website and see how you can help.

More Professional Pictures

Holiday Pictures

Stu and I brought Brandon to Sears yesterday to get his holiday pictures taken. I usually take him to Kiddie Kandids at Babies R' Us but I wanted to try someplace different this time since I didn't like the holiday backgrounds at Kiddie Kandids as much as I usually do. The photographer at Sears did a good job. The only problem was we couldn't get Brandon to stand in any pictures. He kept wanting to walk when we tried to get a standing picture. He did cooperate for sitting pictures at least. Here are some of the pictures. I will post more later.

In other news, Brandon has only been drinking from a sippy cup since Friday. I never thought the day would come when he stopped drinking from a bottle and instead drank from a sippy cup. In the past he has always chewed on the spout but he suddenly started drinking so I took away the bottles.

Haircut

Brandon had his second haircut yesterday after work. He looks so grown up without all of his curls. He fell asleep in the car on the way to get his haircut so he slept for the first half of it. Once he was awake he liked looking at himself in the mirror while getting his haircut.

Brandon Loves Hershey

Brandon loves Hershey. He is always walking to him and giving him hugs and kisses. I have a video and pictures showing Brandon with Hershey.

Nightmares

I think Brandon has had two nightmares this week. The first was on Sunday night and the second one was last night. Both nights he was sleeping soundly and then woke up all of a sudden hysterically crying. He couldn't calm himself either night and was so worked up that he was coughing. Each of the nights I have had to go into his room after 5 minutes when he is still crying hysterically and screaming. And he is also crawling from one end of his crib during the hysterical crying with lightning speed. Each time I have gone in and picked him up he has melted into my arms. He falls back asleep but when I try to put him back down he starts all over again. Both times it has taken about an hour before I can put him down without him being hysterical.

Brandon continues to walk. He hardly crawls anymore. He will on occasion but most of the time he is walking and getting really good at it. His balance is getting so much better. He can walk across a whole room now and catches himself a lot of the time before he falls. He is all over the house now and into everything even more now that he is standing.