Topics · 20 posts
Coping as parents
These posts are about us as parents: leaving Brady at the hospital, being too sick to visit, going back to work, and feeling worn down. We wrote openly about our emotions, good and bad.
I'm going to be a what?...when?
Nikkie shares Brady's first days: medicine for a small hole in her heart, paused feedings, and why we changed her middle name to Faith.
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One Week Old
At one week, Brady comes off the jaundice light and her oxygen, gives us a smile, and Erik goes back to work.
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oh what a day
Still healing from surgery, Nikkie brings a crowd of family in to meet Brady, gives her first bath, and hears her head scan shows no brain bleed.
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Can't See My Little Girl
Erik loses his voice to a sore throat and has to stay out of the NICU so he won't pass germs to Brady.
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Some are good, some are bad, some are in between
Nikkie answers a critical commenter: NICU parents are allowed hard feelings. Also, Brady comes off her IVs and gains another ounce.
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First Birthday as a mommy
Nikkie's 25th birthday is bittersweet, spent mostly apart from Brady, who now weighs 1 lb 14 oz and is up to 17 cc feedings.
Puttin Meat on Those Bones
Brady breaks the 2-pound mark at 2 lb 2 oz, and Nikkie goes back to work after five weeks as we figure out how to keep visiting.
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it's been a few days
Brady gains 3 ounces to 2 lb 5 oz; Nikkie visits on her lunch break while doctors watch whether Brady needs a blood transfusion.
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:(
Nikkie wakes up with a cough and can't visit Brady, and shares how much that hurts.
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"Be still and Know I'm Here"
Brady needs another transfusion, an IV in her head after 7 tries, and more oxygen; a friend's song reminds Nikkie that God is still there.
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long road ahead of us
Two months in, Brady drools out her bottles, may need a stomach tube, and will need hernia surgery, but her oxygen monitor comes off.
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still almost 5 pounds
Brady is 4 lb 15.3 oz; doctors blame reflux and float surgery, we push back, and a "ready, set, go home" card appears on her crib.
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Specific Prayer
At 5 1/2 lb and nearly 85 days in, we're worn down, offered a g-tube for Brady's feeding, and ask for prayer to decide this week.
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home sweet home
We room in overnight, learn infant CPR and Brady's heart monitor, then bring her home to little sleep, a fussy eater, and a baby who wants holding.
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Happy New Year!!!
Looking back on 2008, Nikkie writes that Brady's lungs have caught up, and Brady rolls over for the first time on New Year's Day.
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3 months and 3 days and March for Babies
Brady has now been home longer than she was in the hospital; Nikkie grieves a missed church dedication, and we set a $1,000 March for Babies goal.
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Doing better :)
Brady recovers and starts solids, while Nikkie dreads going back to the NICU for follow-up clinic and thinks about donating Brady's preemie clothes.
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Oh what a night
Brady's breathing turns labored, so we take shifts holding her all night; it's a respiratory infection, not RSV, and she's started sleeping in her crib.
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off the subject of Brady
Nikkie describes the online preemie-parent community she leans on and asks for prayer for Kayleigh, a 1-pound baby who may not wake up.
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Two Years Old
On Brady's second birthday, Erik shares what two years as a preemie dad have taught him about serving, patience, prayer, and one day at a time.
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