The Boys' First Three Weeks

The boys were born on a Tuesday and came home on a Tuesday, three weeks later!

What an emotional time for both Jonathan and me! We were very thankful for all the family that came to be with us when the boys arrived, but this is about the way I was feeling throughout the time my boys were in the NICU.

September 1, 2010 - Neither of the boys could keep their oxygen levels at a sufficient level and they were both put on the ventilators. Even on the vent, Jacob had low oxygenation so they determined that a venous line was necessary so they wouldn’t have to keep sticking his foot to test his levels. What a heartbreaking sight, to see your child with a line going in through where his belly button should be. I was still having a hard time getting around and I had to be wheeled to the NICU to see the boys, but as the day went on I started walking a little and was able to stand without fear of falling. My ability to stand meant I could stand next to their beds and place my hand on each of them. First contact with my boys!!

September 2, 2010 – I changed Jacob’s diaper for the first time. I was ecstatic to have that contact with him and also saddened that my child was 2 days old and I had not even had the small pleasure of changing his diaper. To this point the best I could hope for was to lay my hand on one of the boys while they were sleeping, we were not allowed to rub the boys because that sensation would have disturbed them. The time I had with the boys was regulated by their “touch times,” so I could not go anytime I wanted to see them, I had to wait until the hours of 5, 8, 11, or 2. While I was in the hospital, I didn’t miss a touch time, not even the 2 am time. Both of the boys came off the ventilators that evening and they would spend the next 5-6 days weaning them off the CPAP machine. (I am far from a medical professional, but my understanding of this machine is that it forces air down into their lungs so they don’t have to work as hard to breath, but there was no tube down into their lungs.)



Me holding Jacob before his bath.

September 3, 2010 – Every small thing that other mothers might take for granted was a huge step for me! Today was the first time I held Jacob in my hands. It was for his first bath. I didn’t get to snuggle him, but I had both of my hands under him. Today was also the first time I got to change my Caleb. I was starting to feel like a mother, finally!

Caleb with his "cool" sunglasses.

September 4, 2010 – Today we found out that both of the boys were jaundice. They both spent the day in phototherapy and got to wear cool little sunglasses. Today was the first day I actually held Caleb in my arms. Waiting 4 days to hold my child was very hard on me, but it was so wonderful to have that time with him. To be able to look down at my child the way a mother is intended (of course it would have been better without all the cords and IV’s).

September 5, 2010 – This day was especially hard for me. I had been discharged from the hospital the day before, but since the boys were still there in the NICU, I was allowed to stay for an additional night. They called it lodging, but could only allow me to do this for one night. I stayed for the 5 pm “touch time” and then came home. I cried so hard when Jonathan brought me home that night. CJ, Sandhya and Chad were all at the house and CJ and Sandhya had prepared a wonderful lasagna and salad and garlic bread. The house was full, but empty of the two people that should have been there!

I spent the next two weeks going back and forth from the house to the hospital. I didn’t go for every “touch time” because it was just too much back and forth while I was trying to pump. These two weeks held ups and downs and Jonathan and I rejoiced with every small step each boy took forward, but we also had moments of extreme sadness when the boys were not progressing the way the doctors hoped. We also had a bad experience with a nurse. To keep the story short; she ripped tape from Jacob’s face, he screamed, and that little blonde nurse is lucky I couldn’t reach her ponytail because I would have yanked it off her head!

By September 9th, both boys were completely off any oxygen. Now the boys had to learn how to take 8 bottles a day. While they were on oxygen, they had been tube fed so any instinct to suck had been lost. On September 18th, we walked in to see the boys and there was no tube going down their noses anymore! It was so amazing to see my boys’ faces with no tape or tubes, just their perfectly beautiful faces! Three long days later, September 21st, we finally got to bring the boys home! I can touch them whenever I want and hold them without turning off a machine. They were finally mine!



On our way home!!



The Arrival of the Bransom Boys

Yes, I know it has been entirely too long since I have posted here, but I think the story of how the two boys arrived is worth sharing, or at least documenting for the boys to see at some later point.

It was Tuesday, August 31st and I was not expecting the boys for at least another week; I was 35 weeks pregnant exactly. I was on home bed rest because I was having a difficult time controlling my blood pressure. It is amazing what a little bit of rest will do! The day had started out pretty normal, but the events unfolded pretty quickly:

10:00 am - I was starting to feel off. I was so dizzy; lying down did not make the room stop spinning. I took my blood pressure and it was 160/110. Dangerously high!

10:30 am - I called Jonathan to ask him what he thought I should do, but he was busy so I just called my doctor.

11:30 am - I hear back from my doctor's office that he wants to see me right away.

12:15 pm - Jonathan and I arrive at the doctor's office. My doctor (Dr. Sandmann) was not in the office that day, so I saw Dr. Luciani from the same office. He took my blood pressure and we listened to the boys. My blood pressure had returned to normal and the boys sounded fine, but Dr. Luciani felt like it would be safer to go over to the hospital and monitor me for a little while. After we got over to the hospital, Jonathan called his sister, Jennifer, and asked her to come out to McKinney after work. We still did not think we were going to have the boys, but we thought "just in case".

1:30 pm - I get hooked up to two baby monitors and of course a blood pressure monitor. They continue to watch me and the boys for an hour or so. Thank goodness neither of the boys were in distress.

2:30 pm - Dr. Luciani comes in to talk to me. He asked me if I was having contractions and I replied no. Dr. Sandmann had described contractions to me and I had not felt anything like that. Dr. Luciani then informs me that my contractions were every 2-4 minutes and I had dilated to 3 cm. He had discussed the situation with Dr. Sandmann and they decided there was no benefit to trying to keep the boys in. He told me the nurses would be in shortly to prepare me for my C-Section. All we were waiting on was Dr. Sandmann to show up. Now we started calling all of the family that wanted to be here when the boys arrived and they all started coming this way as soon as they could.

4:30 pm - They had me ready and we were still waiting on Dr. Sandmann to arrive. The time seemed to pass so quickly and I also remember thinking it was taking Dr. Sandmann forever to get there. I told Jonathan it was a good thing I didn't have time to prepare for this day because I was a little nervous about the C-Section.

5:15 pm - Dr. Sandmann arrives and they wheel me back into the operating room to start the C-Section. Not only do I have my doctor, but Dr. Luciani was also in to help. I am pretty sure the total count of medical professional in the room at this point was 8! It took a long time for the spinal to really make me go numb. It was cold on my skin when he cut me open. I am not saying I felt it, just a cold sensation.

5:36 pm - Jacob arrives and I hear his first cry. There is no better sound in the world when you have spent the past 8 months worrying about this little person.

5:37 pm - Caleb makes his grand entrance, reluctantly. As soon as Jacob came out, Caleb flipped and was breach and he moved up into my uterus as far as he could. Caleb let out a good scream and relief washed over me. Both of my boys were out and I knew they were breathing.

At this point time had no meaning, so I cannot tell you what time it was when the rest happened. I got to see both of the boys for a brief moment after they had been cleaned up a little. Unfortunately, the pain of sewing me up was really starting to affect me and Dr. Sandmann knocked me out with morphine. When I woke up I was in the recovery room with Jonathan. Jonathan told me that he didn't know where the boys were; he had gone to the nursery several times and couldn't see them. This is when we found out the boys were having trouble breathing on their own and they had been moved into the NICU. On the way to my room they pulled me up to the window and I could barely see them. All I wanted to do was hold my boys. I couldn't sleep that night, I still had not been able to touch them so when the night nurse came to check on me at 1:00 am, I told her I wanted to go see my babies! She wanted to make sure I thought I could stand up to get to the wheelchair. I could have done anything they asked me to do in order to see my children. I am sure any mother out there in the same position would tell you the same thing. She wheeled me in to see them for a few minutes and I could have stared at them all night! I could not stand up next to them yet because they didn't want me to fall in the NICU, but they got me close enough to see them better! They are the most incredible things I have ever had a part in; they are my little miracles!



Caleb at 1:20 am 9-1-2010



Jacob at 1:15 am 9-1-2010