Welcome Jack Owen Bradley...

Congrats Sarah and Dan...I can't wait to meet your new little guy. Jack Owen Bradley was born earlier this afternoon, weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds 7.5 ounces and 21.5 inches long....and he was 3 1/2 weeks earlier! That's a BIG baby. Love you guys!!!


Here are some pictures we took this morning when we went out to the garden.

The turtle she named "Pokie"

She has slipped one time, got her foot wet and didn't like it very much! She's much more careful now :)

The loves of my life :)

Josh took Makena to the apartment for a nap so I decided to take Malakai out to the garden to get some fresh air. We were sitting there, enjoying the beautiful weather and I see Malakai staring behind me. So I look and there was a man talking to him. This is what he was saying, "Look at you, you little flirt. You're so pretty!" So then a few minutes later he walks up to me and says "You've got one pretty princess" I almost laughed. I've never thought he looked like a girl! I said, "He's a boy..." LOL I felt bad that I hadn't corrected him before...oops! He was in a shirt that said "Mr. Popular," had blue socks and a blue blanket. LOL

Not much to add today, he's doing great! He did poop on me once though...Love being a mom :)

Eating the other day...still not too thrilled with eating real food...

Checking out the card from the Sibling Playroom...

The tube is gone!

They came and pulled his chest tube this morning. He didn't drain much last night and they decided he didn't need it anymore. They warned us it may have to go back, but he's doing great. I don't think it will come to that! They will do another x ray tomorrow morning to check his lungs, but hopefully it will show clear lungs and no fluid! He is so much happier now and can breathe alot better. We will be here through Wednesday so he can finish his antibiotics and we will be able to go home to our apartment.

And...Sarah (my twin sister) is having baby Jack! She called me at 4 am and told me her water broke and they were heading to the hospital. He'll be considered premature because he'll be born before 37 weeks (she would've been on Tuesday) We can't wait to welcome him into our family! Our family has had alot this month...Rita (my older sister) had her baby, Addison and Malakai had his transplant on the 12th and Sarah's going to have Jack today! How wonderful :)

I took some pictures of the kiddos today in the garden. Great place to take pics. I will upload them as soon as I find my camera cord. We moved rooms (Yes, this is room #5 for us!) and I cant seem to find it! Check back soon!

Good day today

Malakai had a good day today! His X ray from this morning showed clear lungs...Praise the Lord! He has been put on the nasty formula, called Portegen, that is supposed to be the best for the milky discharge, which now has a name :) It's called chylous ascites. Still don't fully understand it. I even Googled it, still confused! The CT Surgery team wanted him to be solely on the Portegen formula, no breastfeeding. The liver team had a different opinion. So they're going to give him the weekend to see what he does. The CT team thinks his ascites won't dry up if he's continuing to get milk. But he LOVES to breastfeed, and to take away the one thing he loves....the liver team said they weren't ready to do that yet. (Thanks guys!)

We took Malakai and Makena out to the garden today. It was beautiful. The sun was setting, it was warm still, but the air was cool. Just perfect. I think he loves being outside. It was a little difficult getting him out there with his chest tube and his IV pole, but worth it. He just looked around and coo'ed. I am so amazed by him. He's such a strong little guy!

Rita and Brent are coming out this weekend. I get to meet my new little niece, Addison! She was born the day Malakai had his surgery. I can't wait to meet her!!!! Hopefully we can spend some quailty time together and it won't be too crazy with all the kids!

We found out today that the little boy I mentioned last night didn't make it. My heart aches for his family. His name was Elijah. Please keep his family in your prayers. I pray that God blankets them in peace. Rest in peace, little Elijah! I am just reminded how thankful I am for my babies. It was a rough road getting pregnant and I feel so blessed to have my two kids. Even after all that Malakai has gone through in his life, I am just so lucky to be his mom! Parents, hug your kids a little tighter tonight!

Good news from today!

Well, there seems to be NO INFECTION. At least they couldn't find it. So that's good news! The not so good news, they had to put a drain tube in his chest. He had a moderate amount of fluid. They put the drain in and he's breathing much easier now. The fluid coming out of his chest isn't exactly what they thought it would be. It's sort of milky, and they said it's from having too much fat (from milk) in his diet that he's not processing. I think. His doctor tried explaining it to me three times and it still didn't sink in. I will probably understand it better tomorrow when they decide what to do. They said to do exactly what we've been doing tonight with breastfeeding and continuous feeds on the pump and see if it's still cloudy in the morning. The formula they would have to put him on is a low calorie and he needs all the calories he can get right now! So we wait. He'll have another chest x ray tomorrow to check everything. And then hopefully after he's finished his antibiotics Sunday, he'll be discharged on Monday!

Josh talked with a dad tonight who is here with his 2 1/2 year old son who is waiting for a new heart. He's not doing very well, and had to be resuscitated three times last night. They had put a "do not resuscitate" status on him today. Josh met their entire family and prayed with him. I think he was glad to be of encouragement to him in this horrific time. After praying with him and meeting their family and the little boy, he called Josh and said they removed the DNR status. Please pray for this family. I don't know the little boys name, only the dad's name is Shane from Kansas. I can only imagine what they are going through right now.

I also ran into the little baby girl who is waiting on a liver, with the same nasty disease that Malakai had. She's 6 months old and soooo cute. Please pray she gets her new liver very soon. She's here at Children's until her transplant. They sent her home but she had to come back because she had fluid on her lungs! Her mom seemed very worn-out...I totally feel for her. Pray for God's grace to cover her as well! Her name is Shawnteona. (I think that's how you spell it!)

So today was very long, Malakai has been sleeping since coming up from recovery. I don't like when he's been put under anesthetic. Although he's seems to be more comfortable...I'm grateful for that. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight. We have visitors coming this weekend. It will be good to see some familiar faces and get a break from the same stuff, different day routine.

I can't wait to wrap my little boy in my arms and walk out of the hospital! I can't wait for life to settle down and become normal. Thank you to everyone who's helped us out and donated. We really, really appriciate it! Keep praying he stays strong and continues to heal beautifully.

He is in the CT Scan now

Another bump in the road...

So the CT scan is now going to include a chest scan. His O2 level dropped last night to 88 and they saw some fluid around his lung. So they're going to scan his chest while they look for the infection. He is most likely get a chest tube to drain out the fluid. Basically the fluid is ascites that has traveled up from his belly. She also said it looks like he has a little pnuemonia. But they won't treat that any differently. He's got enough coverage with the antibiotics and once the fluid is gone, his lung will recover. They're going to give him another blood transfusion later this afternoon because his red blood count was a little low. She said it most likely is due to the amount of blood they've been taking. Big picture, he looks great. His liver is working perfectly and there are no concerns on that end. Once his nutrition picks up some and we get rid of the ascites, he should take off! They're still saying we'll probably go home on Monday, I sure hope so. I think he'll do so much better. When you're here, the nurses come in for vitals at 12:00, 4, 6 and 8 am. Then they draw blood at 6 and weigh him. I seriously don't know why they have to strip a baby down to a diaper at 6 in the morning to weigh him. That bugs me! Let him sleep!! So I think once we're home he will have a better shot at recovering. Continue to pray for all of us. Pray that his CT scan goes well and best case scenario, he gets the tube, drains the fluid, and we never have another problem.

CT scan tomorrow...

He's scheduled for a CT scan tomorrow at 2, which means no food after 6 am! It will probably be a long day! He normally does OK without food, but that was pre-transplant. Hopefully he'll do just as well. The docs said that if they do find something on the scan, he'll go in Friday to have the fluid drained. If not, then he'll just finish the antibiotics and we'll go home. Monday is our discharge day, and it couldn't come soon enough. We took both of the kids to the playroom this afternoon, and it was so nice to get out of his room. There's a really nice garden on the roof of the 8th floor where we can take him. That's nice to get fresh air! It's beautiful and peaceful. I think he enjoys it, too!

Well, tonight is my first night at the hospital alone! Josh took Makena back to the apartment because she woke up at 6 am and didn't have a nap. We figured it would be a looooong night if she didn't get a good nights sleep. Hopefully she's refreshed and ready to go in the morning!

We have a new website coming soon! I will put up the address as soon as it's ready!! It's more of a donation website to help with the absolutly overwhelming bills and expenses we have right now.

Continue to pray for strength for all of us! God bless all that are praying for our little guy!