Braxtyn's Medical Fund

Braxtyn was born at 24 weeks and 5 days weighing only 1lb 8oz and 12 and 3/4 inches long. Fortunately Braxtyn was born at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis connected with the Mother Baby Center from Abott. The week prior to his arrival I felt a little off and went in to get checked out, come to find out that my little pooh bear was trying to make his arrival a little too early. I was then ambulanced to the Mother Baby Center in full labor. Fortunately the amazing doctors and nurses were able to keep him in just a little bit longer. We all would have liked for him to cook longer but he had other plans. The morning of Decemer 8th, 2015 I woke up at 5:36am in a lot of pain, I immediately called the nurse in who then called in the doctor. The doctor came in with the ultrasound machine and looked at the nurse and just said "call for OR," at that point I was flooded with emotions wondering if my baby boy was going to be ok. Luckily my mom was already there as she had stayed the night with me. I w;as sprinted to the OR and was put under general anesthesia, I didn't get to hear my baby cry at 6:08am. I woke up in recovery wondering what was happening to my baby boy and by then my mom had come in to see me and show me pictures that he was doing well and settled into his new home (the incubator) and on a ventilator. Finally I was wheeled down in my bed to see my baby boy, he was doing better than expected even! Unfortunately 2 days later everything changed, he developed a bleed in his brain and both of his lungs filled with blood and he had a hole in his right lung. We were devastated but I knew he was going to be a fighter, he had to be! The next month and a half was really rough, he was put on a special high frequency ventilator that then damaged his lungs with air cysts and had a ricum reservoir put into his brain where the neurosurgeon team would put a long needle into to try and help keep the pressure off of his brain. The brain bleed caused the ventricles inside of his brain to swell so the spinal fluid his brain was making couldn't get to his spine to drain, they also found out that for whatever reason his body was making too much spinal fluid. They diagnosed him with stage 3 hydrocephalus. As time went on he started to slowly improve, we were able to hold him more and his body started regulating temperature and he was growing, he was even able to get off of the ventilator. After a couple of month of taking the spinal fluid out the brain did not repair itself and the ventricles just kept getting bigger and bigger after every ultrasound. Braxtyn then had his second brain surgery to remove the reservoir and put in a shunt, a tube that goes from the ventricles in the brain down to his belly where they coiled 4ft of tubing that will then uncoil as he grows to continue constantly draining the fluid from his brain. After the shunt he started improving so much! He started being able to take what he needed through his bottle and was able to get fully off the ventilator and cpap machine and just to a regular nasal cannula. On April 2nd, 2016 I finally got to bring Braxtyn home! I had all my training in for his oxygen and pulsoximeter (shows me his O2 stats and heartrate in real time). I was so overjoyed it was the best moment of my life! We have now been home for almost 3 weeks and while it's so much more work than I could have ever imagined I am so blessed to have this little boy home and as healthy as can be. He is now up to 8lb 6oz as of today, while we are very busy with appointments almost daily I wouldn't have it any other way. Braxtyn is at a very high risk of having cerebral palsy and we will take each day as it comes and focus on the good. We are doing everything we can to combat it and help him as we do physical therapy daily. I would like to say thank you to everyone for you wonderful support and continued prayers as things come up. I am so happy that we have all of you in our lives, I truly believe without all your prayers he would not be where he is today! I can never thank you all enough!!! Unfortunately with his needs I am unable to work which puts a massive financial strain on my little family. Between the medical bills and gas to get to all of his appointments and parking and all of the other extra's that come along with having a special needs baby can be overwhelming. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not the type of person to ask for help especially financially but it is just so much and they never did find a reason as to why he came so early. Anything including prayers and good thoughts helps! Thank you all for your support and help!