Swollen Lymph Node

My pic doesn't capture it very well, but Brayden has an HUGE (and very tender) swollen lymph node. It just popped up yesterday morning, and really scared us. We took him to the dr, and she is treating it as if it is caused by an infection. She said that it probably what is going on although there is no fever, no other symptoms, and no sign of ear or throat problems. She measured it at 5 cm x 4 cm and said that was REALLY big for a guy his size. He got a big shot yesterday and is on Augmentin for the next 10 days. . . he goes back to the dr tomorrow, so we're hoping that she sees whatever she is looking for to know that it is an infection and that the antibiotics are working.

I don't even want to think about the other possibilities that could be the cause of this swollen lymph node -- but we're a little gun shy of probably coming from a dr, since last time a "probably nothing to worry about" turned into a ToF diagnosis. Hopefully we'll get good news tomorrow, and Bray-Mynor (as I've started calling him) will be back to his old self soon.

Relaxing in the Sunshine

Bray spent about 5 minutes outside in the sunshine today -- it was way too bright for him :) We slathered him up in sunblock and took him out for a short photo shoot by the pool. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a photographer, so this pic doesn't even come close to capturing how cute his is in seersucker pants and a sweater vest!!! What a handsome little man!

Road Trip

We took a road trip this weekend to visit Brayden's great-grandparents and to go to his cousin Megan's 1st birthday party. . . it was pure torture! This boy HATES riding in the car! I guess he got used to riding unconstrained on the chicken buses for the first 5.5 months of his life, so he doesn't like our American ways of being strapped down! Luckily his cousin Tia went with him, so he had someone to keep him company for the ride. I think he enjoyed all of his visits, but the ride home was terrible on the little guy. He whimpered and cried the whole time -- Needless to say, I think we'll be staying local for a while.

Brayden's 1st Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! Brayden had a great day -- going to church, spending time with family, playing outside, and taking a nap with his GG.

CHUNK!!!

Have I mentioned that Brayden has gotten huge? I mean, hanging out with him creates yet another similarity between me and Sloth from The Goonies. (Please don't make me discuss.) I took this pic a few days ago to try and capture just how big Bray is getting. Look down at my April 8 post to see how small he was at 3 months -- I think he ate that baby. . .

The truth is, he's not really big at all compared to other babies his age. . . he's in like the 5%-10% range. It's just that he was so, so tiny and we worried about him so much those first few months. It's amazing to see how things have turned around. 2006 has definitely been a good year for this guy :) Not only is he growing, just look at how PINK he is!! If it wasn't for the washing machine sound in his chest, you'd never believe that he was a heart baby ;)

Handsome Little Man

Now, I'm finally up-to-date!! Brayden is a wonderful baby. . . We have been together for 2 months now, and I am surprised everyday by just how easy-going and content he is. Content, but not necessarily the typical "happy" baby. He acts more like a little man than a baby. Smiles and laughs are hard to come by with this boy. You have to work hard for them, and you have to have new material all the time (just ask his cousin Jordan). It just makes the smiles and laughs even more special, and I really do think that he is becoming less and less reserved everyday. He melts my heart -- sometimes just by the way that he looks into my eyes and refuses to blink. In case you can't tell, I'm totally in love with my son :)

Finally a Family!

On Feb 10, 2006 Brayden was placed in our arms, and we officially become a forever family :) It was a magical day, and we were so happy to be reunited with our sweet boy. Michael and I both agree that Brayden definitely remembered us. Probably b/c I told him about 100 times before we left in Nov "I promise that I'm coming back for you. Please don't forget me."

We returned home with Brayden on 02/15/06. He was greeted at the airport by a small fan club! Bray was so amazing. He just looked around and took it all in, while we acted like a bunch a crazy people :) I was so happy to share my little boy with my family, and I was so happy to share my family with my little boy.

Two days after we returned home, we took Brayden to see his new pediatric cardiologist. We were very nervous, since we were assuming that we would need to schedule his surgery very soon (based on what we were told by the dr at UNICAR). We were VERY happy to find out that Brayden was doing great! We knew that he was getting stronger b/c he had changed so much -- that fragile little boy had turned into a chunk! The dr said that he could wait a while and grow even stronger before he would have to have surgery. She thought that he would probably need to have it between 12-18 months old. I really feel like this time is a gift from God. He is giving us time to be a family and to get to know each other before we have to go through the surgery.

He has What? Of What?

When we met Brayden, he was sick. The conversation started with "We are very sorry to tell you . . ." He was very tiny, very weak, and very pitiful. It turns out the Brayden had an e-coli infection. We went to the dr with him on a Saturday morning, and the dr told us that he heard a heart murmur and that he wanted Brayden to see a cardiologist "just in case". I guess that I was so glad to hear the good news -- Bray was responding to the meds for the e-coli and we could keep him with us for the remainder of our trip -- that the whole heart issue just didn't sink in. Brayden had an appointment at UNICAR on Dec 1, two days after we returned home.

Around noon on Dec 2, I got a call from our agency. They didn't have much information to give, just that Brayden had a congenital heart defect, that he would need surgery by the time he was 6 months old, and there was a surgeon in Guatemala who could do it. Talk about a ton of bricks!! A million things started running through my head, but the one thing that was terrifying me the most was the 6 months old part. Brayden was already 3 months old and our adoption had been moving at a snails pace. I just kept thinking that there was no way he would make it home in time and there was no way that I wanted him to have open heart surgery in a third world country! (Now we know that there is an amazing surgeon there, but I just couldn't grasp that at the time.)

Finally later that day I got an e-mail giving me the name of the condition, "Estos son los nombres de lo que tiene Mynor Elias
Cardiopatía Congénita: Congenital Cardiopathy
Tetralogía de Fallot: Tetralogy of Fallot". The internet has never been burned up so badly as it was that day as I tried to figure out what those words meant. I called a few drs and was very scared when their replies started with a depressing "Ohhhh".

For the next couple of months we prayed. We prayed for a miracle healing. We prayed for Brayden to make it home in time to have the surgery here. We prayed for us to figure out a way to go and stay if he had to have the surgery there. We prayed for guidance, for strength, and for sanity. There were so many things to consider and plan for -- how would we afford to pay for the surgery w/o any insurance, how could we leave our lives and stay in Guatemala during his recovery, how could we find blood donors for the surgery if we weren't a match (blood donation doesn't happen there like it does here, you basically have to find your own donors and pay them to do it), how could Brayden's foster mother take care of him after he left the hospital, how, how, how, how. . .

Then at the end of January, we found out that all of this stuff would be irrelevant. By the grace of God, our case had moved with great speed since December. On Jan 23 we found out that we were out of PGN, confirming that Brayden was coming home very soon and that there would be no surgery in Guatemala!!

Me & My Boy

Well, here we are! This pic was taken just a few days after I met Brayden in Nov 2005. Michael and I went to Guatemala to meet the sweet boy that we had been dreaming of, and he was more than we ever expected!! I fell in love with Brayden the moment that I saw that first picture but meeting him brought that love to a whole new level :)

Welcome to our blog!!

Well, I've been inspired by all of the bloggers out there with sites dedicated to their kids. I thought to myself -- who deserves a blog more than my Brayden Boy? Nobody, so I better get crackin' on this!

I'm also thinking that this blog will be a great way to try to keep all of you up-to-date on Brayden's health and our sanity as Michael and I try to figure out how to be the parents that this boy deserves :) There are so many people out there who have been praying for our boy, don't we owe it to them to let them know how he is doing? I'll try!!