Special Gift

So.... I decided to blog about the special gift my cousin Caroline got Bryce on the day of his open heart surgery because he is loving it these days. It is a Ty brand monkey with hearts on his chest. He is oh so soft and he was one of the few stuffed animals that got to be with Bryce during his recovery. Among other special gifts Bryce received during his time at UAB was a gown resembling a lab coat with UAB on it from his Big Momma and Poppa, a onesie with a choo choo train and hearts from Jenny Sain,a stuffed doggy that looks like Minnie (our dachsund) also from the Sains, flowers from Wes and Katie May on Valentines Day, and many many more precious gifts that I can't recall right at the moment. We are so thankful for each and every one of them. The day of Bryce's surgery, I received a Pandora heart charm that all of the girls in my family got for me! I get a Pandora charm for just about every occasion but this one is by far the most special and meaningful one I have received yet. Also, my mom got me a necklace with a heart shaped locket........Other toys he is loving these days besides his monkey are his Baby Einstein Lion that plays music (from Ronald and Debbie Westmoreland) and his glow worm that plays music given to him by Aunt Debbie. I will leave you with a pic of he and monkey swinging:) Thanks for reading. I'll try to put up some pics soon of the other gifts I mention here.

Bryce's Precious Great Grandfather, Daddy Dene

How incredibly thankful we are for the 4 months Bryce had to know his precious great grandfather Daddy Dene (Jon's grandfather). He passed away at ECM Hospital on Monday, June 6. Although they only had a few months to spend together, the time spent was definitely quality time. We will always remember Bryce and Daddy Dene playing on the couch in Mama Nell and Daddy Dene's formal living room, just laughing and smiling at one another. We also will remember that Daddy Dene loved baby feet and made it a point to mention them every time he was with Bryce. He will be sorely missed but we cling to the precious memories that we prayed would be able to take place before Daddy Dene's passing. Although we are bowed down in sorrow that Daddy Dene is gone, we rejoice in Christ for answering our prayers that they would get to meet one another, especially since Bryce was at UAB for almost a full month after being born. We love you Daddy Dene and we miss you!! Here is a picture of Bryce and Daddy Dene playing:)

Welcome Summer!!!

That's right....Welcome Summer! I love it. We have had the best, most relaxing Memorial Day weekend ever. Of course, the best part was getting to spend lots of quality time with our little man. He is now sleeping on his side at night which is something he has just started in the past week. It is too cute. I feed and bathe him and daddy puts him to sleep. He is a pro at getting him to sleep and I actually think Bryce prefers his daddy to put him to bed:) Other cute things Bryce is doing these days is making sounds when he blows bubbles which sounds something like "a-brr"! It is the sweetest thing...and he loves to sit in his Bumbo seat. We have started sitting him at the dinner table with us while we eat and loves it. He is starting to notice the food on our plates more and more. I just tell him that mommy is eating right now, but he can have it later. :) I know some of you will have a duck when I say this but I was eating ice cream last night and I gave him a tiny drop. Ha..he seemed to like it but then again, what baby doesn't like a little sugar. Anyway, today (Bryce's very first memorial day), we put him in his kiddie pool for the first time. I put on his little bathing suit and sun hat and slathered him in sunscreen....then we heading out in our back yard for a little splishing and splashing with Daddy. He loved it. It took him a second to get used to the water but once he did..he seemed to enjoy it. Jon had put some squeaky toys in there as well and he played with them and of course, tried to eat them. After we got done with that, we all took a nap and headed for dinner at Big Momma and Poppa's house! It was a fantastic day. Boo for daddy having to go back to work tomorrow:( Thanks so much for reading...pics to come soon.

By the way, a big thank you to my grandfathers, my dad, and my brother for their service to our country! I love you and I am so proud of all of you!!

Bryce's First Pool

Bryce in his first pool

Enjoying the water

Cookout at Big Momma and Poppa's house

Worn out from his first Memorial Day

First Little Cold

As I mentioned in my last post, Bryce man has his first cold...which seems to be much better tonight..yay! I took him for his 4 month check-up yesterday and he actually had a little fever and an upset stomach while we were there. Go figure, the only upset stomach he has had the whole time so Dr. Crenshaw wanted to do some tests for RSV and rotavirus. Both were negative which was awesome! She said just to watch him and give him tylenol for his fever and this should pass soon. Also, she told me to hold off on the apple juice (and give him Pedialyte instead) that we give him once a day that has his vitamin in it because it may make the upset stomach worse. Let me tell you friends, this baby boy loves his "baby gatorade" as I call it. He sucked down 4 ounces in no time. It sure is hard for a mommy to see her baby sick. It has been equally hard trying to get this little man to sleep. It has taken us about an hour each night to get him settled down because he simply just doesn't feel good and just wants to be held. I am hoping that our efforts not to do that are going to pay off soon. He really hasn't acted like he felt bad besides that but his cough has been pretty nasty at times. Otherwise, we are enjoying kicking off this Memorial Day weekend.

Bryce's stats at 4 months:

Weight: 13 lb. 4 oz.
Height: 24 1/2 inches
Head circumference: 16+ inches
Eats: Breastmilk and has apple juice once a day to take his vitamin with iron

He is growing so fast and is right on track!! Yay! Dr. Crenshaw said his head control and strength are more like a 6 month old! Praise God!! We are so proud of him!


Anyway, our Memorial day weekend has started off great! Jon grilled hot dogs last night and grilled hamburgers tonight. I have had to keep Bryce in but it has been fun getting to spend some quality time with just the 3 of us at home because Jon has had a pretty busy week at work! Earlier this week, Uncle Zack came for a visit. It was nice getting to spend time with him because he works night shift for TVA and sleeps alot during the day. Here is a precious picture from his visit. Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!!

4 months old

Our little man is 4 months old and yes...time is flying! He is the light of our lives. I had to take him in to see Dr. Hamilton yesterday because he had developed a little cough. No fever, no fussiness, and appetite was still good so Dr. Hamilton said its probably just a cold and there isn't really an meds for the common cold at his age. I may have the lovely weather to thank for this one. Temps in the 80's one week and 50's the next. Yep, the good ole Alabama weather!! We recently got his a Baby Einstein jumper and he loves it....for a few minutes..and then he whines to get out. I'm hoping as he is able to sit up better, he will begin to enjoy it more! Thanks for reading...here are a few pics of him in his jumper...one happy..one sad:)

First "official" Road Trip

This past Saturday, Jon and I woke up and decided we wanted to take a little road trip to Huntsville to see great friends. This was Bryce's first "official" road trip because we weren't going to see the doc. He did awesome! He is such an easy-going baby and he is already very social. Our first stop was to see Brian, Kelly, Landry (3 months old), Harper, and Emma. Bryce is already a flirt so he enjoyed meeting all of the girls. He got to play with a really cool toy while there, a bear that sang to him if he kicked the beach ball hard enough....I know, you have no idea what I'm talking about but I will add a picture shortly:) After we got done there, we headed to Bridge Street for a little shopping and dinner at Red Robin. We were wanting to see Patrick and Amy Delay while we were in town so when we finished dinner, we headed out to Toney to see them. Amy is about 9 weeks pregnant and their home was destroyed by the recent tornadoes so they are staying with some friends that live about 5 minutes away from their old home. Amy is going to be the best mommy ever. She didn't leave Bryce's side the whole time we were there. Bryce had a blast smiling and laughing with them. We were also able to see a bit of the damage that had occurred a couple of weeks ago. Completely sobering experience seeing cars strewn across fields, mattresses stacked on the side of the road, rubble piled high containing people's once treasured items, etc. It was the perfect reminder that the best things in life aren't "things". One day we will all leave this world and we won't be able to take any of our worldly possessions with us. God truly just blesses us with these things to use while we are here. Our ultimate gift lies in our relationship with Jesus Christ and we should truly store up our treasures in heaven. I thank God today for these precious friends we were able to visit and the fact that He healed our precious Bryce man so that we could enjoy days like today showing him off:) Thanks for reading...pics coming soon!

My first Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was amazing! I am blessed to be the mommy of the most precious miracle baby, William Bryce Pannell! I got up early and opened my Mother's Day cards before we left for church. Jon got me one from him and one from Bryce. So special:) Bryce is now 15 weeks and learning and doing new things every day. His latest milestone is focusing on things and putting everything in his mouth:) He absolutely loves books and Baby Einstein videos are a big hit with him too! He is also drooling and blowing bubbles alot so he may be getting ready to teethe very soon! He is holding his head up very well. Just an occasional flop back or forward but for the most part, he is doing it independently. We have also been sitting him up in his Bumbo seat! What an amazing blessing from God he is. We just love him so much and we are enjoying all of the new and exciting things that each day brings. Last but not least, he went to Sunday School for the first time on Mother's Day! This was not planned as I just walked him over there to rock him after he got a little rowdy in our class. I stayed with him (unbeknownst to him) and he did great! He loved the teachers singing to him. He sat by Harrison Mann and Italie McCreless. Everyone of them are so precious. I will post some pics soon. Thanks for reading!

First Big Hurdle

Okay, so I'm not doing so hot right now keeping this updated but I promise, I will try to do better. Nevertheless, here is the story of Bryce's first big hurdle he overcame at UAB and might I add, he passed it with flying colors. Upon arriving at UAB hospital, doctors quickly ordered prostaglandins to be administered. I will keep this in laymans's terms so it can be easily understood..... Okay, when we are in our mother's womb, we all have a hole in our heart that is essential while we are still getting everything we need from the umbilical cord. At birth, after the umbilical cord is cut, this hole is designed to close off and we begin to breathe on our own, circulation begins, etc. Well, since Bryce had transposition, God allowed this hole to remain open to sustain life for Bryce because things were a little out of sorts. That being said, prostaglandins are designed to keep this hole open until surgery can be done to correct the problem. By the grace of God, Bryce's hole stayed wide open on its own and he was able to be weened off of prostaglandins less than 24 hours after they were started!! We were so thankful and excited because this was a huge deal. Doctors and nurses were amazed because this is not typical for an infant with a heart defect. Symptoms from prostaglandins can be pretty harsh. The most noticeable symptom is the startle reflex. That first night, he would just jump out of his skin for no reason and was pretty restless. Nevertheless, we were very glad that the prostaglandins were gone. His saturation was in the 80's and 90's on room air (e.g. he did not have to have any oxygen at all) the entire two weeks leading up to surgery. Praise God, he is our little miracle baby! More stories to come. Thanks for following our blog:)
(This picture was taken right after I delivered him at ECM Hosptial- administering oxygen - about the time they were realizing something may be wrong)

Bryce's Precious Heart

On January 23, 2011, I gave birth to a precious 7 lb., 6 oz. 21 inches long baby boy at 10:15pm. After delivery, he didn't cry out, just a few squeaks here and there. Immediately, my mom (a respiratory therapist), knew something wasn't quite right. At this point, Jon and I were oblivious to the fact that anything was wrong and were overjoyed as we should have been at the birth of our son. At first, they thought it was just his lungs. After a bit of trying to suction his lungs with no strong cry, he was wisked away to the nursery at ECM for further evaluation. After about 4 hours at ECM, lots of suctioning, an oxygen hood, and chest x-rays, he was sent to Huntsville Hospital by ambulance for further evaluation. Quickly after arriving in Huntsville, Bryce had an echocardiogram (because they suspected it may be his heart) that was read by the pediatric cardiologist over his iphone (yes..really!...he was on a ski vacation) who quickly diagnosed Bryce with transposition of the great vessels. A quick explanation....the aortic valve and pulmonary artery are switched. After the diagnosis in Huntsvlle and the phone call from Jon letting me know our son had a heart defect and was going to have to have an operation, Bryce was sent immediately to UAB hospital where we waited 2 weeks and 1 day before he had full blown open heart surgery to correct the problem. Jon was so wonderful through it all. We had arrived at ECM Hospital at about 8:30 am on Sunday, Jan. 23 where he had supported me through a wonderful labor all day long and then chased our precious miracle baby all over the place until he eventually got to UAB Hospital Women's and Children's Center (Regional Neonatal ICU at 3:00 pm the next day. If you are wondering where I was during this time, I had to stay at ECM Hospital to recover for a bit. I was released by Dr. Keith on Monday to go and be with my precious son and husband. Although scared to death, pain medication on board, and running on adrenaline, I was overjoyed to finally arrive at UAB Hospital (around 8:30pm Monday night) to see my husband and son for the first time since delivery. Jon said it was amazing seeing Bryce perk up when I was finally there to hold him and talk to him. He knew his mommy had finally arrived! :) This was just the beginning of our journey...more to come! This picture was taken as Bryce was leaving ECM to go to Hunstville Hospital (still thinking it was his lungs at that point)