Braska Bear

What Braska is *probably* thinking.... Wow...what a day. This morning Mommy and Pop got me up so early! And they wouldn't feed me for some reason. Then we went for a car trip. When we got to this hospital place, people took a special picture of my chest, and then they stuck me three times trying to make me bleed! What is that about?! I told them clearly that I didn't care for that at all. Finally I was able to get a nap in. Then Mommy gave me to another lady I don't know and then I went to sleep. Gosh, I don't remember much of anything after that. Now I'm laying here with alot of tubes and wires.. but I don't hurt, it just feels funny. I'm pretty sleepy though, and I can't open my eyes. Maybe I'm dreaming? Everyone keeps saying the worst is over. That's good, I guess. For now, I'm ready to wake up... but then again, I'm just gonna take another nap. If you want to see what I look like (it's kind of scary) check out what Pop posted at h...

This is Braska's mommy speaking for her... (go figure). She's in surgery still right now at 4:08 pm but she is off the bypass machine and they are preparing to close her up. Things have gone well to this point, and we hope she'll be in the PICU by 6pm or so. Thank you so much for all your prayers... more soon.

Well, tomorrow will change my life, in every literal way. Not everyone can say that they know that their heart will be stopped for a while and fixed up to better than before all in one day. But by this time tomorrow night, I'll be well on my way to a more healthy and comfortable life. My Great-Grandad Rod in Oregon said something really neat today... he said that Jesus would be waiting at the hospital tomorrow morning for me and would walk the doctor through every step. There are so many people praying for me, I can't even tell you. Almost every state in this big country, and many other countries, have included me on a prayer list somewhere. Bunches of my family will be at the hospital praying and waiting tomorrow while I'm being worked on... and that's good because Mommy will need it, and maybe my Pop too. Tonight I just spent some time with my family. I haven't felt well at all for the last day or so, really really felt icky actually. But they were patient with me...

The day has come for me to go to St. Louis and get ready for my "big day." This surgery is apparently a big deal, because everyone around me is constantly talking about it. I must be pretty important, I think. My Pop was trying to help Mommy pack, but she said he was doing it wrong... click here to see what he did to me!!! I also got to see Miss Dayna again today. She's the lady who comes to see me a couple times each week and makes me get naked on that scale! But even with that, I like her alot. She talks to me real nice and gives me special attention. She listens to my heart and my lungs, and Mommy likes it when she says my lungs are clear. I'll see you soon, Miss Dayna, and I'll be lookin' better than ever!

It's Sunday, and at our house, that starts with getting dressed for church. I like church alot. There's neat music, even if it is sometimes loud for my little ears. And there are lots of nice people there who always come to say hi to me and to ask how I'm doing. My name was even in the bulletin because everyone is praying for me to have a successful surgery on Wednesday. It's neat to have so many people who care about me! But my very favorite part of church is my one-on-one time with my Pop. He holds me all through church and I get to look at him alot. (He's really good lookin', you know!) Sometimes he talks to me a little, but mostly it's just our special time together to just be quiet and cuddle. I hope we get to keep up this tradition for a long time...until I get too big and squirmy, at least. Mommy and I are getting ready to leave tomorrow for St. Louis for my surgery. So there's alot to do today. We did take a minute, though, before we get to work...

Well, it's the weekend again. My parents seem to think weekends are a good thing. I'm not even sure what "weekend" means. Mommy does the same thing on Saturday as every other day--laundry, cooking, taking care of me, and "work work" on the computer, which is what she calls the work she gets paid for. I sometimes see my Pop more on weekends, though, so that's fun. I didn't feel very good today, so Mommy spent alot of time trying to console me and make me feel better. It was nice to be held and read to and stuff, but I still just didn't feel good. Mommy kept saying it was going to be over soon and told me that very soon I'd feel a whole bunch better. She promised me that in a couple weeks I won't even remember feeling this icky and coughing all the time. That sound good, I guess, but I don't really know any other way to feel. Apparently I'm having surgery on Wednesday, and it sounds a little scary, but I know that God will be there ...

This morning was pretty uneventful...the only things that happened were baby things that we dainty girls don't really share openly. Let's just say it wasn't all sugar and spice. I did wake up with some weird stuff in my eye, and I couldn't get my eyelashes apart. Mommy washed me up really good, but since I'm so close to my surgery day, and we don't want anything at all to mess that up, we called the doctor. They're super cool at my doctor's office and they always take good care of me really quick. So Miss Laurie, Miss Amiee, and Dr. Y decided I needed to come see them. Dr. Y checked me out good. It turned out to be no problem, but they still had to get me naked on that darn scale again! What is the big deal about my weight? Isn't it a little early for everyone to be so concerned with my numbers on that silly scale? Oh well, maybe there's something I don't know... By the way... check out my supercool Onesie! I'll offer a Braska Bravo to th...

Today was a busy one. But at least I looked good running around all day. Miss Julie always gets cute stuff, and she gave me this great outfit. Mommy and Pop took about 100 pictures, they thought I looked so cute. I'll be seeing flash dots for days! Mommy and Pop took me to see a nice lady, Miss Luann, who will try to help me get rid of this silly tube in my nose. They want me to drink my milk from a bottle, but I have to say, it's kind of nice to be able to have my meals with no effort. I even sleep through it alot of times. Pop is really jealous. He wishes he could do it this way too... just watch him try . Then Miss Dayna came to see me. She's a nurse who comes to my house to check on me a couple times a week. I know her pretty well since she's been coming since I got out of the hospital a couple months ago. She is really nice and talks to me alot, but she always makes me get naked and lays me on a hard scale. I've tried to tell her over and over that I don't ...

Happy birthday to me! 3 months is a big deal in this particular case... only one week til the big surgery! Mommy says I can't really have cake and ice cream yet, but we'll do a birthday jig while watching some Baby Einstein. Now THAT'S good times!

It has been a pretty crazy 10 days or so for me. Mom and I started off on the 9th heading to Auntie Rachel's for a day, then we went to Papa Beagle and Grammy's to stay for a few days. I got to meet my great-grandpa D and said hello to his little dog Max. He's even smaller than me. Then I got to go to church with a whole bunch of people who have been praying for me. It was like I was famous. So many cool people came to smile at me and tell me how pretty I was. Every girl likes to hear that, you know! Then Monday was back to St. Louis to see the doctor who is going to fix my heart. They decided since I've been so uncomfortable (and coughing so much and tossin' my cookies...ok, just the milk) that he will do my big surgery pretty soon, on 2/28. It'll be so nice to feel better. Everyone keeps telling me how much better I'll feel when it's all over, but I think it's going to be a rough ride to get there. Mommy and I spent a few days after that at Grandma...

Why does an almost-3-month-old need a blog, you ask? Well, I was talking to Mommy earlier today and told her that since Pop has a famous blog and Mommy works on her computer all day long, it only seems fair that I would have an internet presence as well. Ok, maybe I was just cooing, but I figure maybe she read between the lines. I often lie against the arm of the recliner with Mommy while she's working, and I love the sounds that the computer makes... especially when Mommy and Pop are chatting. The little *bing* sound always gets my attention and makes me smile. As for this blog, Pop will have me doing the "real thing" in html probably as soon as he can. But for now, the quick and easy way will work. The idea is just to post little tidbits of what's up with us (mostly me, of course) for all of you who don't seem to get enough information and pictures... I'm quite happy to oblige with more.