Welcome to our site about our son Brodie Dick who will join our family on August 8, 2011 at 8:00. At 22 weeks we went in to find out if we were having a boy or a girl and we found out that we were having a boy but that he may have a birth defect. After an agonizing week we found out that our son had CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia). CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing the abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth. CDH occurs in 1 of every 2500 births and a baby with CDH is born every 10 minutes. 50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. The cause is not known. This will be a journal of our journey and will allow our family and friends to keep up to date on what is happening with us and our son Brodie. Thanks for your prayers and support!


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Brodie 7 Months

It is hard to believe it but Brodie is turning 7 months old tomorrow.  Things have still been hectic but we are doing well.  Brodie has been doing great.  He recovered from his surgery and has yet to vomit since he got the fundo.  The only bad thing about it is that he gags alot but nothing comes out.  This can be very tough to watch but  I think it will get better with time.  He has been progressing and has physical therapy every Tuesday and Thursday and occupational therapy every Monday and Wednesday.  He is grabbing toys with both hands and he even sat unassisted last night for about 5 seconds.  He has two teeth coming in and just loves to show them off when he smiles.  Overall he is healthy but it wouldn't be Brodie if he didn't have some issues.  Sunday night we had to go up quite a bit on his oxygen and when we would take his oxygen off his numbers would go down in a hurry.  We were pretty worried about him but he has since gotten back to where he was before.  The neurologist was concerned about his head size since it has gone from 25% to 50% to 75% on the growth chart since he was born.  We had a follow up MRI and they said that he had benign hydrocephalus.  I am not sure that I even understand fully what this is but I understand it to be excess fluid in the brain but not enough to worry about right now.  We have to go back in for another MRI in 6 months.  We are so proud of how far he has come and are amazed by him daily.  This past Saturday I took him off of oxygen for two hours and he stayed above 95 the whole time.  Yes, our little Brodie was breathing on his own for 2 hours with no problems.  We are so encouraged and it seemed like for that small amount of time that a little bit of light peeked through the end of the tunnel.  We know we have a long way to go but it is nice to know that he can do it on his own for a significant amount of time.  Bradie turned 3 on Monday and it is scary how fast time goes by.  Even though times are a bit difficult right now, my fear is that the time goes by too fast and that we are too busy to enjoy the early years of Brodie.  We can't thank all of you enough for all of your help, support and prayers.  I wish each one of you could meet him and see one of God's little miracles.  I promise that I will put up pictures soon.  We got both the boys pictures done last week and they turned out great.  Hope everyone has a great week!