Brady John: Our Strong Little Man

I’m sure you can all tell by now that I think my son is seriously amazing.  This story is one of the things I go back to when I think of all the ways Brady seemed to defy everyone’s expectations from the very beginning.

I think Brady was only about 4 days old when this happened.  I only know that because of the time-stamped photos I have on my cell phone.  My record-keeping wasn’t the greatest for the first few days of Brady’s life.  For the first 3 days of life, Brady had to be positioned midline, so there wasn’t a lot of creativity in how he got to lay in his isolette.  It’s another precaution they take for babies born so prematurely, to prevent brain bleeds.  After the first 3 days, Brady got to try lots of new positions, including some tummy time.

Typically, you wouldn’t want a newborn baby sleeping on their tummy, but with Brady hooked up to so many machines and monitors, there’s no risk associated with it.  In fact, it is oftentimes easier for them to breathe in that position.

His nurse turned Brady onto his tummy.  It was the first time I’d gotten to see his back and he was so. dang. cute.  Jeff and I were admiring his adorableness while the nurse turned away to mess with something over at the supply station.  In that moment, Brady pushed himself up, and straightened his arms like he was doing a push-up.  As quick as he did it, he was back relaxing on his tummy.  Jeff and I looked at each other and whispered “did you see that?!”  We couldn’t believe it.  That seemed like incredible strength for a tiny, barely over 1 lb., little man to display.

We never asked the nurse if this was extraordinary or not.  I think it was one of those things where it would have made me sad if the nurse would’ve been like, “Oh… yeah… preemies do that ALL of the time!”  I asked Jeff about it the other day, and he said that it totally was incredible – so if Jeff says it is, it is!

This memory is actually one that popped into my head a month or two after Brady passed away.  Though I had been so entertained by it when he did it, I hadn’t really thought of it since he passed away.  It happened out of nowhere, and I remember exactly where I was when I remembered.  I was driving to Target to grocery shop and was waiting at the red light in front of the store.  I have no idea what triggered the memory, but I laughed out loud, alone in my car, remembering how incredible, remarkable, and unique Brady is.