Children's Miracle Network Video

This is just a video of our family on the Oklahoma Children's Miracle Network Telecast a few weeks back.  It was a really great experience.  Super embarassing but fun:)  Enjoy:)

Our Miracle

So when Gentry was 4 days old we began his casting to correct his clubfeet. By the first of October we were getting his surgery. Things had gone so great! They casted him after his surgery and that cast stays on for 3 weeks while his tendon heals. After 2 weeks we began to notice that his right foot was swelling pretty significantly. So we called the doctor and he told us to soak off his cast. After doing that it revealed significant bruising and what we were affraid was infection. Luckily it was not infection, unfortunately after much foot work we found out it was a psuedoanyersym resulting from his surgery. The doctor contacted the head Pediatric Surgeon in Oklahoma City at OU Children's Hospital to have him look at Gentry's ankle and see what we needed to do. So on October 25th I called and set up an appointment for the next day at 10:00am. I was a little late leaving the house and felt like I was losing my mind. I had forgot to buckle in Ariana so I had to pull over and do that. I left my instructions of where I was going by the computer at home. So I called Joe and asked him to mapquest it and just leave up the instructions in case I got lost when I got there so I could just call him quickly and he could help me. We were only a few minutes away when Gentry started crying. I took him hungry so I could feed him during his appointment to hold him still so I didn't think anything of it. When I parked I decided to carry him on the front of me so I could have both hands free to push Ari in a stroller. So I reached back unbuckled him and pulled him in front of me. When I brought him in front of my face his pants were covered in blood on his right leg. So I grabbed Ari in one arm and him in the other and ran as fast as I could into the hospital. Luckily I was about as close to the Emergency Room as you can be from the parking garage. I put down Ari when I had a worker offer to help and ran him into the ER as fast as I could. By the time I got back there he had gone non-responsive. I put him down and stepped back and began to silently pray. I didn't even know what to think as they were working on him. I just held Ari, who was being such a good girl considering the circumstances, and called Joe as soon as I could because I was pretty sure he was not going to make it and called Holly to come and get Ari so she wouldn't have to be there during all of this. And then I just waited and prayed and watched as they kept working to save my baby's life. He was so strong and at one point looked up and smiled at one of the ER doctors. Silly boy:) When Joe got there he told me he had no idea how serious it was because his phone kept cutting out. By that time they had stablized him enough to take him to the OR to try and repair the artery in his leg. Joe gave him a quick blessing and we kissed him and they rolled him away. So we headed off to a private waiting room where we called family and prayed hard for our little boy. We knew either way he was happy and that actually brought us a lot of comfort. After about an hour and a half we got a call from the OR saying they were closing him up and they were able to tie off the artery and stop the bleeding. They were going to take him to the Pediatric ICU. We met them up there and got to kiss him and he looked at us and held our hands and that was the last movement we got to feel for 2-3 more days. Initially he had to be paralyzed and sedated to cool him and prevent swelling of the brain. Test after test came back normal. His kidneys function normal, his heart didn't swell from his cardiac arrest, his brain showed no signs of seizure activity. Slowly he came out of his medication and we celebrated as our baby woke up. And when he was finally awake he had tons of smiles for us to let us know he was okay. Over our 6 days in the hospital we felt very comforted and felt every prayer that was going out in Gentry's and our behalf. We are so thankful to a very capable staff that saved our sons life. For friends who have shown us so much love and support through this crazy experience. For Mimi and Papa for jumping a plane to be here and help us with our kids while we took care of Gentry. For Ella and Holly for all their help during that week. For all our other family who fasted, prayed and were willing to drop everything to help if they were needed. We are so unbelievable lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful and loving people. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father who watched over us and helped us be at the right place at the right time and gave us this sweet miracle. This truly has been the worst and best experience of my life. I wouldn't want to do it again but I wouldn't give it up for anything. There is still a while before we will know exactly how this effected Gentry. But we will take whatever comes and thank Heavenly Father everyday that we still have our sweet Gentry with us.

Gentry's Arrival

Welcome to the family Gentry!

Love my boy. Happy Mommy!

Check out my muscles!

The morning of Sunday, August 29th I was having some contractions, which is not unusual for me 9 months pregnant. I wasn't technically due until the 10th or so. Joe was suppose to go to PEC but didn't feel comfortable leaving me feeling so yucky to get all 3 kids ready and get to church. So he was sweet and stayed even though I protested. We went to church and all through sacrement meeting they continued and then through Sunday School. By 3rd hour I was pretty tired but sure that I wasn't in labor because this was suppose to be a September baby and it was still only August, plus I was far to busy that day and for the rest of the week to be having a baby a couple weeks early. Finally, we went home and decided to lay down and try and relax to get the contrations to stop. Well of course they kept coming and finally I started to time them. Sure enough they were between 5-7 minutes apart so we decided to take the kids to Aunt Ella's and head to the hospital. We called our friend Shannon, we were suppose to be going to eat dinner at her house, apologized and headed out the door. I cried on the way to the hospital because I was sure this baby wasn't coming because his mom was not ready. We got there around 4:00pm and sure enough I was in labor, big surprise! :) My labors are usually super fast so we assumed it was going to be a fast and furious night as usual but this little boy just decided to take his time. By 10:00pm we were almost ready but still not quite complete. We assumed it would be any minute. Well another hour passed and we still hadn't progressed so we decided to do a little PIT to see if we could help this little boy out. Only 15 minutes after starting the some PIT we were ready to go. So we were waiting for the doctor watching the clock. The doctor got there around 11:50pm and we had our sweet little boy not on the 29th like we had assumed but at the stroke of midnight on August 30th. Silly boy! So Gentry Joseph Broderick was born August 30th at midnight, 7lbs 14 oz. Our second son to be born with clubfeet (we knew ahead of time this time). Our 4th perfect little baby is here and we are so grateful for him. A couple days later we brought him home and then our next journey began.

Been a while

Okay so it has been a while to say the least. I figured I better update the blog before baby gets here. So tah-dah I finally did it. Since I was so far behind there are lots of posts, you will have to go into older posts to see them all. But I am pretty much caught up to the present which is saying something. I want to say that I will be much better, but with baby #4 a couple months away I make no guarantees:) But I still love you all and hope you keep checking. I will try!

Temple Family Home Evening

A few weeks ago we decided to take the kids to the OKC temple for Family Home Evening. It was such a neat opportunity to talk to them about eternal families and for them to see where we go all the time when we say we are going to the temple. It was so sweet, Darron kept saying how peaceful it was there. It was such a great experience.

Oklahoma City Temple

Mommy with the kiddos. Yes it was hot:)

Sweet baby.

My beautiful kids. Oh I love it!

Daddy with the kids.

Outside Fun!

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying some outdoor fun.

At the pool party for Isaac. Start the Broderick train!

Darron trying to power up!

Ari loves the swing as you can tell. So funny!

Alyse multi-tasking. Eating and apple while swinging...interesting:)

The girls! They look nothing alike in case you were wondering:)

Close up of happy baby! SO CUTE!

The Cystic Fibrosis Walk 2010

We did the Cystic Fibrosis walk. It was at Lake Hefner this year. It was chilly to say the least. But we had tons of fun supporting Great Strides. Go Team Bryant!

Holly and Hans family:)

Our fam enjoying the sunshine:)

And we're walking...and walking. Actually not much walking goes on there which actually makes it pretty funny. So we decided to walk more for fun.

On the trail.

Ari would not give this juice box back for anything, even after it was empty.

Daddy and his kiddos! So cute!

Our clan being troopers. Hey they got cotton candy out of it! Best day ever!

Joe's Arizona Adventures

Joe suprised his mom for an early mother's day gift. He went to Arizona for a weekend and spent time with his family. He had so much!

Dad eating burnt toast, his favorite way to eat it.

Joe's best friend from school, Justin happened to be on leave that weekend so he was able to spend some time with him and his fiance.

Joe with mom. So sweet!

Our niece Lindzey was celebrating her birthday the weekend he was there, so they all went to Rainforest Cafe.

The party animals:)

Easter 2010

This year we decided to buy the kids a playset. It took forever to put together. Our goal was to have it done by easter, which we did. Happy easter kiddos!

Alyse and Darron trying it out for the first time.

Ari was not sure if she liked the slide of not.

Finally done. Wow!

Easter kids. Who wouldn't smile when you candy before breakfast?

The baskets. We had a learning theme this year so everyone got new learning stuff. They loved it!

Ariana's First Birthday

Ariana turned one in March. That was the fastest year ever! Here are some of her fun times:)

The cake on her actual birthday. Angel food cake and strawberries. AWESOME!

We had a birthday brunch for her a week or so later. Breakfast is her favorite meal so we decided to go with brunch. Ari enjoying her food. Happy Baby!

Her giant muffin cake.

Her daisy decorations and Uncle Sam with Emarie.

The goods! Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagels, breakfast sandwiches, mini muffins and fruit. Can we say YUM!

Darron's School and Birthday

Darron had a great first grade year. He also chose to have a Pokemon theme birthday for his 7th. It was so much fun!

The sign Darron drew for his party.

Happy Birthday boy!

The Maxus Dragonoid! What I was waiting for. 7 small things that make one big things. Lots of fun clean up for mom:)

A star wars lego ship. Awesome!

His Pokemon cake I made with the help of Mimi and Aunt Holly.

He got a cougar pride award at school.

So proud of my sweet boy.

His art was chosen to be in the All-City Art Festival. His is the flowers with the sun. Great job buddy.

Alyse's Ballet

Here are a few highlights from Alyse's ballet. She did such a great job. It was really fun to see her getting better and enjoying herself. Plus she makes a beautiful ballerina.

Alyse in class

Mother Gingerbread and her cookies. So cute!

Another picture of her class.

Recital day. So exciting!

Great job our little Flower Fairy.