Miami — Casey Kotchman returned to the Braves Monday after spending two weeks at his mother’s bedside. Kotchman said his mother suffered hemorrhaging in her brain on Aug. 19 and has been in neuro-intensive care in a St. Petersburg hospital.

Kotchman said his mother is stable and her pain has decreased, though doctors are still trying to identify what’s causing her problem. He said emergency room doctors initially diagnosed it as an aneurysm but further tests haven’t yet confirmed it.

“She’s in good spirits,” Kotchman said. “She’s responsive, she’s stable. They’re still doing more tests. They haven’t found [an aneurysm] yet. They do an angiogram tomorrow to rule that out.”

Kotchman said his mother, Sarah Kotchman, 55, felt severe head and neck stiffness and pain when she woke from a nap the night of Aug. 19, “the worst headache you could possibly imagine,” he said. A neighbor called 911.

Manager Bobby Cox gave Kotchman permission to leave the Braves in New York where they were playing the Mets and immediately fly to St. Petersburg.

When asked if he feared the worst, Kotchman said: “I’ve always been raised, you’re praying to be optimistic. You also know it’s in God’s hands.”

He was placed on the bereavement list and after seven days moved to the restricted list. He was activated prior to Monday’s game in Florida.

“I’m happy to be back here with this group of guys and this organization,” Kotchman said. “That’s one thing my mom wanted to say: Thank you to Bobby Cox and Frank Wren and the players and everybody. She said she was going to thank them but for now I’m doing the thanking for her.”

His dad Tom Kotchman, a minor league manager for the Angels, and his sister are still with his mother.

Kotchman was not in the lineup Monday and won’t be for a couple of days, Cox said. Cox wanted to give him time to get back in the flow.

“I don’t think I go that long in the offseason without picking up a bat,” Kotchman said.

Julio to join Braves, too

The Braves have added another arm to the their group of September call-ups and will bring up Richmond closer Jorge Julio Tuesday with five others.

The Braves are in desperate need of arms. It was obvious Sunday in Washington, D.C. when Elmer Dessens took the mound in the eighth inning with a one-run lead. The Braves have a host of relievers who’ve logged more than their share of innings — Will Ohman and Blaine Boyer were tied for the majors’ lead in appearances (71) entering this series — and now Manny Acosta is dealing with shoulder stiffness trying to build his velocity back.

Julio is 1-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 13 saves in 38 games for Richmond. He’s also walked 23 in 39-2/3 innings to go with 45 strikeouts. The Braves signed him as a minor league free agent on June 11 after he’d been released by Cleveland.

“He’s been throwing good,” Cox said. “[But yes] we need arms.”

Julio returns to Florida where he failed in an attempt to establish himself as the Marlins’ closer last year. He went 0-2 with a 12.54 ERA and was 0-for-2 in save opportunities. He allowed 14 runs (13 earned) and 11 walks in 9-1/3 innings. This spring in Cleveland, he gave up 11 runs in 17-2/3 innings.

Four others are scheduled to travel to Florida following Richmond’s final game on Monday: Brent Lillibridge, Corky Miller, Jeff Ridgway and James Parr. Charlie Morton will be activated to make the start Tuesday. He’d been optioned to Richmond in a paper-pushing move to make room for Dessens before rosters expanded.

Also, backup infielder Ruben Gotay was activated from the disabled list on Monday.