Benson's hospital visit #2

A couple of days after Christmas, Benson and I were headed to the mall to meet Aunt Ashley and spend some of our Christmas gift certificates. He was in his car seat and started throwing up. Since he'd had his little throw-up bug a couple of weeks before, I thought maybe it was just a little lingering yuckiness, so we went ahead and went home. When we got home, he continued to throw up every couple of minutes and I noticed that it was very different from time before when he was throwing up. He would open his mouth, his face would get bright red and his eyes would roll back in his head. I called Mrs. Lula and asked to to come look at him. Since she is a nurse and has had five babies of her own, I figured she'd know what "normal" throwing up looked like. By the time she got here, he has started throwing up green stuff. She said she thought it was bile and that we needed to take him to the doctor.

We loaded him up and took him to see Dr. Castles. When we got there, they weighed him (he weighs 15 lbs. 15 oz.!) and laid him on the table to evaluate him. Of course, he was just smiling a looking around and the room... doesn't it always seems that sick babies are the best in the doctors office. The doctor evaluated him and pretty much dismissed his throwing up saying that babies who throw up bile have a blockage and are in intense pain and don't "just lay there smiling like that." So we were about two minutes from leaving when the doctor felt around on his tummy and Benson started throwing up the green stuff again, and the doctor said, "That's BILE!" Benjamin reminded him that that is exactly what his "nurse" mom had been saying all along. The doctor said, "Folks, this isn't good. This means he has an intestinal blockage." He proceeded to call the hospital and admit us immediately. When went straight to the x-ray area where they did an Upper G I. They strapped Benson to a board and had me feed him some sort of contrast liquid as they watched his intestines on a screen. This ruled out the possibility of twisted intestines (which is seen in a lot of premature babies) and also the need for surgery. We were so thankful.

He was diagnosed with an intestinal blockage due to a virus. The virus caused his intestines to swell so much that they closed off completely, not allowing anything past. The treatment for this was to give him NOTHING by mouth for 12 hours. They put an IV in his little arm in order to keep him hydrated.

Now, Benson is the sweetest baby there is.. and I know I'm biased... because I had just told Benjamin the day before that I am sure that the baby Jesus was probably the sweetest baby there ever was, but Benson HAD to be a close second. He hardly ever cries or fusses... EXCEPT when the boy is hungry. Then, he SCREAMS. Well, needless to say, after about 6 hours of not eating, the little guy was quite hungry and he cried the saddest, loudest, most pitiful cry you've ever heard all night long. Nothing we could do would appease him. At 1:00 am, we gave him one ounce of pedialyte. During the three minutes it took him to drink it, he was quiet, but when we took the bottle away, he started screaming again until the next hour when we could give him another ounce. It broke my heart. At 10:00 the next morning, we were able to let him nurse again and you have never seen a happier child. He held that down and we were able to continue nursing him until we were released from the hospital that night. The break from intake by mouth had allowed the swelling in his intestines to go down and he seems back to normal.

We're at home now and thankful for the way things turned out... it would have been a lot worse and we are so grateful that it was just some nasty bug that is now gone! Good Riddance Bug!

Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was so much fun having Benson and seeing how much everyone enjoyed being with him. He is certainly a little "star" where ever he goes! You can see a bunch of pictures here.













We had a wonderful Christmas! It was so much fun having Benson and seeing how much everyone enjoyed being with him. He is certainly a little "star" where ever he goes! You can see a bunch of pictures here.

From our home to yours...

Sweet even when he's sick...

Benson got sick for the first time yesterday. We both did. Every Ryan has had it over the past two weeks, but since no one had been sick since Wednesday, we felt like we were safe to spend Saturday playing cards and enjoying everyones fellowship. We were wrong. We started throwing up with diarrhea and have been at it for about 24 hours. It just breaks my heart to see him so sick. He hasn't been able to keep anything down. But he's the happiest little sick baby I've ever seen. He'll just throw up all over the place and then give you the sweetest smile. This is a picture of him drinking pedialite... we did discover that he can hold the bottle all by himself! What a big boy!!


Grandmama Shirley got to meet Benson for the first time!


Uncle Max and Aunt Susan came down as well!

Pop Shirley and Benson


Hannah and Benson playing together on the play mat.

Already six months old!

Wheeeee! I love spending time with my Grannie!


I attempted to move Benson from the infant carrier to the front of the buggy for the first time yesterday when I went to target. He looks like he is so strapped in he could jump out of an airplane and his buggy cover would suffice as his parachute! Since he still can't sit up very well, this lasted all of about five minutes. After that, I layed him down in the spot where he is sitting in this pic and he fell sound asleep! Everyone in target kept walking by and peeking over to see whether of not the arm that was hanging out of the foot hole belonged to a real baby! I should have taken a picture! :(


Kelli came over to play Nerts! Benson loved watching us thrown the cards around!

We stopped by to see Benjamin's Granny, who lives here in town, today. Benson just loves her!

These five months have flown by!!

After eating rice cereal for two weeks, Benson was a little... well... stopped up... so, we gave him some prunes... As you can see, they aren't his favorite! :)


Benson's "uncle" Bud gave him this Michigan wind suit all the way from Michigan!


He went on a strike against rice cereal until I let him suck his thumb while eating it. MMMmmmmm...


Hoopin it up playing Bathketball!

First time eating Rice Cereal!

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

First Cousins Christmas Picture

First Thanksgiving

Carrie and Daniel came home for Thanksgiving and we got to see them! Yay!! My how we miss them!
We went to Great Grandmama Hunter's house for Thanksgiving. She loved having a baby in the house again!
Of course we had to go get our DEALS on Friday morning. We got up at 4:00 am! Benson was SUCH a trooper. He was definitely the cutest shopper out there!
Cousin Hannah in her cheerleading uniform. She cheered our tigers on to VICTORY!!

Every time I tried to take a picture of her sweet smile, either the camera messed up or Hannah turned her head, but you can see a smidgen of her adorableness here :) Thanksgiving with the Ryans. We even got two of two of the dogs in the pic! :)

Will learned to crawl last week! Look at those big, beautiful, blue eyes. What a little stud muffin!!The whole family- What a blessing!

Benjamin, Jessica and Benson all at five months old. Can you tell who's who?

Sweet Baby Quotes

When my sweet friends put together a baby shower for me while I was on bed rest, they did some of the neatest most creative things, one of which, was having everyone who attended sign a book called "The Gift of an Angel- for parents welcoming a new child" by Marianne Richmond. It tells the story of how the Lord sends the "gift" of an angel to watch over each new little baby. It is a very sweet story, but even sweeter than the story are some of the precious tid bits of advice that some my family and friends wrote inside the book. Stephanie also took the time to look up some really great quotes on parenting and babies and wrote them all throughout the book. They are all so great! I thought I would share some of them here:

"Miracles DO happen... Benjamin will be yours. Love him like heaven begins tomorrow"- Peggy Kubic (my neighbor growing up)

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow and babies grow up so much to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep, I'm rocking sweet Benson and Benson won't keep!" -Melissa Kyzer (family friend)

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' " Matthew 19:14

"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children" famous quote by Elaine Heffiner

"He'll only be young once! Enjoy every minute!" -Cara and Talia (my neighbors)

"My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words, but I always remember the tune." famous quote by Graycie Harmon

"Babies are such a nice way to start people." famous quote by D. Herold

"Your children will become what you are, so be what you want them to be." famous quote by David Bly

"You will always remember this first little one. God is so close to us at this time (or maybe we just sense it more!) Enjoy each day- It goes by so fast!" -Nancy Blackburn (family friend)

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." famous quote by Carl Sandburg

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one." famous quote by Leo J. Burke

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle. " famous quote by Vincent VanGogh

And of course, a couple of new pics....

Look what the stork dropped off...

A very UNhappy Benson.... I still think he's so cute even we he's not a happy camper :)

Good Times with Daddy

This boy loves his daddy! And his daddy loves him! As you can clearly see :)

Recap of October

Benson was a little froggie for Halloween. I wasn't really sure whether or not to dress him up since I've never really been a big fan of Halloween (and Benjamin has never in his life been trick or treating) but after reading these two articles we decided to participate in the festivities. (The first one is kinda serious and explains the history of Halloween and the second one is a kinda funny take on the whole thing):

http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/no-28-concerning-halloween/

http://www.d-train.net/article/233/halloweenthe-christians-second-most-important-holiday?commented=1

We ended up going to the "Pumpkin Patch" that my mom is in charge of at her church. It was spectacular. We had a ball and so did Benson. You can see more pictures here:

Benson's First Fall Festival



Here are some more snapshots of October:


Benson loves to read his "Fuzzy Bee" book with Nana!

Just a swangin' in the swing at Grandmama and Granddaddy's for the first time.

Benson LOVES his jumper. He gets going so high and giggles so much when he's playing in it.

We took him to the fair when it came to town... he loved the lights!

Four Months Old

We took Benson to his four month check up and everything looked great. He weighed 14 pounds 5 oz. He was 24 and 1/2 inches long and his head is 16 and 1/2 inches in circumference. He was 50th percentile for all three categories. He's doing so well and we are so thankful!!

This past weekend we had the third annual Ryan marriage retreat. We went to the mountain house and Mr. Tom and Mrs. Lula shared their wisdom and generosity with us. This year's theme was "Him (meaning the Lord), her and him (us), and Them (the babies). We had our group sessions with guys and girls and then broke into guys only and girls only. It was certainly and a blessing and served to recharge our relationship with the Lord and one another. We also played "The Price is Right" and the "Newlywed Game" the latter of which, Benjamin and I won! :)
Will is growing up so fast! He's already six months old. He has started eating baby food, but he isn't a big fan of peas. :)
Hannah is the most precious little thing I have ever seen. She looks like a little china doll.
Big boy Benson. My little chunk of love. :)