The Doctor's report and If It Isn't One Thing, It's Another!

Benson loved looking at the fish with his Grandmama in the waiting room of the doctors office today. We got a good report... His lungs sounded clear, so they decided not to do an x-ray. They said since he has had so much radiation lately, and he is on an antibiotic anyway for an ear infection, we would hold off on the x-ray. If his symptoms worsen after we finish up this antibiotic, then we may need to do another one, but as off right now, there was no real need. If they saw something on the x-ray, they would just give him antibiotics anyway so we'll see later on if there is any reason to do it.

On another note, if it isn't one thing, it's another...

We tried rice cereal again this time mixed with breast milk and Benson had the same reaction as before with violent throwing up and terrible diarrhea. It was not as bad as the times we mixed it with soy formula, so we are still thinking he has the soy intolerance, but he apparently can't handle rice. They tested his diaper and there was microscopic blood in it from having had the reaction to the rice. Rice is one of the least allergic things there is out there, so it is very odd that he is reacting to it in this way. As a matter of fact, our pediatrician who has been practicing medicine for over 20 years, says that he has never seen a baby who is allergic to rice. That's my boy... setting all kinds of new records! Not quite the records we would desire though... So the next step is to try baby oatmeal and see how he does with that. It is normally used as the next step AFTER a baby has been able to tolerate rice, so I'm not completely optimistic about it, but maybe it will work.

I've read a lot of things online from other parents who have babies who have had the same reaction to rice cereal (while we are the first one our doctor has seen, apparently we aren't the only ones in the world!) and they all just say that after sticking with just fruits and vegetables baby food for the first year, their baby ended up being able to tolerate other things once they were a little older. I really feel like Benson's tummy just isn't quite ready for solid foods. I know he SHOULD be ready, according to his age, but the bottom line is, he just isn't ready yet.

He doesn't get sick with fruits and veggies, but he HATES to eat them. He has learned that when the food is in his mouth, if he doesn't close his mouth, he won't taste it, so he just sits there with his mouth open until he gets enough saliva to let it start drooling out. Talk about a mess! And if you pinch his nose to try to get him to close his mouth, he just spits it all out all over the place. So, we're still trying every day, but not to much avail! We'll keep on keeping on though... and we'll see how he does with oatmeal.

Will came to see Benson today since we are no longer contagious! I can't believe Will is already 10 months old!! These babies are growing up too fast! Here is a picture of Benson sitting up all by himself with Will... what big boys!

Blush and Bashful

My very talented friend Kelli, who made Benson's baptismal gown and his Christmas outfit, just started an online baby boutique called Blush and Bashful . She has got some really unique, high quality, beautiful things-- all of which she created herself! If you're looking for a gift for a new little one or a small sursie for yourself, you should check out BLUSH AND BASHFUL

New Tricks!

I don't know if it's the steroids or what, but Benson's got all these new tricks...


He can now officially put his toes in his mouth. This amuses him very much, especially during a diaper change!



He isn't crawling yet, but he can get anywhere he wants to by pushing his arms in the right direction and then rolling to get there. This morning, I was in the kitchen and look over the counter to see this... He had found a nice little spot under the ottoman where he fit just perfectly. He had taken a toy with him under it and I think he thought he was hiding out in a secret fort. Little did he know, his legs gave him away...


I know it's a little late for this milestone, but he finally sat up all by himself for the first time today! Three days away from eight months! He LOVES to stand, but he couldn't care less about sitting, so I was so excited to see that he wasn't arching his back to stand, but was quite contently SITTING to play today!


All this praying for snot has gotten us boogies galore, but if you look past his nose, you can see his two brand new teeth poking through!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

It has been so great to be home! Benson has done pretty well... as we expected, he's had a little trouble adjusting to the old way of sleeping... i.e. us in our bed, him in his! He goes to sleep pretty good, but he wants to wake up at 3:00am and get a bite to eat and stay in the bed with mama and daddy. When we put him back in his own bed, he proceeds to scream in protest. 45 minutes two nights ago and 30 minutes last night... maybe it will just be 15 tonight? We're hoping!

He's also now petrified of the bathtub. He never took a bath in the hospital, so I don't really know what it is that has caused him to be scared of it... and it makes me sad because the bath has always been the highlight of his day... but apparently it is reminding him of something bad that he experienced in the hospital because as soon as I hold him over the tub, he starts to cry. So sad :( We're working on making it great fun by singing and playing with all of his toys. Hopefully he'll forget whatever it is that has made him scared and start to enjoy it again soon.

We went back to the doctor on Saturday and they said he sounded good in his chest, but that his ears were pink so they started us on some more antibiotics for an ear infection. We'll go Thursday for another check up and another chest x-ray, so please be praying that his lungs will be back to normal by the time the take the picture of them on Thursday.

One aside: Benson was on steroids the whole time he was in the hospital and we have been tapering them off since we've been home... and they have had a little side effect... they are making his hair grow! How funny is that? The poor kid was as bald as the day he was born until he got pumped up on steroids! Today was the last day of them, so I'm interested to see how it effects his new do. His hair was seriously poking out above his ears today. I wouldn't have recognized his head in a blind folded baby head line up!

Everyone has been so generous to us. The Caldwell's even brought us dinner tonight, which is no small feat when you're talking about trying to find something that is completely dairy and soy free that I can eat! Mrs. Caldwell made a special plate just for me, and even though she thought it would be bland since she couldn't put any seasonings on it, it was so nice not to have to cook my OWN bland meal! It made it taste so much better! :) Thanks, Caldwells! Although, it is a shame that Benjamin will be forced to eat ALL of the home made peanut butter cookies HIMSELF! I am a little envious of that!!



This is a picture that I didn't get to add before we left the hospital... Elizabeth Jackson sent us the most adorable flower arrangement ever! It's in a fire truck! Benson wanted to get his hands on it so bad! It brightened up our room so much!


This is one more from the hospital... Benson is taking the verse to heart where Jesus says, "I am the living bread from heaven..." he is eating up that living bread!

We're Home!!

Benson stayed off his oxygen all night long without desaturating so today, we got to come home! It feels so good to be home!!!

He will have to continue doing breathing treatments at home, and the x-ray yesterday showed that his lung had not filled back up with air yet, but as long as his body is compensating for it, the doctor feels that it will open on it's own in due time.

Thank you for all of your prayers. The Lord sure has been faithful to us!

Day Eight in the Hospital

Benson's cough is much better today. He has hardly coughed at all, really! We tried leaving him off of the oxygen again last night, but had to put him on it again at 3:00am because his levels dipped low again. We took a chest x-ray yesterday that looked basically the same as the day before. The doctor said that he still saw the affected area, but in his opinion, it looked better. We will take another x-ray tomorrow.

They are saying that we are better, but not where they want us to be and where they want us to be depends on Benson's body's ability to break down the mucous in his lungs. After considering the risks, the doctors have decided that we will not do the bronchoscopy (the procedure where they go into his lungs and remove the mucous and re-inflate his lungs.) It may take a while, but we are going to wait on his body to break it down on its own.

We will be able to go home when he can be off of oxygen day and night and not desaturate (have his oxygen levels dip low.)

He is still happy and sweet as can be... His two little teeth are really peeking through now and yesterday he was biting my finger and gave me tooth marks for the first time! Those little boogers are sharp!

Thank you so much for your prayers and your encouragement! It has meant the world to us! Please continue to pray for endurance and strength and patience for us as we wait for healing for his little body.


It's hard to tell this little guy is sick:


Benson is looking more like his daddy every day!



This is how he sleeps now... when we get home, we're going to have a real challenge to break him of this!



This is Benson on his "field trip" to the window with Grandmama. We are stuck in our room since RSV is so contagious, so since they took him off of the oxygen during the day today, Mrs. Lula showed him all the cars and trucks outside his window. He can't see out of his window from his crib, so he was fascinated!


Benson's Great Grannie Hite came to visit him. She's got on a mask to keep his germs from her and hers from him! Good thinking, Grannie!


Here are a few pictures that Aunt Missy sent that she took when she was here:




She wanted to get one that showed that he actually does cry sometimes...


Aw.....

Please Pray

Last night, we tried taking Benson off of the oxygen when he went to sleep. His O2 levels dipped down into the low 80's, even with 1 liter of oxygen, when he was laying flat. We put him on an incline and increased his oxygen to 1/2 a liter and his numbers bumped up to the upper 90's.

The doctor came in this morning at 6:00 and listened to Benson's lungs and said they sounded clear. He was encouraged to see that he seems very happy and sounded great, but he was puzzled at the fact that Benson was still requiring so much oxygen. He ordered some more blood work and another chest x-ray.

The x-ray showed that he has a collapsed lobe on the left side of his lungs. The doctor said that this is due to a mucous plug that has built up in his airway blocking the air from getting to that lobe. This explains why even though he sounds good in his lungs, his oxygen levels are still low... his lungs aren't working at full capacity.

They are giving him a medicine to break up the mucous in his lungs. It is the same medicine that they give to children with cystic fibrosis to help them breathe better. The doctor is hoping that the mucous will break up on its own and he will be able to cough it up on his own. If that doesn't happen by Wednesday, the doctor will have to do very risky surgery where he will actually put Benson to sleep and go down his throat, into his lungs and suck the mucous out and manually re-inflate his lungs. With Benson being so small, the doctor is using this as a last resort option, but he's giving it three days to clear up on its own, otherwise he will be forced to do the surgery.

Please pray hard that this mucous plug will dislodge on its own and that we will not have to do surgery. Thank you for your prayers! I never thought I'd be coveting prayers for snot!! We appreciate them so much.


Aunt Becca and Ron came to play

Eating Aunt B's nose

Great Aunt Missy brought a present! Benson was so pumped! He loved opening the tissue paper part of the present!

A vibrating teething ring! Thanks, Great Aunt Missy! Note the puzzled look on his face, he's still a little amazed by it...

Trying really hard to EAT the balloons that "Aunt Kathy" and "Grandma" Storey sent him.