Bennett Will Be Having Surgery SOON.

Today we went to CHOP for the sedated echo and it went smoothly! They put Bennett to sleep using gas so he slowly drifted off to sleep. I got to kiss him goodbye and then waited with my dad for about an hour while they performed the echo. He woke up very quickly after the procedure and when they called me back he was crying but quickly calmed down once I gave him his bottle- poor thing was starving! The doctor said Bennett got the star for the day for being such an easy baby to work with. As I was getting him dressed though they said they wanted to get one more look at something, of course I was concerned but off went his clothes and he was able to just suck on his paci while they once again looked at his tiny heart. Whatever they were looking for must have been found because the doctor said it was nothing and she would proceed with the paper work and scheduling the surgery. So just as I suspected, nothing has changed. Bennett still has a rather large hole in his heart and the cardiologist said it needed to be repaired sooner rather than later. He will be having surgery in 2-3 weeks! GULP. Wow, that's soon.

I told her I felt like he was starting to slow down on his feeds. Not really breathing harder but it just seems to take him longer and he's not finishing all of his bottles. She suggested we put him on lasix to help make him more comfortable during his feeds. It will help with any fluid that may
be building up in his lungs causing him to work harder to breath during his feeds, thus tuckering out quicker. She just doesn't want him loosing any weight before surgery and I've noticed a slight slow down, not loss, but slow down in his weight. He was 10.6 by the way.

So thank you for all of your prayers for today but the big day is approaching so don't stop praying, please!! I'll let you know of the official day as soon as I get the call.

On a much lighter note, Bennett is 2 months old today!!

I can't believe 8 weeks has flown by- why doesn't 8 weeks go by this fast when you're pregnant?? Anyways, Bennett continues to do well! I've said this to many people but Bennett is really such a good baby! I'm not trying to brag because I've had those sleep deprived times with my other two but I just think I'm surprised. He's very content almost all of the time and he's a type A, schedule fanatic's (like myself) dream! Now is he easy because of his heart and he just doesn't have the energy to get upset or wake up for a bottle at 2 am or is it that he's the third and he just knows his place with his two loud sisters? Or is it a combination of both or is this his personality? I don't know but I'll take it for now!

So at two months Bennett is:

• getting better at holding his head up although sometimes he gets overzealous and throws his head along with the rest of his body back so you have to be prepared for that.


• every so often gives me a smile:)


• working very hard to get his coos out and is almost surprised when they come out- so cute!


• working hard on rolling from his back to front which is a little surprising since most roll from their stomach to their backs first but I think he needs to get his head up more to do that.
  
• holds rattles or toys


• tracks objects
  
• focuses on objects


• ***sleeps soundly through the night until 7 am and sometimes he's still sleeping but I, being the schedule freak that I am, wake him up! The child could have his last bottle at 7:30 and call it a night (I tried it one night just to see) but I want him to gain weight so I still feed him at 10:30. After his surgery, (assuming he will still sleep through the night!) I'll stop offering him this last bottle.

So who knows, after his surgery he could be a different baby- waking up to eat at night and fussier for attention or to be held but I hope not!! He's just not high maintenance like his sister's were at times.

It's funny because I find myself way more excited about the things he does because I guess you just expect a typical child to do certain things at certain times and when he does them I'm so proud of him even if it is just holding his head up! I must say it makes me appreciate the things he does so much more.

Yes, it's hard not to compare him to other babies because whether I like to admit it or not, I'm competitive by nature but I just keep reminding myself "he has an extra chromosome in every cell of his body Adrienne, this is inevitably going to cause some delays" and then for some reason I'm okay with that... at least for now anyway. I guess we'll just take it step by step, one day at a time.

But for now these past 8 weeks have been the most pleasant 8 weeks with a newborn that I've ever experienced. We will see what Mr. Bennett has in store for us in the future!

Brand New!

1 Month Old!

2 Months Old!

I LOVE this kid!