Benjamin Chance is here!

As many of you know, Sherri and I recently had a new addition to our family. Benjamin Chance was born September 17, 2009 at 6:16 am. He was only 24 weeks old and weighed in at 1 pound, 5 ounces and was 12.25 inches long. Needless to say, he was extremely premature and very small. After 5 long months in the NICU, Benjamin was able to come home on February 10, 2010. Benjamin is doing great now and is moving on from his stay at the NICU. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers; we really appreciate it.

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
Matthew 21:22

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Ecclesiastes 11:5

Sunday, March 28, 2010

46 Days Home Grown

To catch you up: A few weeks ago Benjamin's pulmonologist did the OCRG-Sleep Study and it showed he still needed the oxygen assistance. They said they would check him again in one month. His eye exam was much better news. The Ophthalmologist said Benjamin's eyes looked good and since it has been so long since his due date that he was no longer at risk of developing ROP. He said he didn't need to see him again for 6 months at which time he will start having normal eye exams to check his vision!!! Thank the Lord! His doctor's appointment to check on his hernia was fine. The doctor said they will plan to perform the surgery in a couple of months so that Benjamin will be old enough that he shouldn't have to stay the night in the hospital following the anesthesia and surgery. On March 17th Benjamin had his 6 month vaccinations and is now weighing 11 pounds 2 ounces. He also got his second and last dose of Synagis for this season. (Synagis is to help prevent RSV-Respiratory syncytial virus) At his 6 month visit, the Pediatrician said we need to almost double the milk intake Benjamin is getting. This is the best way to grow his lungs and get him off the oxygen. She also said we needed to switch him to a faster flow nipple so it would allow him to eat more, faster. We moved towards this cautiously, because we had been using this nipple before and he was choking quite a bit during his feeds, which increases the risk of aspirations, therefore increasing my blood pressure... Just kidding. It just causes even more fear, concern, etc... Thank goodness we know Benjamin is in God's hands and not only mine!

Our latest concern is that he seems to be having more acid reflux than before. This is causing him to breathe heavier, cough, and spit up lots. Please continue to pray for his body's development and healing.

We are enjoying watching Benjamin grow and mature so much. He is now smiling in response to us and seems so happy.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Settling In

Benjamin has now been home for 21 days. We are so delighted to finally have him here! Todd and I have been super busy trying to get adjusted to his schedule. We finally learned that we might need to be the ones to set the schedule... Todd went back to work this week. It has been tough, but we have been fortunate to have help from both of our Mom's- which has made a huge difference. Benjamin has been doing great. He is now sleeping at night for 5 and 6 hours at a time. We are still trying to work with him on his feedings. He gets so aggressive and sometimes chokes. The fear is that he will aspirate the milk into his lungs so we are trying to be as cautious as possible. During one of his feeds, he did choke really bad and his lips started to turn a little blue. He coughed quite a bit, but finally he recovered. It was a scary moment and a reminder we still need to be extra careful with him. The Pediatrician said his weight gain has been great so we are very pleased with that. Also, his eye exam last Tuesday went very well, it was the best report yet. The doctor said his eyes were definitely improving and he didn't need to see him until two weeks later. We have quite a few appointments next week: Monday with his Pulmonologist- we are hoping and praying that he will be doing great and will no longer require oxygen assistance and the apnea monitor. Tuesday he has a follow up visit to check on his hernia and another eye exam. Benjamin will also be seeing a Developmental Specialist in a few weeks and we will be able to get a thorough evaluation and comparison on how he is doing versus other babies his age. We will continue to update you on his progress. Please continue to pray for his development.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Some more pictures of Benjamin have been posted.