March has been an incredible month for Benton. Every time we look at him its like he attains a new milestone and reaches new heights. In the past month Benton has made large strides on his feeding, gross and fine motor development; weaned his oxygen; and started truly babbling. Miracles upon miracles for our amazing baby boy.
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| Joyous smiles during a springtime walk |
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| Playtime in the park |
To start off March we headed to the pulmonologist in the middle of a March snowstorm to check on his lungs. The pulmonologist thought he sounded really good and much less diminished on his left side which is the lung that had the pneumothorax last summer. In addition, he encouraged us to start weaning Benton more aggressively on his oxygen so now we are attempting to wean by 1/8 liter a week. With this more aggressive weaning schedule Benton is now down to 1/2 liter oxygen which is the lowest he has been since he left the NICU!!!! It's so awesome to see how well he is satting now. Each time we go into his room and check his sats on the pulseox we are amazed to see 95, 96, 97, 98. 99 and even 100 on a regular basis. This from the kid who used to sat 88 on a good day and has satted as low as 8 during his critical moments in the NICU.....and all this on his lowest oxygen setting ever! Its so amazing I have to pinch myself daily and keep knocking on wood that this good luck keeps going :) In addition, the pulmonologist recommended getting another swallow study done so we could start moving toward larger volumes of liquids so that will be up next on our medical agenda.
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| Benton with his friend Jack and looking like a mountain man |
Our next major appointment of the month was at the Developmental Pediatrician. I had heard in the past that these visits are often very upsetting for the parents and I was even told by a doctor that you may want to have a drink before attending....so I definitely went into this appointment with apprehension. Well it definitely wasn't as bad as I thought...maybe it was because Benton is just doing so much better than he was at his last appointment but the doctor was overwhelmingly positive regarding Benton's progress. :) The doctor's indicated that he was on track for his fine motor skills and cognitive development for his adjusted age, but that he was still behind in gross motor skills. This was to be expected as he was just getting the hang of crawling at that appointment and hadn't begun to pull up or cruise let alone walk. In addition, the doctors recommended we get his hearing checked and gave us orders for speech therapy. Overall they were very happy with his progress!
Our last big appointment of the month was GI and they were extremely happy with his weight gain and want us to start challenging him more with his feeds. She wants us to start giving high calorie yogurt, cheese soups, creamy soups, mashed potatoes, hummus and guacamole. Since we started challenging Benton more he has really responded well and is now eating between 2-5oz of food per meal vs his 1/2 oz last month. She also agreed that we should do a swallow study before moving forward on liquids so we are going to be setting up a feeding consult and swallow study soon.
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| Fun with Food! |
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| Mirroring Daddy |
With regard to Benton's therapies he is just knocking it out of the park. Gross motor wise he is now crawling up the stairs all on his own, pulling to stand on anything and everything and cruising to his hearts content. He loves his new found freedom and makes it very clear what he wants to do! His fine motor skills are progressing as well. He has started to allow us to do parent-directed play where we help him put things in baskets, stack items and open and close things. He loves playing with his piggy bank and his blocks and has even started rolling a ball back and forth with us :) As I mentioned before, Benton really turned a corner on his feeding. One week we were pulling teeth to get him to take an ounce of food and now he is happily accepting spoons in his mouth and eating upwards of 2-5 oz at a time. Mealtime no longer feels like a futile effort and has become much more enjoyable and fun even if Benton still likes to throw his spoons and bowls on the ground :)
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| Special time with Grandma |
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| Playtime |
Everyday we continue to count our blessings and thank God for our little miracle. Benton continues to defy the odds and amazes us every day. We pray and hope that Benton will be off oxygen sometime this summer at least for stretches during the day and we hope that we can continue this amazing progress around his feeds as that would be one less thing to worry about. Thank you for following our journey and praying for continued progress for our sweet boy. Your faith and love give us strength every day and we are honored you are a part of our journey.
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| Little cutie |
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| Cruising and playtime in the ball pit |
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| Fun with Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Fun with Auntie Breton and Uncle Chris |
One last picture of the special relationship between a son and his daddy:
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| Beautiful day in the sunshine |
I am thrilled beyond words at how far Benton has come. This little guy fought from the inky dinky depths of life to now crawling, babbling, eating and playing with toys. He's a true miracle and proof positive that thru Faith, all things are possible. I look forward to more pictures and posts of his accomplishments. The pictures show Benton's personality, as well as the joy and pride in you and Joe's eyes. Continued blessings to the Bertram family.
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