Reed's Story

On August 1st our beautiful, perfect, healthy newborn went unconscious and stopped breathing while nursing in my arms. Quick thinking of us and the Doctors had him back and breathing within 3 minutes. The longest 3 minutes of my life. Not knowing what caused the event the Doctors began running every test imaginable on our new little baby. A CT scan showed brain swelling and an EEG showed an abnormal neurological event. The extent of any damage done or what actually caused the event couldn't be known until after a 72 hour wait period. During the 72 hours Reed was placed on a cooling blanket which lowered his body temperature to 92 degrees. This allowed his body to slow down, rest and prayerfully decrease the swelling in his brain. With his body temperature only being 92 degrees all he had the energy for is to sleep; my prayer was that he would just sleep through this whole nightmare. After 36 hours the doctor preformed a repeat EEG and the results were a God send. On the first test Reed had many moments of no "background" which means there was no activity for a few seconds multiple times. On the repeat test he still had no "background" moments, but the number of times had decreased significantly. On Tuesday night at 11:30pm the warming process started, raising the machine temperature 1 degree every hour. As the hours went on our baby boy became more and more responsive. By the time the shift doctor made rounds for the day Reed was ready to graduate to a crib from his incubator and add milk to his diet. After working with an Occupational Therapist for just a few minutes Reed was ready to try a bottle; boy drank a full 10ml in less than 5 minutes. After he had a good feeding he made such a turn. He actually woke up, had a bowel movement, cried, and would make it clear when he was hungry or uncomfortable. Within 36 hours Reed was ready to discontinue all IV fluids and loose the feeding tube. Our strong little fighter was on all milk bottles just 60 hours after being warmed. His reflexes were taking a while to come around, but all of that is to be expected on a "cooled" baby.  6 days after the event Reed was seen by the pediatric neurologist and she did a few reflex exercises and determines that "there is nothing wrong with Reed, he's a healthy baby". Those magical words brought tears to my eyes. He will continue to follow up with her throughout his first year to make sure he's developing as he should, but she doesn't foresee any problems. With the okay from neuro and the straight bottle/nursing feeds our baby boy was ready to come home. The past 9 days were by far the worst days of my life, but GOD showed his power and got us through it. We thank everyone for all of their prayers, thoughts, and kind words. They have helped keep us strong throughout this unfortunate situation. More than anything though we hit our knees and praise the LORD. He has healed our miracle baby and given us the biggest blessing that we are forever grateful for. 

He's Here!!

Reed Benson arrived on July 31, 2015 at 12:54pm. He weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and measured 19 1/2 inches long. 

Month 7

Surprisingly to how I feel, I am still pregnant! Reed has dropped into position and has been there since about week 29. I am significantly uncomfortable, but Reed is still inside developing and healthy so we're doing good!! I am spending my days catching up on crafts, a few chores, and guilty television. I've had a couple close calls with contractions, but they always subside. The doctor is now performing a FNN test every 2 weeks which test for the presence of protein which would be released right before the membranes rupture. I am living in 2 weeks intervals until 34 weeks which I will then be 1 week at a time. Reed is quickly running out of room and I'm running out of clothes.
I have gained more weight at this point than I did the whole time with Easton, but I am just packing the pounds on the baby :) at least that's what I tell myself.

Huggies and Chuggies

Month 6

Month six has turned out to be the most normal month thus far! Proud to say there were no hospital visits, extended doctor stays, or close calls. Reed is however in position and rapidly dropping.

Total Weight Gain: 10 pounds
Belly Size:
Symptoms: Lot of kicks to the ribs, very light pressure, and swelling
Cravings: Sweets!

With all of our commitments come and gone it's now time to kick my feet up and bake this baby! Next stop.... D-Day!

Waiting for Reed

 18 months is turning out to be the age Easton is giving up on pictures so taking family shots were more difficult than usual. Hopefully this doesnt last long.

 

 

 

Reed's Adventure Room

 

My idea for Reed's room came after finding fabric patterns on Etsy.com. Once I had a start I couldn't stop, idea after idea just came flooding in and I got to crafting. 

 

First came his name for the wall above the crib. Seeing the letters on PotteryBarn.com for $75 each I was thankful Reed had a short name! I thought it would be worth a shot to try and make the letters myself first. I found letters at Hobby Lobby on the clearance aisle.

 

 Since Polka Dot letters dont't really go with our theme I started by painting them with a textured tan spray paint.

 Next I cut P11 board into smaller panels then painted them a dark brown

Hanging the final prodcut was found to be harder than expected, but I got it done!

 

POTTERY BARN letters

 

The no sew TeePee was super easy using only 3 PVC pipes, a painters drop cloth, and some rope and screws.

I found directions here:

http://www.blessedlifeatopacakestand.com/2013/11/calebs-no-sew-teepee.html?m=1

 

The arrows were super simple with the help of my husband and his table saw.

Simple build and stain then hang.

Simple soft furnishings including a fur pillow, handmade vinyl canvas, dark wicker baskets, and my favorite 5x7 navy and white Aztec rug from WALMART for $25.