Benson at 2 Months

Benson turned 2 months on the 7th!

I took him to his checkup a few days ago and he is doing great! He's 12.6 lbs! He is chuncking up nicely :) The Dr. is really happy with how well he's growing and said that his heart sounds amazingly strong. He wasn't even able to hear a murmur this time, which is incredible. We have another appointment with the pediatric cardiologist mid June where she will do an echo and an ekg so we'll really be able to see how he's healing then.
For the most part Bens is a good little baby. With his condition comes challenges, but nothing we can't handle. The hardest part has been dealing the acid reflux. 95% of heart babies end up with AR, and Benson didn't luck out on that. He has some really bad days, but he also has good days. After his 2 month checkup, his Dr. put him on a different medication and although it's only been a couple of days, I think it's going to make a huge difference! We're really excited about that. It's nice too, because the first medication was $85 for 15 pills and the new one is $14 for 90 dosages. Way better! It's different having a baby with AR because so many things that you naturally do with babies, can't be done with them. For example, Benson can't lay down flat (kinda a big deal), especially after he eats. So the natural pattern that most moms fall into is to feed the baby and then change the babies diaper. With Benson I can't do that. If I lay him down to change him right after a feeding he screams and screams and then he throws up. So I have had to change my routine to where I change his bum and then feed him. And if he poops while he's eating, which he does a lot of the time, he has to sit in it for a half hour before I can lay him down without it being too painful for him. Also for sleeping, he can't lay flat so he sleeps in his bouncy chair. None of that is a big deal though, just things we've had to learn and as long as we keep him upright, he's a happy kid.
I think the biggest challenge with Benson's AR is that it hasn't allowed us to get on any sort of schedule. There are times when it's too painful for him to eat a full feeding, so he'll eat as much as he can and then be hungry again 2 hours later. Then there are times when he's fine and he'll eat great and go the full 3 hours. I'm usually ok to go with the flow, but that's because I don't usually have anything else to do. Although on days when we have appointments or I need to run to the store or something, it's hard because I never know when he's going to have a good feeding or a bad one and I can't leave the house if he wasn't able to eat well. I try not to worry too much about the future and just think, we have to take it day-by-day, but I'm the type of person to is always thinking about creating good sleep habits and other good behaviors while babies are young. So not being able to put him on a schedule is pretty hard on me. I'm really trying to not let it get to me, and just come to terms with the fact that I'm probably not going to be sleeping through the night anytime soon, and he might be a little more difficult down the road in certain areas, but we'll deal with that when it comes time. Right now, there isn't anything I can do, but try to keep him comfortable.
I hope I don't sound like we are all totally miserable, because we aren't. We have tons of really good days with no crying at all and really good eating, but we do have rough days and nights occasionally. He is generally such a happy baby, and we are really enjoying him.

At 2 months Benson:
*Weighs 12.6 lbs-64%
*Is 22 inches-15%
*Goes to bed at 9 and wakes up at 8, eating 3 times in between (see why the no schedule thing is killing me! I want to do Baby Wise SO bad).
*Is wearing 0-3 month clothes
*Loves to talk and smile, and especially loves to be talked to. No matter what, if someone talks to him, he smiles.
*Likes to sleep bundled tightly
*Doesn't take a binki. We are officially a binki free home. He kind of took one for a while, but wont anymore. I think if he'd take a binki, he'd sleep through the night....BUT...he wont :( trust me, I've done plenty of forcing to no avail.
*Really loves his bath time.
*Doesn't hate tummy time :)
*Just figured out how to get his hands in his mouth and sucks on them any chance he gets.
*Sleeps better the noisier it is.
*Prefers to nurse over taking a bottle. We have to give him one bottle a day with probiotics in it, and he eats it well, but would still rather nurse.
*Is getting seriously chunky! I love it! I hope he keeps it up.

We love this little munchkin to death and are so grateful everyday that he is a healthy, happy part of our family.