Disast-hair

A new bath and see what happens.

Child in Swing

Too Cool For School

Our little guy has turned bad boy, danger guy, let's hope he only gets detention for violating the strict dress code of the Institution. Tough guy, huh? Check out the revised "Where in the Universe..." entry for more Easter fotos.

Where in the Universe is Grant?

Not to worry everybody, Grant has his social security number already. Pretty soon he'll be investing in the next fad mutual fund, you never know.

Besides being legit, Grant has today made it through his second adult dinner and without a hitch. He is better behaved out than in though, as I spent last night pulling an all-nighter with him, seems rumors about his party-hardy attitude are true.

Today, Easter, Grant celebrated a cool day in Dallas with a nice walk, a nice spit up over his bear outfit, and a nap in swing as his parents had dinner.

Besides enjoying the pics above please make sure to vote on our newest poll where you the voter get to pick Grant's new nickname--cuddle monkey is worn thin. Whichever name is most popular, we, the parents, will refer to him as that name at least twice in a twenty four hour period.

New to Earth and Loving It

News Flash

Grant just pooped and peed unrestrained! All over his changing table! Simultaneous spray and splurt! Our friend Elizabeth got to witness this extraordinary achievement in the life of Grant. Wish you all were here too.

Grunting Grant

Grant has taken to the sedentary lifestyle except from 12a - 4a when he parties like its hot til he throws up all over himself. This means he goes through his club clothes like wild fire. Thanks to all who have given him his little man outfits. He's quite a looker.

During the day time hours, Grant has been to the pediatrician twice. He has regained his birth weight and the doc says he is filling out nicely and he has grown at least one whole inch--one more inch to success. And I am proud to say that he did not cry during his PKU test; quite a brave little man.

The cutest thing (not the coolest thing which is still his hair) about him is his grunting-style of communication. He will grunt and squeak telling us that he is hungry, wet, pissed off, or some other variation of the three. Every once in awhile enough gas forms somewhere about his alimentary canal that he forms what we humans might call a smile. That quickly passes into a sheer look of an excruciating urge to pass gas or matter either orally or the other way.

We already have several nicknames for the little guy: erpster, cuddle monkey, grumpalicious...Kelly likes to take the first one and adapt it to the Kit-Kat song to the effect of: "Give me an erp, Give me an erp, Give me, Give me, Give me an erp erp erp." Quite a composition.

Suffice it to say, we love every part of him. Please try to guess what part of him is shown in the first above photo by using your democratic right to vote. Enjoy the other ones!

Correction

The photo of Kelly in the car holding Grant is not taken while the car is in motion. So I am not driving holding the camera backwards while Kelly contemplates our experiences as a family, as the car is moving. No, it's merely a burp stop at McDonalds. Please don't call CPS on us, yet.

Grant Day 6 - 7: Caveat Emptor

The Bezoar is gone and Grant is discharged from his service of storing the Royal Bezoar in his stomach. Apparently, the bezoar is a well sought after item and in the sixteenth century lead to a legal battle over whether a bezoar was real or not. For further reading please see http://timkevan.blogspot.com/2007/04/bezoar.html

Interestingly enough the bezoar was seen as a cure for depression and if you remember from the beginning of our story Grant came out depressed. Spooky, huh?

Well enough of that. Grant is doing well and settling into his caveat emptor lifestyle. Here he is at a Starbuck's buying over priced coffee with his parents. And some more photos of him, Bezoar-less!

Please wish him a happy week one birthday at 7:15 pm CST tonite. And thanks to everyone for thinking, praying, laughing, crying, and commenting about all of it.

Takin It Easy

Little Old Man Contemplating His Next Bingo Game

Mommy Waits Too

Pics to Pass the Time

We wait on our results of the next ultrasound...hoping that this may be it. Here's some pics to pass the time.

Emesis My Nemesis

Today, we found out that Grant’s Bezoar has not shrunk and that he could not keep his milk down. He spent the morning getting reacquainted with his breakfast and lunch. As a result, he’s back on pedialyte.

The doctors informed us that had he only kept his lunch down he might have gone home. Bezoar be damned! {little fists shake toward the sky}

So the parents have at least another day at the hotel that can only be described as a one star with personality and a two star with enough wine. Ever since Liz left, this morning, I have reverted to buying clean clothing from Target so that I don’t have to suffer at a washeteria or miss any of those money shots. Watch out for photos of me in this clothing as the days pass.

On better notes, Grant spent some time awake today, obviously getting away from our tactic to sleep the Bezoar to death. Also, Grant passed his hearing test; so we know he can hear me when I tell him to make good grades and go to trade school. Grant took the day in stride and kept his spirits up by being “fussy” during a bath and ruining his going home outfit (see the first paragraph above). Best of all, we got to take off our blue gloves. Now, Grant knows the touch of his parents and how much I can tickle him as he sleeps. He sleeps a lot and I am getting bored.

On worse notes, we have gotten to know the staff and now know the rotation of nurses. We have bonded with our neighboring baby families enough to know about some of the broken homes they are taking their children home to. Also, the baby photographers don’t really get the best photos out there. In fact, we learned that these photographers can actually make a good looking child look like a little old man contemplating his next bingo game.

Grant Day 4: A Plan for Breakout

We conspired with Grant to break out. We agreed that we would lull the Bezoar to sleep and that when it wasn’t looking we would just walk out of the hospital leaving the Bezoar to its own devices, whatever those may be.

Grant’s part was to sleep. The Bezoar shrank some today, while Grant slept and ate. He started with lots of pedialyte and then with the approval of the doctor switched to mother’s milk—that liquid gold. He’s a voracious eater. His stomach, indicated by the books as initially the size of a marble, now must be the size of a grapefruit. I think that as our hopes for the end of the Bezoar rise, his stomach size enlarges proportionally.

The evening ended with visits from the grandparents, and indications that this might be his last night at the hospital. Stay tuned.

How Long Can He Sleep

Here's another up close video of little Grant. Would we please just let him be? Nah, but remind me tomorrow and I will take a video of him actually awake. I just get so caught up in being a dad that I forget the audience's need to be entertained.

Grant in Motion

For the bean counters, I forgot to mention that Grant is off antibiotics, part of his achievements leading to his graduation to the transition unit. For everybody else just along for the ride, you'll enjoy the attached video. Let's see it's a video of Grant sleeping and making sucking motions with his mouth. Kelly and I figure he's probably dreaming about feeding which he's not allowed to do now, but its better than dreaming about some of his other not so good experiences.

All that I have to say is that if there's at least one thing to love about this guy it's his hair.

Grant Day 3: Jelly Belly

The day started with Grant, belly full of jelly, having an ultrasound to detect the alleged Bezoar. The little guy didn’t seem to mind. We did mind when 3 hours later we found out that the Bezoar roars with life (an exaggeration) within our little guy’s belly. Fifty percent of his stomach’s volume is filled by the Bezoar. So, more dynomite pedialyte until the Bezoar is dissolved. And we will subsist one day more at the hospital.

He has made his first graduation. He moved from the NICU to the transition unit where there is less monitoring. It hasn’t gone to his head, though; he continues to have a very balanced view on life, even as he drinks basically sugar water and is dressed in such drab garbs, as you will see in the attached photos. Notice also that in his third day of life, he already can hold his own pacifer, which is becoming a minor addiction; you’re all invited to the intervention.

The day ended chillin’ with our homie in his little hat, as you will see in the attached photos. Kelly and I discussed his educational future; I offered up trade school (sorry all you “go to college” advisers but plumbers make good money), while she offered starting a college fund. I traded demanding a 4.0 average from him for a 3.8 average with chicks, man. We just can’t let him have a 2.0 average, no chicks, and no education.

Grant Day 2: Me So Bezoar

Thanks for all the comments; we appreciate them. Grant is doing well today. His EKG is clear; he's got a heart of gold. He's finishing up his antibiotics and if he's clear of infection he will no longer require that.

For those with a scorecard, Grant's got a Bezoar which is a snowball of hardened milk, hate to call it a clot. What it's doing is clogging his digestive tract enough that he can't keep milk down. But not to worry the cure is to drink baby Gatorade or Pediatlyte. So we'll stay in the hospital until Grant not so Bezoar no more. That should be until around Saturday. I don't know whether I should make a poll out of that since I am really getting tired of the hospital and not having Grant full time.

On that note, Kelly is getting discharged today and we will have to become merely visitors as Grant continues as patient. I think this will make him a better man someday.

Here are some photos for you all, enjoy!

Grant Abides

Grant Wilson Benavides was born at approximately 715 pm, Monday March 3rd 2008 AD, weighed 8 lbs 6 oz, length unknown but he's long, has dark curly hair, dark eyes, and generally handsome.

Grant had an interesting journey out of the womb. On his way out, he decided to accessorize his birthday suit with an plaid umbilical cord.

Apparently, cords, and plaid for that matter, are out of style this spring because it did not agree with him. The cord wrapped around his neck and prevented adequate blood flow during his exit from the womb. (He had one hell of a placenta, though.)

As a result, he came into the world in medical terms "depressed." Depressed, here, doesn't mean that he was concerned about the economy, or the environment, or who the next president will be, or the general state of the world. Instead, depressed meant that he'd suffered a trauma to his system. This trauma prevented him from immediately breathing when he came into the world. Scary stuff, but throughout, his heart kept beating.

A whirlwind of doctors and nurses and slapping him around, warming him, giving him oxygen, calling to ICU, prepping him to go. And off he went, out of our hands and into God's.

That night they plugged him into more machines than the back of your cable box. He had a respirator, a feeding tube, a couple of tubes in through his belly button and some other ones which I think gave him up to the minute election results. They had him restrained like hannibal lecter at a human rights rally. But our little guy just pushed through it and fought it.

By the middle of the night, most connections were out and he'd been given a reprieve from the restraints. He needed a blood transfusion, though, because the compromised cord had prevented him from getting enough blood from Mommy to his system. Nevertheless, he was strong enough to cry and push with his little fists.

By the next morning, he looked better. His pallor had cleared, he was calmer, and had begun taking food from a bottle. For any of you on meconium vigil, he got that out of the way up front.

Today, we are hopeful; he's got a heart murmur which will be examined by EKG. He's already had a good ultrasound of his head, no worries. And we hope to get him feeding from his Mom in the next 24 hours.

Mommy is great; she's strong and our rock. Last night, she visited Grant for the first time and more than two hours after his birth. Grant heard her voice and immediately calmed and turned to her. We will be fine.

Your prayers and well-wishes are appreciated and please forgive us for not giving personal updates, but Grant will make it up to you with his good looks and sensible fashion sense, now that he knows cords and plaid are out. I swear pictures will follow.

9.5

The polls will close early as we are close. Here's a final pic before the money shots.

The Door

You can wait with us, but you can wait outside. Here's a picture of our labor room door! Lord, grant us the patience and strength to see our son born into the world.

You might not feel it

But you can see what a contraction looks like. See the humps on the lower graphs; those are Kelly's ouchies (euphemism).

Anesthesiologists Will Work For Food

Real-time, Showtime. For those tuning in, you're in for a treat. Live from the hospital, it's baby watch live.

We came into the hospital this morning, 6 AM. Groggy but excited, we signed in and settled into our room. Kelly got her inducement meds and we waited. And we waited.

Then, round about noon, things started to kick into gear. Up the meds a bit and Kelly's contractions intensified. How's the pain, happy face, indifferent face, frowny face, mad face? Kelly face, frowny face.

Epidural time, Dr. Hamilton. Whip bam boom (euphemisms) and Kelly says, "Isn't it great! It's amazing!" No more frowny face. Now we wait, and you wait too with us. Thanks.