My Baby Boy

Benjamin is the baby of the family, and well does he know it! He is probably the most precocious six-year-old you will EVER meet. This kid has done things that he knew was funny since he was a toddler. He waits for his audience to look and lets it fly. He has an extremely quick wit!

When I got pregnant with Benjamin, I thought I wanted another girl (little did I realize at the time that his sister would NEVER have stood for another girl having a place in HER daddy's heart!). Well, that 20-week point comes along, and we find out, it's a boy. I was a little disappointed. At least I was until Chris pointed out that he was perfectly healthy and I should be thankful. So, I got thankful, but, I did put in ONE request. The first three were as blond and blue-eyed as could be when they were born. So, I told Chris I might not have gotten a second girl, but, I was HOLDING OUT for dark hair! I needed at least ONE child I could lay claim to!

My pregnancy with Benjamin was pretty uneventful until about 32 weeks. We were coming back to TN from GA after spending Christmas with the Lumley side of the family. I started having pains. They started coming five minutes apart. Well, when Chris found out, it was straight to the hospital. Labor stopped, I got to go home and rest. Well, Benjamin wasn't very patient and I had to go back a couple more times. Finally, at 36 weeks, after being in labor AGAIN, the doctor did an amnio, checked his lungs and we did a C-section. He was GORGEOUS! 6 lb 8 oz and 19 1/2 inches long (imagine if he had cooked four more weeks!) AND he had a HEAD FULL of black hair! It stood up everywhere! Chris blamed it on the fact that all I ever wanted to eat the whole time I was pregnant was Italian or Mexican food LOL!

Then he started having trouble breathing. He had "wet lung". He had aspirated amniotic fluid right before his birth. So, they took my baby away. They had to take him to a hospital 30 miles away with a NICU. Well, we had LOTS of folks praying. By the time they got him to the other hospital, he was off the CPAP machine. The next morning, he didn't even need oxygen. I made the doctor release me from the hospital (idiot that I am) a day and a half after having a C-Section. I wanted my baby!

So, we left the hospital to go to the other hospital. The nurses were already in love with Benjamin. He was such a good baby! When I saw this child, I was flooded with love, emotion, and tears (AND milk! Can you say painful? Oh my gosh! My milk had REFUSED to come in and the second I saw him, that changed! I nearly drowned the poor kid the first time he tried to nurse!). Anyway, he was ready to go home and I was ready to have him there.

Well, the dark hair stayed dark, the eyes got even darker. He now has these chocolate eyes he uses on everyone with these huge long eyelashes that make them even more lethal! I will leave this with an example of his wit. Last night, he crawled into our bed after the puppies had been settled down. Chris rolled over to his side and said, "Goodnight, Irene." I said, "Who is Irene? Benjamin, do you know who Irene is?" He said, "No." I said, "Do you think it's Daddy's girlfriend?" He said, "Maybe..." I said, "Maybe?" He said, "Maybe he's cheatin' on you!" Which, of course, brought him a round of tickles from Daddy. Precocious, I say, precocious...