I have $13.

I guess being late is the new normal, sorry for not updating any sooner.

We welcomed our sweet Brenna to the world on 12/27. Bennett was fighting off the flu (influenza A) and strep throat at the same time, it called for a very stressful week but Grammy (my mom) made it much easier. My sister even offered to take Ben to her house, as there were concerns I’d get the flu but now we can officially say he didn’t share it with anyone else. My mom took care of Ben and cleaned our house from top to bottom before we all came home from the hospital! Not to mention we had some yummy meals brought to us at home too!! Ben is such a great big brother, he loves when Brenna is awake and looking around. When she was born, we FaceTimed Ben so he could see her. Brenna heard his voice and immediately opened her eyes and was looking for her brother.

Now for some Bennett updates! Back in November, Ben had an echocardiogram. We weren’t able to see the doctor, but the nurse practitioner delivered us some pretty surprising news. Bennett’s ‘ejection fraction’ had dropped to near below normal levels, and 10% compared to his last echo in 2017. I’ve attached an image to maybe explain it better. This echo showed he’s in the low 50s. As you can see, the low percentages indicate heart failure. Hearing those words kind of made everything else a blur, but the NP recommended we return every 6 months to monitor his heart/blood pressure.

Shortly after that appointment, I called the MDA Clinic at Texas Children’s and explained what we were told by the nurse practitioner. By the end of the phone call, we had an appointment the following week with the chief of cardiology. This doctor was AMAZING and thought Bennett was just as awesome as we all do. He explained that he is NOT concerned with the echocardiogram results and that those percentages of ejection fraction can change daily. We will follow up with him once a year unless an issue arrises.

Today we ventured to the med center for a quick 3 hour pulmonary appointment (sarcasm). Ben has had this loud, dry cough ever since Christmas. His pediatrician thought it may be his asthma, but suggested we check with his pulmonologist just to make sure. All lung function test came back great, which is always good news. Dr Jefferson came to the conclusion that because he was sick with the flu and had lots of coughing, he now has some vocal cord irritation. He explained it as a mosquito bite, it just gets itchier the more you scratch. So the cough gets worse as the day goes on, and it’s gone as soon as he goes to sleep. Luckily he thinks we can get rid of the habit by sucking on hard candy (sugar free) and constantly sipping water. We shall see! He also referred Ben to see an allergist/immunologist.

As we all know, Ben is hilarious but he’s also super sweet (sometimes). We were waiting in line to pay for valet at the hospital, because well… we were late. The man in front of us was complaining that he was charged $13 for parking for today and $13 for yesterday. This guy held up the line for a good 10-15 minutes, the line grew by probably 20 people. He continued on how he had a sick child, he didn’t have the money to pay for valet (uhhh) and a lot of other profane words. Ben said “I have $13, can I just give it to him?!” <— melted. If it wasn’t for the man completely demeaning the staff I probably would have pitched in too.

We appreciate everyone checking on all of us the last month! Bryan accepted a full time job with Magnolia Fire Department, he is working so much closer to home now. I return to work in February, I am looking forward to it but soaking up the last two weeks at home! Lastly, some pictures from Christmas and baby time!