Three years ago I went in for a scheduled c-section, but the operating rooms were full and I was told I'd have to wait a bit past my scheduled time. During a contraction, my baby's heartrate dropped and given my history of a baby not tolerating labor, they stopped my contractions and rushed me in to get the baby out. I was warned he wouldn't cry until their cleared his mouth, but he started screaming while still in my uterus (only his head and one shouldr was out). Hearing those cries, I knew everything was fine.....only to find out that he was going to have to go to the NICU due to a birth defect. Three days later, after an x-ray and CT scan, we went home. Ben's early start was my clue that life with him would never be boring.
At 7:56am on April 6, 2009, Benjamin Andrew Routhier was born, weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.
First day home from the hospital:
I had visions of an easy baby who would be chubby and catch up in size to big borhter, who is only 19 months older. I felt I derserved a good sleeper after having Liam would woke every 30 minutes for a 3 month stretch and who was still waking at night when we brought Ben home.
He was very determined from birth. He was born able to hold his head up and was pushing himself up like this at 2 weeks old:
But he screamed hours a day, actually 6 or 7 hours a day for months. I got through by promising myself I just needed to survive this hour or this 5 minute span or sometimes this minute. His first 7 months crawled by. I don't remember much, other than the screaming that never seemed to stop. I am thankful I had my blog then and that I took photos. The photos especially captured what was precious and happy during those hard days.
That is spit up....it happened alot. We were bound to get an action shot.
Then Dave deployed....
Daddy saying good-bye to Ben.
And what I thought was harder became my job alone. We survived. It wasn't pretty, but we all survived.
Dave came home to a Ben that looked like this:
(Ben was crying in this photo)
He missed this (Ben's 1st birthday) by 2 months:
Somewhere in that 1st year, he reduced his crying from 6-7 hours down to "only" 2 or 3 hours a day. He cried 2 or 3 hours a day until he was about 26 months. By that time, I was used to it and it rarely bothered me much.....though I had my days where I wondered how long I could take it.
He had surgery for ear tubes and adenoid reduction:
He moved 3500 miles away.....and never slept on the plane
He started Early Intervention for sensory issues, toe walking, and extreme tantrums.
He always made his opinions on things crystal clear:
He had his 2nd surgery....endoscopy:
He showed himself to be a climber....onto tables, out and into his crib, into his car seat, bookcases, furniture:
He turned 2 and was less than enthusiastic:
Then one day the crying nearly stopped and we started seeing his sweet smile more often:
He became delayed in speech and was evaluated for autism. He was found to be at risk for autism and speech therapy, OT, PT, and special education were recommended.
When he wants to, he can charm anyone he meets, but only when he wants to.
Or you can meet this Ben....you never know:
I have had people say he is severely delayed and people say he has a slight delay. The people that know him best know his language skills and sensory tolerance vary day by day or even minute by minute.
He got his first set of staples on his 3rd trip to the hospital for falling head first (head first from his crib in July 2010, black eye and suspected broken nose in January 2011, and staple in March 2012).
And now I have a 3 year old. My last baby is 3 years old and is technically a preschooler. A preschooler that does speech therapy twice a week, OT once a week, PT once a week, social skills groups 3 times a week (twice a week with a special ed teacher and once a week with early intervention). A preschooler who speaks 2 word sentences and is largely unintelligible to anyone other than me. A preschooler that FINALLY sleeps through the night though he doesn't nap. A preschooler who cries less often and smiles more often.
For three years, Benjamin Andrew Routhier has rocked my world and turned it upside down. He has taught me levels of patience that I didn't know I had and has made me a better person. He makes me laugh easier than any other person in the world and makes me feel like a rock star with how happy he is to be in my arms.
Happy 3rd birthday to my little guy with the big personality.
