Merry Christmas



On Christmas morning Jasper woke at 5.45 am and discovered Santa had visited him and put a couple of little cars (a tractor and a towtruck) in his stocking which was hanging on the end of his cot. Later we all had a big brekky, Tanya, Jessi, Supratim, Zoran, me and Jasper, then opened presents -
Jasper said: "who's this one for",
answer: "you Jasper!"
J: "OOh"
Jasper said: "who's this one for",
answer: "you Jasper!"
J: "OOOOhhh"
Jasper said: "who's this one for",
answer: "you Jasper!"
J: "OOOOOooohhhh"

Jasper had a ball, and a day of playing and playing and playing, building towers with blocks, doing puzzles and playing cars. He stayed with his family (playing with presents) while mummy and daddy went to see baby sister.

When we got to the hospital little buttercup was all dressed up in a christmas dress, with a christmas stocking hanging by her crib, and a card to us from her with her photo and teeny footprint. (Her pic at top of page)



She was stretched out with her little feet up against the crib wall, pressed against the perspex. Enjoying her christmas day.




Zoran and Buttercup...



Her daily strip down and weigh - she has put on 60 grams in 4 days, hooray.



And a Christmas cuddle with mummy. (Her head on my palm.)

When we got back home we all played then cooked up Christmas dinner of tuna steaks on a bed of spiced potatoes with a mixed greens salad with asian dressing, basil and mint. Followed by Panetone and cream, coffee and turkish delight, and a lovely sleep for all (with a few wakes for me for expressing).

Txx
PS Today she will try a breastfeed!

Buttercup in her first dress.
Our little girl is now out of intensive care and in high dependancy which means she is not needing as much support, no more cpap, and she is still in her heated humidicrib but breathing air, and the nurses dress her in little clothes each day to keep her cosy.



She is the same size as trauma teddie.



She is a bit bigger than my hand.



A big stretch.



While mummy was in hospital Jessi came up from Melbourne to play with Jasper and they went to the mother's group christmas excursion to ride on the model railway. Here is Jasper and his friend Chloe at the station.



And Jess and Jas on the train.

Txx

An early christmas present. Last Friday, December 8, our little girl was born by C-section at 30 weeks, weighing 1.1kg!

I haven't updated the blog for a bit as I have been in hospital and was discharged last night. Here are the two pics I had planned to upload last Wednesday!!!



Last Tuesday Jasper and I put up our Christmas tree, and it is funny the things you think about but all of this week I was so glad we had put it up and spent the afternnon searching for a branch, bringing it in and decorating it together. It was such a lovely mummy and J day.



The next morning, at our regular obstretricians appointment, Zoran and I said how I wasn't feeling that things were OK and Dr Campbell told us that we should have an ultrasound, and he booked us in right away, 15 minutes later we discovered that my BP had progressed into preeclampsia and our little one was compromised and not getting enough cord blood. We were booked into Royal North Shore hospital, a large teaching hospital with neonatal facilities and thought we'd be having a baby within the next few hours. Luckily her CTG traces were able to track her while I was given steroid injections which are to mature her lungs to improve her chances, ideally 48 hours is needed, so I was on strict bed rest in the hospital antenatal ward, with BP checks, protein checks, blood tests and CTGs of the baby. At 6.45am friday morning Zoran, all gowned up, and I, entered theatre. They gave me a spinal block,



and she was born at 8.22am by ceasarian. Here are some photos...


Three minutes old.


One day old, tucked up in her nest in her humidicrib, CPAP helping her breath and a canula delivering all other needs. She had two apneas in the first twentyfour hours and is now on cafene doses to keep from from forgetting to breathe.


Day two, with groovy sunnys for some phototherapy.


On Saturday Jasper came in with Zoran to meet his baby sister, he was so excited and exclaimed over her tiny hands and feet. The next day he made little nests for her on all of the beds and wants to bring her home (humidicrib, nurses and all) now.


Six days old. She has regained the weight she lost over the last few days. She little beanie helps keep her warm. My hand is cuddling her - this gives you an idea of her size. Her rosy cheeks are where the CPAP was held on, but has been removed.



Today, no longer on CPAP and coping well. They had to remove her CPAP yesterday as she developed a hole in her lungs and her chest cavity filled with an airbubble which was collapsing her left lung by ten percent. This morning they performed a small procedure which sucessfully removed the trapped air and she was left to have a very quiet day to allow her lung to re-expand. Her oxygen saturation levels are really good and she is very settled now, all curled up.



A tiny foot, Day 3.

She will be in hospital until close to her due dates about ten weeks. It was so hard to leave her there and come home, but it is lovely to be with Jasper. Our days are now spent divided between home and hospital, back being Bessie, expressing milk every three hours and recovering from the operation. It has been an emotional week, but we feel so blessed.
Txxx

Christmas Colour




There's something lovely about Christmas when you have children around.


Today we put up the first of our decorations. Jasper very busily helping with the beautiful wall frieze that Tanya painted for Jasper's first Christmas, eventually I hope to mount these on wood and varnish them so they'll be with us for ever.



He had so much fun climbing the ladder and sticking on the 'goo' on the backs (bluetac) of the images and positioning them.



Earlier today we went to the hardware store where Jasper is a member of the kids craft club. Today Jasper made this lovely wreath out of patterned paper, we decided to add some dangly bows as well.


Then he made Jasper's first ever handmade Christmas Tree decoration. It was this felt stocking which he stapled together and had his initial drawn on. He enjoyed playing with sticky tape and staples, we both had lots of fun.

Hopefully in the next few days we'll find a branch to be our christmas tree this year and decorate that.

Hope everyone is well.

My blood pressure is much better now that I am on a load of pills, so that is good - the babe should last at least until after christmas!!! It is due in 10 weeks.

Txx