Bathtime

Two babies enjoying the water - Jasper in his first bubble bath having a great time dressing up in bubble clothes!



Now that he is a bit bigger, he can occasionally go without the eczema bath oil and can have bubbles - a big hit, even though they dont last long (as he has to have special ones for his skin).



His little sister, Sequoia, likes her quick bucket bath in the kitchen sink aswell, and kicks her pins about - neither babes like getting out!!!



Jasper received some posters from Polly and decided that the seven wonders of the world needed building out of blocks! Jasper started preschool yesterday and LOVES it - a day of play with lots of other kids, singing, sandpit, lots to do... He will be going on Mondays and Wednesdays, I cant believe he is already big enough for "school", my two and a half yr old... both Zoran and I were a bit teary about it! But his happiness is infectious!



And this little one sleeps and eats. Although the last couple of days she hasn't been doing either well!! I got 1 hours sleep last night as she was really collicy which is making her feed irritably and not sleep, and her weight gain is down, so it is off to the paediatrician tomorrow, she needs to put on 30g/day and is just putting on 15g; although she is a big 2.4kg now (5.3lbs). Ahhhh....

Tamxx

Home!!

I am writing this in a peaceful house full of sleeping children. What a week it has been. I have been living in the hospital, feeding babycakes every four hours or as she demands milk. I started last Wednesday with my alarm set through the night as this tiny sleepy girl doesnt wake for her feeds but she has to have them as she is so small, so I rouse her, take off her romper suit and wake her enough to feed - not always brilliantly sucessful so I spend the next while worrying about her... She is still so little that breastfeeding is still difficult and her suck/swallow/latch coordination isn't fully developed yet - she is four weeks from her gestational due date - so she is still not quite ready for the big wide world. Jasper was not keen on Mummy going away again, so he said it was OK for mummy to go in and out of hospital to feed baby, so mum helped put J to sleep each night before tearing off to the ward to feed a hungry girl, stay at the hospital until after her morning feed and coming home for an hour to play with J, then back to the hospital, keeping up the subterfuge with regular home visits.

We were all so ready to come home by Monday afternoon! Living in a hospital is like living in a strange limbo state, a very lonely affair. It has been an emotional week trying to feed baby, dealing with oversupply of milk after pumping for 6 weeks, trying to make sure she was feeding properly - both off us ending up in tears sometimes. The first day I stayed in to feed she was exhausted the 60 grams necessary for her to put on every two days was not met - she put on only 30 grams of weight in two days. I was a bit worried but had also expected it might happen. Luckily on Saturday weigh in she put on 70 grams, what a relief.


All frocked up for the trip home.

This put her over the 2kg mark, a huge milestone - but we had to wait til monday to check whether she was still gaining - she put on 60g so we could go home! During her discharge health check the Paediatrician noticed a problem with her breathing and a murmer in her heart. She was most concerned about her breathing, which is laboured (heart murmers are common in prem babies and should clear up by gestational birth dates and dont need to be freaked out about until then). She has had difficulties since birth with her lungs and they are still very fragile, so although she can come home we have to be very careful with her - no colds or back to hospital, which means we have to do a lot of home things and screen any visitors. We have been home now for 24 hours and it feels fantastic!!


A kiss for a little sister's foot.

Tanya and Jasper were at the hospital Monday morning and Jasper refused to go home unless he was bringing his sister too, so he (yet again) was an amazingly patient 2 year old, helping me push baby's cot around to where she needed to go, reading books and pottering around a little hospital room. Zoran had to fly to Melbourne the night before and wouldn't be home til after 9pm Monday, which was unfortunate but ended up being fine. It was lovely that mum could be here to hep out!


First time in the car capsule, on the way home.

Coming in through the front door I felt my whole body relax for the first time in months, I have been holding my breath for so long, I could finally breathe!! And although we have to be careful, see a health centre nurse every three day for checks of health and weight, and watch her breathing and feeding, life can start to return to normal. Jasper was a happy boy all afternoon and couldn't contain his good cheer, jumping and playing and laughing, and I got loads of cuddles and kisses, very lovley!! (Especially after a mixture of days when Jasper wasn't keen on mummys need to be in hospitals, and mummy wasn't to be cuddled - as punsihment! Poor little tyke, he has put up with so much and is such an amazing boy.)


Through the front door for the first time.


Life with baby sister home.

Now that sister is home, Jasper has lots of work to do looking after his own baby!! (This baby is a boy baby which Viv and Giorgio gave to me, many years ago, when I turned six and now it is Jasper's special baby.). The day before she came home daddy and jasper went shopping for a pram for jasper's baby (from his Baba Milica), and some bits and pieces for sister...


Making sure baby is OK in the pram.


Are the straps done up properly?


Now baby needs a bath, then dry with the towel.


Truck needs a gentle bath too!

Tomorrow we see Dr Browne and hopefully baby will have put on weight...

Tamx

Moving House

The weeks seem to move by in a flurry of constant activity. Buttercup has moved house from High Dependancy at Royal North Shore Hospital to less intensive Special Care at Hornsby Hospital - from a 50 minute drive for us one way to a 10 minute drive, which is much easier on both Zoran who was doing all of the driving as I wasn't allowed to until yesterday (although I am too tired to drive safely so zoran still does heaps of driving) - post-C-section, and easier on Jasper who can potter at home between hospital visits.

Our timetable for five weeks was:
8am - drive to North Shore
9.15 - check buttercup and chat to doctors about progress and any issues
9.30 - family touch/cares (cleaning her face, checking her temp., changing her nappy, nurse checks her feeding tube and we feed her by pushing her syringe of milk into her tube)
10.30 - express milk
11.30 - play with Jasper, find colouring book, see social worker or doctor
12.00 - start cares
12.30 - feed and if temp OK hold her out of her humidicrib for her twice a day cuddle and possible breastfeed (so she doesn't get too cold or tired)
1.30 - express milk and get lunch for Jasper and us
2.30 - drive home
3.00 - Jasper asleep (clever boy transfers from car to cot without waking)
4.00 - play with Jasper (who has been so patient all day)
4.30 - express milk
5.30 - make dinner
6.00 - eat
7.00 - bath for Jasper
7.30 - express milk
8.00 - story time and bed for jasper
10.00 - call dad come over and to be in the house (or OK if mum is here)
10.30 - express milk
11.30 - drive to hospital
0.15 - see buttercup and do cares
0.30 - try a second breast feed if she is OK
1.30 - express milk
2.15 - drive home
3.00 - sleep
4.30AM - express milk, go back to sleep


Her new house at Hornsby...


In her new crib

Our timetable now:
4.30AM - express milk
8.00 - drive to hospital
8.15 - cares
8.30 - breast feed buttercup
9.30 - express milk
10.00 - drive home
12.30 - express
1.00 - lunch for everyone
2.00 - sleep for jasper and if lucky, me
(between 2 and 4 actually do normal things - clean bathroom, shop for groceries...)
4.00 - drive to hospital
4.15 - cares
4.30 - feed baby
5.30 - express
6.00 - drive home
6.15 - start dinner
6.40-8.00 - eat, bath, bed
8.30 - express
9.15 - sleep
0.00 - wake up and drive to hospital
0.30 - feed baby and express
1.45 - back home
2.00 - sleep
4.30am - express


So much more quiet time, but still very little sleep. This coming friday she will be 6 weeks old. She now breastfeeds 3 times a day and has tube feeds the other three (which the nurses do). She is still very little, although she is growing wonderfully - 1.9kg, so breastfeeding has taken a while to get established both because attachment is physically difficult, she has a high palate and is tiny, and as she gets very tired very quickly, which is why she cant yet do all brestfeeds and the tube delivers milk into her belly every other feed.


Jasper holding her hand



Buttercup in her cot, with no monitors attached!

Her other big milestone this week is coming off all monitors. Her heartrate, oxygen levels and temperature have finally stabilised so she is now out of her humidicrib and in a little cot, all swaddled and cosy. On either side of her are two sets of twins, the other babies in the nursery. Now that she is getting stronger we can cuddle her a bit more if she is awake and get to know her. She looks around when she is awake and follows voices. She knows our voices and calms down if she is crying and we talk to her. Jasper held her hand and kissed her head yesterday for the first time. His visits are tempered with the discovery of a cupboard in the hospital patients lounge where the biscuits are kept and also the access to a movie channel where there is usually some kids movie playing but also his sister bought him 5 sticker books which she keeps under her cot for her brother to do when he comes to see her.


Looking out

The other big moment was her first bath, which she loved and swished her feet in the warm water.



So, life is moving, moving... she may come home in a week or so, and we have to start to get her sleeping arrangements organised, we need to move the piano out of our room so the bassinette will fit, and organise a change table, and bits and pieces like that.

We are all well, the garden is growing slowly as the wallabies, possums and wombat seem to eat about 50percent of what we plant. The grass is getting long and zoran is trying to find time between hospital visits, work (which is still on) and everything else to get out and finish the garden work. I am thinking again about artwork and hoping to fit somehing in the next 12 months. Jasper has an introductory day at preschool next week!!!!!

Tamx

Another week


I cant believe almost four weeks has passed since buttercup was born. She is now 1.5kg, and looks bigger than she was. The doctors tried to move her into a cot a few days ago, but she found it hard to maintain her oxygen levels, so that night she went back into the humidicrib and onto oxygen, but now she is off the oxygen and breathing the equivalent of air in her 28 degree celcius environment.


Me with Buttercup.

She is also trying to breastfeed twice a day at 11am and 11pm, she gets exausted in about one minute but she is so clever for trying.

She is set to transfer hospitals tomorrow on her 4 week "birthday" from the intensive care unit at Royal North Shore to the Special Care Unit at Hornsby hospital, so instead of a two hour round trip (which we make twice daily) it will be a 15 minute round trip. Hornsby is our small local hospital and the doctors seem to think she is stable enough to be moved. I am slightly concerned, as with all changes, but it will be lovely to be able to pop in and see her at any time.


Zoran with his little girl.


Jessi and Supratim came up to see her before travelling back to Melbourne. Only parents are allowed to touch these little neonates but family can come and visit and talk and sing to the babies.

Jasper has had a lovely week playing with Jess and Sup, and also coming into the hospital most days to visit his sister, play on the floor around her cot, chat with the nurses and help press the feeding syringe to feed his little sibling.

Now that her oxygen levels are a bit better, we are exhausted but glad things are looking up after a wobbly start to the week.

Tamx