9 months old and 7kgs today!

On his 9 month birthday Sammy unfortunately had to visit his almost forgotten doc. Not such a bad thing really in that his doc is a really good egg but unfortunately the visit was not a social one. He has picked up infections in both ears and a cough that is not getting any better. He stoically avoided a bout of brochitis that laid the rest of us low in the first wave of Cape winter lurgies but now seems to have finally sucumbed.

Interestingly Paul reckons he has had this ailment for a while but has been desensitised to pain to a large degree as a result of the intense sustained pain of his first three months in NICU. Not much fun having people stick needles into you every few hours without the comfort of your mommy's arms! Despite that disconcerting thought he is developing very well and smiling his little head off at anyone who gives him the time of day. He weighed in at 7kgs today!

Mich is still breastfeeding and was hoping to bring to an end the exhaustive element this adds to her busy days but today Paul suggested that she keep at it for a while yet given the antibody benefits of her amazing milk. So she has resigned herself to as many more months as she can manage... but we will be cracking a number of bottles of champagne when that bit of motherly sacrifice finally draws to an end! At elast we have taken the bold step of switching off his apnoea monitor which for 4 months has been waking us every night 3 or 4 times. It seems that it was more for our peace of mind than his survival (or a really cunning way that Sammy had worked out to use a bit of breath holding to get a cuddle!!)

Thanks so much if you are still reading this blog and particularly if you are still praying for our little man.