More growth

I have a little man lying on my shoulder. Idive in at night to administer the bottle while I still can! He weighed in today at 2960 grams - an increase of 150grams since last week's 240gm increase. Good progress given that he's doing his best to breastfeed. It's amazing how much energy/weight is used up doing this. Again we have seen wonderful answers to prayer on that front with him currently managing to have goods feeds from the breast twice a day of six or seven feeds. Looking to up the feeding now over the next week with the best midwife on the planet.

First 10 days at home

There was a point somewhere in early September when writing this post would have seemed extremely unlikely. At that point our little boy’s stomach was blown up to three times its normal size, he was being pumped around the clock with 4 antibiotics, blood transfusions and lungs fully ventilated. There was a very real likelihood that he would not make it and our doctor prepared us for the worst. Now he is at home. Pause to consider the miracle that has taken place. I do. Often.

It may be difficult for those of you who, like us up to 3 months ago, have only experienced the joy of having a term or near term baby to comprehend the absolute elation that our family has experienced for the past 10 days. For the first time in 3 months we are all together in the same house. Matt thinks it’s Christmas having his mom and dad back with him. He wasn’t so sure about his younger brother at the start - his first two comments in the car on the way home from hospital sitting next to Sam were: “Who is THIS?” followed shortly thereafter by “This car is very full of people!” Thankfully that only lasted for the car trip and he now dotes on him more than anyone else. He has claimed the lower metal tray of Sammy’s hospital trolley as his “bunk bed” and often has little naps there below his sleeping brother.

It’s brilliant starting to feel a vague sense of normality after so long in hospital and to be experiencing some of the normal things of early parenthood, like the exhaustion of continued sleep deprivation or lying in bed at night listening for your newborn’s breath. The normality gets rocked a bit by the continued breast pumping, the breathing monitor and the three medicines and five supplements that he needs daily.

I’ve been sporadically updating this blog. Do you know if you type SamuelBerry as one word into Google it's the first hit! If you’ve been following it you’ll know that Sammy is coping very well with being away from his corner in the NICU. He had his first visit back to his beloved nurses and doc on Wednesday for his 1 week checkup and had gained 250grams to 2.7 kgs. Big up for the boy and his amazing mom who has now pumped more than 70 litres of breastmilk to sustain that growth rate! Everything hinges around weight and infection control at the moment so we continue our best efforts to emulate the NICU conditions with full-scale germ warfare and limiting visitors to grandparents, our sisters and medical staff. Our hands are beginning to feel like crusty old leather from all the handwashing going on.

As an encouragement for the hundreds who have prayed for Sam and us (and for those who still doubt there is a God who answers prayers) I did a little scan of the blog and counted eighteen specific prayer requests since his birth in August. Only two were not answered within the space of three days. Anyone in the know will tell you exactly how much can go wrong with these littlies: eyes, heart, brain, kidney, lungs, liver, intestine, bowel, infection. Prayer is certainly in no small part also the reason that Mich, Matt and I remain relatively whole, in body, mind and spirit. More than 90 meals have helped too! We continue to be blown away by the support and love that has surrounded us so faithfully all this time. We’ve heard so many heartening stories from parents of their kids taking on Sammy as their evening prayer project.

I’ll be keeping the significant updates coming mainly via the blog and occasional emails, particularly around weight gain. On that score and the continued manageability of this all for us, please pray that Sammy’s strength will increase to allow him to breastfeed the whole time. Currently he can only manage one or two shots a day. Getting this right would slash the amount of round the clock effort required on the breastpumping, equipment washing and sterilising front. Apart from that we just continue to be very, very thankful!

With love and thanks
Terence

One week checkup

Sam had a little outing this morning back to hospital for his first checkup. It was a great success - he weighed in at 2720grams (up 240grams on a week ago). Paul and the nurses were very happy with his progress. It's hugely encouraging for us that all these long hours of feeding are paying off in the form of good weight gain and staving off infections.

So far we've been almost 100% successful in maintaining the quarantine of our house and our hands are beginning to feel like crusty old leather from all the handwashing going on. Thankfully we have all been fully healed of our colds.

We're dealing with what seems like a milk catastrophe in that every bottle we are defrosting is tasting a bit off. So we've probably thrown away 20 bottles before I stopped to consult the Internet on this and lo and behold the first Google hit for "frozen breastmilk tastes sour" was a gem - see http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/nursing/grosstasting.html As you will see a number of pumping moms from the Berkeley (California) Parents Network have been engaging with this problem and conducting all sorts of experiments with their milk. Some of it's very amusing if you have ever experienced the joys of long term breastpumping. Given that we're sitting on around 30 litres of frozen milk we are VERY interested to know how to play this one and the hospital staff don't know of the problem. If anyone has any other ideas out there please post a comment.

Here's a shot of the Berry Boyz the morning after their first night at home together.

Three glorious days at home

<-- Matt, Mich, Sister Alison and Sammy crossing the threshold Matt's first comment when faced with the sight of his baby brother on the car seat on the return trip from hospital: "Who's this??" Followed shortly thereafter by: "This car is very full of people!" ;) It feels like our house is as well with two little men ruling the roost most of the time.

We're just loving having Sammy at home with us. He's been coping quite well with the semi-sterile, non-airconditioned, quiet and dark-at-night environment. Matt thinks it's Christmas having his brother and both parents at home together.

Suck or Starve worked! The bottle feeding is going well and the only breathing worries have been during feeds when he has twice choked and a bit of revival was required, but nothing near warranting our newly honed CPR skills. Mich and I are truly enjoying the relative normality of sleep deprivation, the hours of rocking, sitting trying to burp a little lump at 4am, typing with one hand, lying wide-eyed at night listening for the breathing and other typical wonders of the early days of a baby at home. The seven different medicines during the day, visitor quarantine (limited to his grandparents, our sisters and the medical staff) and continued breastpumping tend to bring us back to the reality of the miracle that this little boy is!

We will continue to honour our God who creates all things and the amazing NICU team at Vincent Pallotti for saving and sustaining Sammy all these months. Though we're not missing the living in two places we are sorely missing the NICU team who loved and cared for Sam, Mich, Matt and me through this trying time.

Day 83 - Homecoming on Wednesday

Sammy B seems to have taken his doc’s Suck or Starve (see previous post) threat seriously. It in fact commenced yesterday and the boy is managing to survive without the nasogastric tube – he even gained 10grams yesterday (to 2490grams). So we were told today to get ready to bring him home on Wednesday morning!!! Mich is rooming over at the hospital tomorrow night with Sammy in her bed and then he’ll cross the hospital threshold early on Wednesday morning. Hallelujah!

I’ve attached an at- birth and a today shot just to remind you of the absolute miracle of this little chap’s life and healing. We’re so thankful to Our Creator for him.

Our house has gone into full battle mode with the final preparations for his return and making sure that we thank all of the incredible staff at the hospital properly. Just to make life interesting all three of us at home have a cold. Please prayer for our healing before Sam gets back and that he will continue to suck his bottle and boob and not sleep on the job as he prone to doing.

Limited brain capacity for much more. Thank you for helping us along this road we’ve walked sometimes but been carried mostly.

With love and immense gratitude
Terence

Day 79 - SOS from Monday

Hospital fatigue is finally hitting us and we are desperate to get our boy home! Suck or Starve is what the good doctor calls the next tactic. It's all about getting little boys with double chins to drink on their own without a tube down their noses. We've pretty much jumped the weight and breathing hurdles - feeding remains the issue. With the tube in he continues to grow nicely - around 2.4kgs currently - which is excellent news on the infection protection front. He's getting the hang of feeding, but it's slow going. So on Monday the tube comes out for 48 hours to help kickstart him into feeding without it.

I often look back over these posts and past months and reflect on how many prayers have been answered. OK so we're still in NICU but we have a little boy who is alive and made in the image of his Creator. We're so grateful to God for Sam and for you, the spiritual, physical and emotional rocks upon which we stand. Please pray that our boy learns how to suck the bottle. or better still the boob!

Day 75 - Quarantine warning

Without the awesome support we have received from you there is no way Mich, Matt and I would be in any condition to have stayed the course for so long! Thank you again.

We’d love (and aim ultimately) to thank each of you personally. We’re now steeling ourselves for the quarantine phase which our doctor has made clear should be one of near isolation until he reaches 4kgs. So while we’d love to introduce you to this little miracle it may unfortunately be a few months before you get to meet him. High infection control and the doc’s recommendation of only grandparents visiting will be the order of the day to avoid a return to hospital! This is probably the most difficult part for us as there is nothing we'd love more than for everyone who continues to pray and support us to meet him. Maybe we can rig up a visitors’ oxygen tent or something!

Day 72 - Doc and D-day

Everyone (especially his doctor Paul - pictured) is chuffed with Sam's current progress. He now weighs 2.2kgs and has for about three days not had any major breathing lapses - the only ones happening at the moment are after feeds when he gets quite bad reflux but at least we know why that is.

So the remaining hurdle is getting the feeding right which is starting to happen. Sam is on 4 hourly feeds of 60ml - he sometimes takes up to 30 ml from the bottle and the rest via the nasogastric tube. He gave Mich some welcome encouragement on Wednesday by taking 5ml from the breast. Bliss for her after more than 500 pumping sessions to date. Only a teaspoon in comparison to the 50 litres produced for him so far but a start nonetheless (he is weighed before and after breastfeeds to gauge how much he takes if anyone was wondering)

So the talk is still of a departure from NICU in the next 10 days. With the good progress we have seen we are starting to look forward to this.

Day 68 in NICU - Brothers in arms

There was a moment yesterday in NICU when time stood still for a little two and a half year old as he got to cuddle his baby brother for the first time. He had been dotingly practising up till then with his "baby" at home whom he loves to put in the pram with all his medicines (little plastic ABC blocks) piled up next to him. It was a tender moment! In his excitement Matt then poked his finger into Sammy's eye but I expect that's something he'll be doing for most of the rest of his life.

Mr Weigh-More-diet clocked in today at 2.1 kilograms. He hit the magical 2kg mark on Friday which is one of the three remaining barriers to his homecoming. The other two are breathing and feeding. On the former he's doing very well - the serious apnoeas are few and far between but there are sporadic bursts of breath forgetfulness so we're not in the clear there yet though Mich is getting very good at averting them as they kick in (I still rely heavily on the sats monitor and the colour of his lips!). On the latter, his feeding, he is still getting the bulk of his milk+mutis via the nasogastric tube but is up to 60ml every 4 hours so we are seeing the milk stockpile slowly being eaten away. We're defrosting bottles pumped on 15 Sept today. He's gradually being weaned onto taking milk from a bottle - today he took 15ml (three teaspoons) which for him was an exhausting ocean. He has to be feeding well from the bottle before he exits. (Of course there's also that double chin - but it looks like time will have to heal that)

So relatively speaking things are looking pretty good. We have been testing the apnoea monitor for the past couple of days and steeling ourselves for the next phase which our doctor has made clear should be one of near isolation until he reaches 4kgs. So if you're in town it may unfortunately be a few months still before you get to meet the little fella. High infection control will be the order of the day to avoid a return to hospital! This is probably the most difficult part for us as there is nothing we'd love more than for everyone who continues to pray and support us to meet him.


Tomorrow we check the alphafeto protein levels again.

Day 60 in NICU - 4 days of independent breathing, doubled birth weight, halved AFPs

Baby clothes for the first time

The good news continues. Sammy has been breathing on his own since Thursday morning. I thought I'd wait a few days to check that he means it this time and it feels like he does! He still has apnoeas a few times a day but these are declining quite encouragingly. Today’s Alphafeto Protein (AFP) level was at 16,000 - exactly half of what it was a week ago. AFPs are the things that correlate positively with apnoea levels. Still a way to go on them but very positive sign at any rate. Paul and the nurses are becoming decidedly upbeat.

He's been out of the womb now for exactly 2 months but we generally think of him as still needing to be born in a month as that's his developmental age. Though looking at him with the double chin he is still sporting below (the final remnant of his infections) I would put him closer to 80.

Fat boy weighs 1820 grams – more than double his birth weight – and sucked a couple of times on a bottle today for the first time (he’s still fed via a pipe down to his stomach) So many encouraging answers to prayers in the past week.

On a sobering note we did our infant CPR course with other family members over the weekend and are beginning to prepare for the little fella’s homecoming. We are still genuinely terrified at the prospect! Paul reckons we should be thinking around the end of the month if his progress continues at this rate. Please pray that it will because actually it will be incredible not to have to spend four to five hours a day in a hospital any more. Pray too for the continued lowering of the AFPs and that Sam’s reflux (food coming back up from his stomach – the doctors generally laugh at my descriptions) would diminish as this is one cause of apnoea.

Mich continues to pump for all she’s worth and somehow retains her sanity. Matt keeps telling us he is “a very sick baby” but remains the life and soul of the mad party that is our house! The food suppliers have been incredible – what an awesome help that is to us. Thank you guys.

We are humbled by your support in so many ways as ever

Terence

Day 59: 2 months / -1 month old

Happy 2 month birthday Sammy B! Cake and popcorn for the nurses. Lovely thickened milkies for you little man!

Day 53 - What's the Alphafeto Protein?

It’s night 53 in NICU for the Berries and we are back at medical school again – studies happening largely via the internet!

Sammy unfortunately had to return to the nasal prongs to support his breathing less than a day after he came off them. He was having frequent apnoea episodes and too many associated oxygen desats. While this was disappointing, the fact that he breathed unassisted for half a day so much earlier than expected was incredibly encouraging for Mich and me and, I suspect, many of the nurses. We now know that he doesn’t need any additional oxygen - the prongs are just giving him supportive air pressure (2 litres per minute) and generally assisting his breathing response by tickling his nose. It’s this instinctive breathing response, or rather the sporadic lack thereof, that is now the specific cause for concern in his breathing.

We had another of our chats with doctor Paul yesterday. We now know that the Hyaline Membrane Disease has resolved so this is no longer causing the desats. A test of Sam’s blood on Thursday showed that something called the alphafeto protein (AFP) count in his blood is double what it should be for someone his age (32,000 vs around 16,000 – in babies older than 3 months it sits around 150 or less). When in the womb AFP binds the sex hormone estradiol to prevent it from affecting the fetal brain. It’s not known medically whether this AFP is then the cause of apnoea but either way it is an excellent indicator in young babies of their propensity to have apnoeas. The fact that Sammy’s is so high is not good news and unfortunately nothing can be done medically to reduce the count. Over the next six months it will naturally reduce to negligible levels but during that time he will be at very high risk of continuing apnoea attacks which are one of the main causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death). Paul has therefore suggested that he is going to be in hospital longer than originally anticipated. He wants him to go for at least a week without experiencing any apnoeas before considering him for release. He has not yet had a day without any! We continue to take things a day at time.

On the positive side, apart from the lungs Sammy is gaining weight at a rate of knots, now clocking in at 1640 grams (3.6 pounds).

Please continue to pray for our little man’s lungs, specifically an end to these apnoea episodes and a significant lowering of his AFP levels.

Thank you so much for your faithful support

Terence

Day 51 - Back to nasal prongs

Our little man lasted half a day breathing entirely on his own but then got very tired so had to return to the nasal prongs supporting his breathing with 2 litres of air flow per minute. At least they left him at zero extra oxygen.

A bit disappointing but this doesn't take away from the momentous move that was made yesterday in his breathing.

4 Oct - Awesome news on day 50 - He breathes on his own!!!

Mich arrived in NICU this morning to find Sammy breathing unassisted. No more oxygen! Just his own little lungs pumping away. Periodic desats still happen but no frequently than when he was on the oxygen. We are completely blown away by this and it comes weeks ahead of what we were expecting. This is a direct and unequivocal answer to the prayer request that I made in yesterday's email update. Coincidence that such a big leap occurs today? I think not.

To the many faithful and wonderful supporters who prayed yesterday and last night God has heard you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

More great news is that the jujenostomy tube has been removed and replaced with a nasal gastric tube from which the little guy had his first 20ml feed – these now occur every 2 hours.

In this weird place in which we find ourselves I reckon Isaiah best captured how we feel when he wrote many centuries ago:

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

2 Oct - Little lungs and humble pie

I’m humbled by the nurse that buys premature nappies for us on her days off, or by the twenty four families (one in the UK!) that are feeding us for the next 2 months (and the friend from church co-ordinating the logistics of that mountain of food), or by the doctor who regularly called to see how our son was at 2am when he had a four week-old baby of his own, or by my wife who woke up every three hours for the five weeks to pump milk for a baby she had barely touched until ten days ago, or by the strangers who pray daily for his health and our sanity, or by family and a church community that loves extravagantly expecting nothing in return, or by nurses who work twelve hour shifts day and night, or by the cover of a medical aid. Over the past seven weeks I have come closer to grasping grace than ever before.

First bath - 1 Oct 06

And we continue to wonder at Sammy B growing. He’s now seven weeks old and weighed in today at 1480 grams (3.3 pounds) - a significant gain from his birthweight of 860 grams (1.9 pounds). He’s now getting 10ml of his mom’s breastmilk every hour directly into the jejunum, the bit of intestine just below the stomach. The focus is now his lungs.

Since his birth the phases we have been through look something like this:
the initial trauma phase – shock and grief associated with such an early and stressful birth;

then infections – ten days on our knees and on the edge of the little man’s life – antibiotics, disintegrating veins and ventilators;

the miracles came next – two weeks of unbelievable healing and positive moves – drips being pulled out, antibiotics stopped, closed incubators;

we’re now in the plateau phase – good progress but the slope of the graph has flattened markedly with stabilised feeding and steady weight gain but seemingly little progress on his lungs – bored doctors;

The next phase? the shift from NICU to home perhaps – our anticipation and excitement for this has been reduced to fear in the past weeks as we witness the daily oxygen desaturation and apnoea episodes from these little lungs that can’t quite hold their own.

His lungs remain the primary concern now and will be for many months and possibly years to come. Sammy is suffering from something common to most preemies born as early as him - Hyaline Membrane Disease. The trauma of the (life-saving) ventilator and the earlier infections on his very immature lungs resulted in these membranes forming within the alveoli thus blocking effective oxygen exchange with the bloodstream. Practically this means that he still requires assistance with his breathing in the form of a bit (only 4% today) of extra oxygen and some positive pressure. He seemed to take massive leaps in getting to this stage of low level breathing assistance from full ventilation and I suppose we were expecting the leaps to continue but they have slowed right down. Without any other factors (like the swelling from the infection) clouding the picture we can often see just how difficult it is for him to breath. In the past ten days Mich has done many hours of skin to skin kangaroo care so she can feel the desaturations coming and is able to stimulate him appropriately. But at times he will simply stop breathing and turn blue while the monitors start screaming and nurses come running. It's scary when this happens in NICU. We don't like to think too much of how we'd deal with it at home.

Last week Paul happened to mention that if he continues to gain weight we could be looking at getting out of NICU by the end of October but to get there Sam’s lungs need to be working a lot better. Despite our hesitation at this prospect people less in the thick of things have caused us to recognise the immense progress Sammy has already made in the past month. There is every reason to believe he’ll be confidently breathing on his own in a month - we have witnessed so many miracles in this little fella’s life already! And we are confident that God will heal his lungs fully in time. I forgot to mention that he had his first real bath yesterday and seemed to really enjoy it. I suppose one would after seven weeks of no washing!

If you are praying please ask for full healing to occur in his lungs. We’d also like to ask you to pray for Matt who is thoroughly sick and tired of this whole thing and wants his Mommy back now! He frequently wakes up at night and much earlier than normal (is there such thing for a two year old?) which badly knocks our sleep and energy levels. Pray for peace for him. Mich always needs your prayers for energy and “double sleep” when she does – it’s incredible the way she is coping with this!

Thank you for sticking with us. It’s been a long haul to now but Sam has not had an infection for over three weeks, he remains on the nasal prongs and his weight will soon have doubled. We have cooked only a handful of meals for ourselves in seven weeks - a massive up for all our food warriors (the manna brigade) past and to come! It’s been a humbling time but I have an incredible sense of gratitude in all of this too.

I look forward to mails giving only thanks.

With love
Terence

Kangaroo care and Prince Caspian in the NICU

28 Sept - HMD and manna

Samuel B continues to grow. He’s now six weeks old and weighed in today at 1420 grams (3.1 pounds) a significant gain from his birthweight of 860 grams (1.9 pounds). He’s now getting 10ml of his mom’s breastmilk which bypasses his stomach directly into the jejunum - a section of one’s intestine. The jejunostomy tube remains necessary to prevent a distended stomach placing undue pressure on his lungs. The lungs remain the primary concern at present and could possibly be for many months to come and perhaps years.

Sammy is suffering from Hyaline Membrane Disease which prevents his lungs from doing their work adequately. The trauma of the (life-saving) ventilator and the earlier infections on his very immature lungs resulted in these membranes forming within the alveoli thus blocking effective oxygen exchange with the bloodstream. Practically this means that he still requires assistance with his breathing in the form of the nasal prongs and a bit of extra oxygen. Getting to this stage of low level breathing assistance was a big jump but we have now been here for a couple of weeks and the steps forward on this front seem to be slowing down. Without any other factors (like the swelling from the infection) clouding the picture we can often see just how difficult it is for him to breath. Mich and I kangaroo care him regularly and, for me especially, he has times when he simply stops breathing, turns blue and the monitors start screaming. It's scary when this happens in ICU. We don't like to think too much of how we'd deal with this at home.

If he continues to gain weight we could be looking at getting out of ICU within the next 6 weeks . To get there though these lungs need to be working a lot better. He's got through so much on the back of your prayers. Thank you for your continued support in this. Please pray specifically for the development and healing of his lungs.

The manna bit is the 24 families who are up to cooking for us over the next couple of months!

With love
Terence

21 Sept - Today's vital stats

SAMMY's VITAL STATS TODAY

Weight: 1265 grams (from 860 at birth)
Lungs: Nasal prongs with oxygen at 25% (air is 21%); saturating his blood fine at that level
Drugs: No antibiotics, caffeine for the lungs and a whole bunch of other goodies
Food: 9ml/hour of breastmilk (with additives)
Kangaroo mother care: daily
Brain: Narnia book 4 about to begin!
Doctors: satisfied
Nurses: bored
Parents: chuffed

19 Sept - Babies in glasshouses....

Sammy B is edging his way out of the N(eonatal)ICU! Today he relinquished his anchor tenant position in the intensive care section by making the very bold move to the high care area of NICU. He’s quite chuffed with his new glass house which most of us would call an incubator – up to now he has been nursed in an open incubator because of all the tubes and ventilation equipment. He’s down to one line in his left arm for his kickers and lung mootie! He’s still only requiring the nasal prongs. Yesterday he came off all of his antibiotics. The breastmilk is shunting in at 8.5ml per hour and nice little projectile poos are exiting at about the same rate. He was weighed today at 1265 grams (from 860 at birth).

These are massive moves!

The pictures tell a better story really...

Terence, Mich and Matt Not Mich's hairy chest

daBerryBoyz

17 Sept - Big up for dad

Sammy forgot to celebrate his 1 month birthday on Friday and has been a bit down ever since. No visits to the paed's office though, just an uncomfortable gut resulting in frequent desaturations and a generally unhappy little muppet. Unfortunately this has meant that his breastmilk feeds have had to be halved from 8.5 ml per hour (6.5 at last post) to 4. He's had to revert to two intravenous antibiotics so a line was placed in his arm again after a blissful few days of none at all, just the feed tube going into his gut via his mouth. To give his tummy a break Paul has today tried unsuccessfully three times to bypass his gut and get the tube feeding directly into the next tract of the digestive system. This meant three X-rays to check each time whether the pipe had found its mark. So he's had a rough day of poking, pushing and being irradiated but at least he's still breathing OK on the nasal prongs though the general state of discomfort has meant frequent oxygen desaturations today.

So it was to my great surprise while finishing book three in the Chronicles of Narnia that Vicky said it was time for me to have a hold of him. Whoa! She took the view that if he was crying anyway it might calm him down to do something different for a bit. So I had a glorious 10 minutes this evening holding my little man for the first time - almost five weeks since his birth. I think we both couldn't quite believe it as we stared like rabbits caught in headlights into each others eyes in between bawling sessions (from both sides!). He is still very very small but his eyes have life, curiosity and fight in them. He's warm and full of attitude.

I think I forgot to mention in earlier posts that he has recently weighed in at 1300grams which everyone was quite chuffed about.

Mich and I are both starting to feel very fatigued with the routine of hospital, work, home, Matt, eat, hospital, sleep now well established. She continues her superhuman effort on the breastpumping front and is now spending longer periods at the hospital as she got the skin to skin kangaroo care going this week. Frequently I stop and consider that she hasn't had more than 3 hours consecutive sleep for 5 weeks and probably won't for another 10. Don't try that one at home!

We are being sustained by One greater than us!

13 Sept - Feed me!!!

Sammy B continues to push forward, riding the wave of love and prayers from so many. He's the most prayed for person I know, second perhaps to George W. It's working guys. He's onto 6.5ml of breastmilk an hour (up from 4ml on the last post) and if all continues to go well will be onto 2 hourly feeds in a few days. Like a proper baby! Thankfully there is no shortage of breastmilk as a quick shot of the freezer revealed on the weekend - go Michy!

Today's further excellent news was that intravenous the antibiotics were stopped this afternoon and are now administered directly into his gut with his Mom's milk.

He is having his first bath on Friday - in an ice cream container! Mich continues to kangaroo care him skin to skin for a couple of hours every day.




Excerpt of recent conversation with Matt:

Matt: "Where's Mommy?"
Me: "You tell me where Mommy is"
Matt: "In the kitchen"
Me: "No I think she's somewhere else"
Matt: "In the breastpumping room"

Breastpumping is big in Matt's life. At the drop of a hat he'll conjure a makeshift breastpump from the nearest funnel, rip up his shirt and pump his boobies for all he's worth. The other day he generously added the pump's imaginary contents to my tea.