Two weeks

Well, Ethan is over two weeks old and doing well. He has had the odd "bad day", but they do not seem that bad. Maybe we just know what to expect.

Riley is also doing well. She has jealous moments but we seem to handle them well. She loves her brother and likes to hold him and kiss him.

Ethan seems well on track weight wise. At 1 day short of 2 weeks he weighed 3.29kg, so gained 150g in 6 days which is good.

Riley had her last shot till she is five and was a real trooper. She did not even flinch, even though the shot is supposed to sting and Des expected more of a reaction.

Chameleon ???

We realised the other day that Ethan had a baby grow that matched his bedroom carpet. The colours are almost identical. He looks like a chameleon trying to blend in.

The Drinkers

I thought this was a real "Kodak" moment. My family all having a drink at the same time...

Anyway, Ethan is one week old today. We had our scheduled 1 week check up with the clinic sister.

Des is very happy with Ethan. She did say however that the hospital measurements are a bit off... Ethan measures 50cm ( not the 54cm as measured in hospital).

His weight today is 3.14kg (down from 3.456kg at birth and 3.40kg at discharge). Des feels that he has passed his minimum weight and is back on track for weight gain.

We go for another checkup next Wednesday... Just to check the weight.

Otherwise all is well. We are getting used to the new addition. Riley is still being a star. Long may it last.

Riley and her cousin Noah

We had some visitors today. Bianca (Blanca) and Noah came to see Ethan. Gareth (Garafin) was nor able to make it due to work.

As usual Noah and Riley had a ball. They love running around the garden and play together very well. They love to cook and play with dough etc.

Blue and Green Racing Car baby grow

Not sure if Brett and Lara will recognise the baby grow - stripy with car... It is a hand me down from Leo. Nice that the van Gelder boys can share already.

Ethan had his first home bath today. He was not thrilled but as far as we can remember was happier than Riley was when she had her first bath. With Riley we waited for more than a week before we attempted this.

We are still coping well. The nights have not been too bad. The every two or three hours does take it out of you though.

I was worried that Riley would wake up with the crying, but so far she has not. She has slept till about 7h00 in the morning... Hope this continues, at least till she goes back to school next week.

Who is Who

Any guesses?

Home at last

We finally got home on Sunday. We arrived at about 12h00 and Riley was thrilled to have us back. She loves her brother and so far has been great. She is helpful and loving and wants to hold Ethan and gives him hugs and kisses which is great.

We could have been discharged on Saturday but decided to rather spend the night. Claudia was alone in the ward and the paed had picked up a bit of jaundice to we thought it better to wait for the second set of results the next day.

The levels were very low, so no need for concern. We were told that Ethan's B+ blood type (as opposed to my O+ and Claudia's B-) should mean NO jaundice.

Anyway, all is good and today also went well.

Ethan Day One

Just got back from the hospital. Claudia and Ethan are doing well. There has been very little "food" production so far, so Ethan has been hungry.

We decided to give him a bottle at about 17h30, which he glugged with gusto - a whole 50ml.

When I got back at 19h00 he was sleeping but got woken a couple of times, I assume because of the noise etc as it was visiting hours.

He also spewed a bit of milk, but seemed happy after that.

He also loves his dummy...

Otherwise Rileya nd I are fine. She seems to be taking things quite well so far. I even got told to go back to work this morning after we got back from grandparents and siblings visiting.

Ethan's Birthday 09-07-09

Just a quick post to show the new addition. Ethan is a great little guy. He has already had three good feeds from Claudia. He also likes his dummy. He started sticking his hands in his mouth so we decided to give him the dummy.

The mark on his face is from the forceps, but that should be gone in a couple of days.

Claudia is well, she says much better than with Riley. She does not feel has "off" and the after effects of the spinal block were not as bad.

The staff are great. Dr Hartmann is a champion and is Dr Mileham, the anaesthetist.

Will try and post some more tomorrow. But off to bed now.

Crystin' poem for Ethan

The Parnells are spending the week-end with the grandparents.

Today they came to visit and Crystin brought a poem that she had written for Ethan. I am sure you will agree that it is great.

Budding Painter

Last week-end the weather was pretty miserable and Riley was getting tired of being cooped up, so we decided to give her some paint to explore with.

Considering Riley's usual lack of enthusiasm for dirty hands, the results are quite surprising,

She seemed to love squishing and squeezing the paint and having fun.