17 May 2007
Just watch how quickly and shamelessly twodees.com becomes a shrine to Massimo (Max) Henderson!! Born 17 May 2007 at 10:50am. 2.962kg (6.5lbs).
Max was born at 35 weeks 4 days by a Caesarian Section under general anaesthetic after complications with the Placenta Praevia Danielle was experiencing.
Dad got to hold him for the first 2 hours, and Mum got a cuddle, but he remained in the High Dependency Unit of the RPA Hospital to keep an eye on him.
Oh, there'll be plenty more photos to come...
18 May 2007
Max was given some precautionary antibiotics via a cannula in his hand. He also spent some time in the Humidicrib to help him stabilise his body temperature. However, Dad got to take him upstairs for some skin-on-skin time with Mum
19 May 2007
Max's sucking reflex and digestive system are undeveloped, being born a bit early so he was fed with a tube and then this was bouncing back up, forcing him to have an IV drip inserted.
This provided the only incentive needed for Mum to get mobile after the surgery and soon Danielle was down in the High Dependency Unit to see Max and fit in a little cuddle whenever allowed by the excellent staff. Where he is the midwives have 2-3 babies to supervise, so he gets all the attention he needs.
It was getting a little frustrating though as Danielle is expressing colostrum that wasn't getting used, but in the late evening Max had a little go on the breast and showed some decent technique, which lifted his parents' spirits no end.
Mum and Max |
Mum with Max inside his humidicrib |
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Max with his feeding tube |
The first photo of
the new family |
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Max having his first
breast feed |
Max inside his humidicrib |
20 May 2007
After the breast feed, Max was getting 1ml of colostrum every two hours overnight and was keeping it down. So volume was increased gradually over the day, but he remained on the drip and in the humidicrib. Max started to show some mild signs of jaundice, which is completely normal for newborns, especially premature babies.
The hope is that the volume will be increases as well as the gaps between feeds until we get to a normal volume and a normal routine. Hopefully he will come off the drip tomorrow.
21 May 2007
Mum is out, but Max is still in.
Danielle has made a good recovery from her caesarian and came home from the hospital today.
There are no new photos of Max as he is still in his humidicrib and still been fed by nasal tube. He is coping with more food and so Mum is hard at work trying to meet demand!
22 May 2007
A word from Mum tonight. All continues to go well. The best news is that Massimo is out of his Humidicrib. This is wonderful as it means he is managing his body temperature. But they'll continue to monitor.
Massimo is also off his IV drip and on full feeds. I continue my late night affair with the breast pump to keep the supplies up. He is continuing to take his feeds well.
Mum had some wonderful cuddles today but sadly, as Dad is sick with a cold, he missed out.
I met a lady who's son has been in Hospital for almost 3 months, he was born at 25 weeks. It made us feel incredibly lucky!
24 May 2007
Max is still improving in his slow and steady way. He is off all leads so there is nothing around him to go beep.
He is up to full feeds and is getting 100% breast milk, but he is getting it in small doses hourly, so the next thing is to increase the volume AND the time between feeds. In the meantime, he is getting the odd feed from the breast and getting better and better at it.
Today was a nice landmark as Max had his first bath. He didn't mind having his head washed, but found it a bit weird when lowered into it. Dad enjoyed it all immensely.
