New Year Update

William has settled into Cabrini well and was very spoilt for Christmas. He is feeding well and has had the nasal gastric tube removed from his nose along with all of the sticky tape across his cheeks. It took Paul and I at least 5 minutes to notice that he had nothing on his face anymore - funny how we had become so used to them we didn't notice them when they were gone.

The family photo was taken on Christmas Day - William slept through the presents being opened. One of the nurses made me a birthday card from William using his hand print and the photo of William sideways in his cot was taken on 1st Jan.

William now weighs 3070 grams and tomorrow the monitors which be switched off in favour of a "grasby" or apnea monitor - one lead on William's abdomen connected to a machine the sounds if he stops breathing for more than 20 seconds.

Over the last week or so we have been disconnecting William from his monitors for cuddles and feeding - it is amazing how liberating it feels!!! we can concentrate on him rather than listen the the machine go off at times when the reading is obviously wrong because we can see he is breathing!!

William has moved to 4 hourly feeds today and is starting to wake and demand his feeds which is great - he is having a mixture of breast and bottle until he learns how to breast feed properly - as technical he still shouldn't be born yet - he is 38 weeks gestation this weekend but 12 weeks old.

Christmas Update

A lot has happened since my last update. William has had his 2 month immunisations, he weighs over 2.9 kilograms, he is learning to breast feed, he has come off oxygen and he has been transferred to Cabrini Hospital in Malvern. His ETA for coming home is around the 10th January after his hernia operation on the 8th January.

It took us three attempts to get William transferred, the first attempt didn't happen because William had a reaction to his immunisations so we had to wait for him to stabilise and then the second attempt was at the end of a big day activity wise for William and he simply didn't want any more interaction so his stats jumped around a lot and the nurses decided it was best to leave him where he was. So the third attempt was successful and we arrived at Cabrini on Wednesday 19th Dec. He has settled in well, it is a much quieter nursery with no sick babies as such and the plan is to get him feeding well and to have his hernia operation before coming home around the 10th January - 10 days before his due date and 3 months after he was born.

The beauty of being closer to home means I can go in and out of the nursery across the day instead of spending 8 hours there in a row - it means I can have a break, get a few things done at home and be back in time for his next feed.

The photos above are of Williams transfer via NETS (Newborn Emergency Transport Service) in a humidicrib, his wonderful doctor, Lisa Fox and of bath time at Cabrini.

Paul, William and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to introducing you to our gorgeous boy when he is home and settled in.

William's Nursery & First Bath

Paul and I put William's nursery together last weekend, so it is all ready for him to come home.

William had his first and second bath this week - the first one he didn't enjoy at all but he seemed to enjoy his second bath better - even having a little poo in the water!!!

William is now out of the humidicrib and into an open cot, but he has caught a cold which he has been fighting off for the last 4 days. Once he has recovered from the cold the doctors are talking about transferring him to Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, much closer to home.

He now weighs 2244 grams and knows Paul and I and you can see him settle really well when he hears our voices and especially when he is lying on mine or Paul's chest.

Williams New Outfit

This is William's first outfit from me - it's great to get him out of the tiny hospital supplied outfits.

William is slowly being weaned off oxygen and is doing really well - both Paul and I try to have a cuddle every day now that he is stable enough to cope with all of the handling. His feeding tube is now in his nose so he can learn to breast feed.

He now weighs 2028 grams and will be weighed again tonight

William Passes 2 Kilos

William passed the 2 kilo mark yesterday weighing in at 2019 grams - he now has his caterpillar badge!!

He is still doing extremely well and today they moved his feeding tube from his mouth to his nose so he can start to learn to breast feed.

The fluid retention has eased a little bit and he no longer looks like a Star Trek character (Paul thought he looked like a Clingon for you Trekky fans)

He is also now wearing his very own clothes, a little bit big but plenty of room to grow, the hat he is wearing in this picture is the second hat knitted by Mum - he has already outgrown the first one. Paul and I are putting the nursery together this weekend in anticipation of bringing William home, hopefully around his due date of 20th Jan.

Getting Bigger Every Day

William is doing well on a whiff of oxygen and putting on weight every day - he nows weighs 1833 grams and may come out of the humidicrib into an open cot in the next week.

He is retaining a little bit of fluid at the moment, which is why he looks a bit puffy, but this is normal for premie babies and he may go onto diuretics to help this.

William off CPAP

William came off CPAP on Thursday and is doing well breathing on his own with very little supply of oxygen.

I know I'm biased but he is much more handsome without the head gear and you can see his face much better.

William now weighs 1450 grams and is on track to come home close to his due date mid January 08

William's Footprint

William's Footprint - 5 cm or 2 inches long taken on 4 Nov 2007

William's Progress

William was moved from Room 9 of the NICU to Room 2 today (9 Nov 07) - a small step forward and one both Paul and I are pleased about - primarily because Room 2 is a smaller nursery, much quieter and darker. Room 9 was a bit of a thoroughfare for doctors and other parents to other rooms and always had the lights on bright - which William doesn't like - naturally!!

William put on 51 grams over the last 3 days and now weighs 1301 grams and he is filling out and has very cute chubby cheeks.

William and I have a cuddle every day which he settles into quickly and falls asleep while I read Pooh Bear stories to him. He knows my voice and when he is upset he settles quickly when I sing to him (no jokes now!!)

Paul changes William's nappy and a couple of times now William has caught his Dad out - dirtying a clean nappy before Paul has had a chance to get it on him - and once peeing over Paul while he was putting cream on his bottom!!! Good Boy William!!

Paul took the second photo last weekend - I've included my wedding rings so you can get an idea of how little he is and the first shot of William without his hat and prongs was taken today (9 Nov 07) when it was taken off for a couple of minutes so Paul could give his little head a massage.

Family Photo

William has put on weight and now weighs 1070 grams. He cheeks have filled out a bit and he is being feed every 2 hours. I try to have a cuddle every day as William settles in for a good sleep for at least an hour on my chest with the occassional REM sleep which is good for brain development.

I'm spending about 4 hours a day at the hospital getting involved with William's care - changing his nappy, feeding him, reading him stories and having a cuddle. Paul joins me at lunch time to give William a feed. It's hard to leave him but the best thing for him at the moment is to get lots of sleep so he can grow and develop into a big strong boy.

William's First Outfit

William continues to do well. Thank you to everyone for your prayers, gifts and best wishes.

One of William's nurses thought she would surprise me yesterday by putting an outfit on William, he does look very cute.

My First Cuddle With William

William was able to come out of the crib for an hour on Friday (19th Oct) for our first cuddle. His little bottom fits in the palm of my hand. He soon got comfortable and fell asleep, waking a while later and opening his eyes. His head gear was taken off for a little while and he has hair.

On Thursday 18th William Albert King was baptised. He is a strong boy and is feeding well.

William One Week Old

William was one week old yesterday (Wednesday 17th Oct) and he is doing really well.

He opened both of his eyes yesterday while I spoke and sang to him and he loves to suck on a cotton bud which has been dipped in breast milk. He is already taking after Paul, curling up his big toe on his right foot!!

William Albert King

So much has happened since my last entry so I am not going to even try to bring the blog upto date as by now you all know that I have been in hospital for the last 4 weeks trying to hold onto William, but like his father, he was impatient and wanted to enter the world early at 25 weeks.

William Albert King was born on Wednesday 10th October 2007 at 4.49am weighing 885 grams at the Royal Women's Hospital. William is named after both of Paul's grandfathers, and my grandfather on my Dad's side and great grandfather and my Mum's side.

William is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Women's Hospital and is doing well.

Baby King was camera shy today

We had another scan today at 21 weeks but the baby didn't want to be photographed. He/She buried it's face into my back and wouldn't move to get a face shot, but he/she did decide to give us a wave - Hello!!

I suffered from Braxton Hicks for 4 days last week which was not very pleasant and kept me house bound for a few days but all is OK, just growing pains I'm told!

Baby King at 19 Weeks

This is Baby King at 19 weeks, all is well! At least the baby does not look like an alien anymore. The time is going quite quickly - over half way now - watch out world another King is on the way!!

Kerrie at 18 weeks

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been a bit slack posting messages and photo's - no excuse really I just needed to get around to getting Paul to take another photo. I've also been trying to download photo's from the DVD I have on the last scan, but our DVD reader is not working properly. There are some much better shots of the baby side on kicking away.

Anyway, bump is getting bigger now and I can definately feel a flutter, we have another scan in a weeks time which will be great. Paul says I'm started to waddle now and it is getting more uncomfortable to sleep but we've got a way to go yet!

I went to my first pre-natal class this week to learn about back care and exercise in pregnancy.

First Photo of Baby King

Here's a picture of our baby at 12 weeks - I've been trying to download a better one from the dvd we have as it is hard to make this one out - stay tuned another picture to come.

Kerrie at 14 weeks

We went to William Filer's 5th birthday party on Saturday and Paul took his new Digital SLR camera. This is the first preggie picture of me - no jokes now - or I'll get upset, remember pregnant hormones, and I've got ages to go yet!!