3 Weeks Old

Show and tell at Daniel's School

On Monday Joshua was 3 weeks old. He has been giving us lots of joy and just having him around makes us all very happy.

It has been very cold here in Melbourne and so the early mornings are no joy when he wakes up and this has made him a bit unsettled, but compared to some newborn babies, we are still very lucky, because he is pretty good.

We had friends from Adelaide visit and stay with us this week. Julia and Ian (Daniel’s God Parents) came with their 3 beautiful little girls. The last time the girls saw Joshua he was “inside my tummy” and they were very happy to meet him in person. It was great having them to stay.

Mummy sleeps like this too

Ailie and Joshy

At the same time Anne and Felice and their 3 girls were in Melbourne for school holidays so on Tuesday night we had 14 people for dinner which was such fun! 9 kids (including Joshua).

Maidlin with Joshua

Wednesday – Friday saw us take Joshy into the City for our Not Just Papers Shop for Mary Kay Seminar. We had lots of people visit and Joshua charmed them all.

Several of my Mary Kay friends from Adelaide and New Zealand came to see him, so it was great to catch up with them and show him off.

Joshua'a God Mother Aunty Julia

Thursday Night we went to Stalactites Greek Restaurant in town with Anne and Felice. Great food, but noisy and Joshua was beside himself by the time we got home….:(…it took us over an hour to settle him.

Friday night was our nephew Jordan’s birthday so we went to John’s sister’s house for cake and coffee after Seminar. All the Chiminello’s were very happy to meet him and once again showered us with lovely presents.

After a busy week, we had a very quiet weekend. I didn’t go out at all and kept Joshy at home to resettle him again and for me to rest. I was very tired after all the Seminar shop activities.

With Daniel in big bath for the first time

Joshua’s first week

Joshua’s first week at home has been very relaxed and peaceful. We have taken lots of time to get to know our beautiful little boy and we have had lots of visitors drop by and see us.

John’s sister Julie and her daughter Samantha came to visit for the school holidays. So it was great to see them and introduce Joshua to them.

Aunty Julie and Joshua

Samantha and Joshy

John went back to work on Monday but one of the benefits of being in business for ourselves was he came home early each day and left late each morning! lol

I have spent the week resting and getting over my operation and each day getting stronger. I am losing weight faster than I put it on!! and am already 10kgs lighter, so I am happy about that. (Only put on 13-14kgs for the whole pregnancy).

Aunty Cheryl and Joshua

On Wednesday Joshua went for his first walk in the pram. Omi and Daniel took him to the shops on the only sunny afternoon for the whole week. On Saturday Night Joshy went to his first party at Matt and Melissa’s “Christmas in July”.

With Nanna

He is sleeping and feeding well and is only waking up mostly once a night sometimes twice, so I am pretty happy about that. We are all getting enough sleep so far.

Only time will tell as the boys go back to school next week and my mum goes home, so I am going to have to get super organised for the early morning starts!!

Daniel and Amy playing with Joshua

I will report back next week on how things are going. We are once again having a Not Just Papers Shop during Mary Kay Seminar so we will be busy.

Michelle

xxxxx

Our first weekend Home

We left the hospital at 10:45 am on Saturday for the short drive home to Mill Park.

Joshy and Mummy ready to leave hospital

Joshua got to drive in John’s Prius and he looked so cute sitting in his capsule to ride in the car.

Joshua ready for his first car ride

It didn’t take us long to get home and Omi and Opi, Taylor and Daniel were waiting for us.

There was lots of fighting about who was going to bring Joshua inside, who was going to take him out of his capsule, who was going to hold him first!

The boys certainly love their little brother.

Joshua with 2 of his big brothers at home

Later in the afternoon Josy’s big sister Amy came over and then James and Aunty Cheryl visited as well.

After a big day at home Saturday, we spent a quiet Sunday with our beautiful little boy who just slept, feed and gurgled all day long.

Joshua also had his first play with Amy and Daniel and was awake for over an hour in the afternoon, which was good.

Josh and Amy

After another bath – we have so many helpers!!! lol

- we put Joshy to sleep and went to bed for another round of night feeds!! hehehe

After a feed in the lovely suit Nanna knitted me

Joshua Day 5 – Happy 4th of July

Once again Joshua was really good overnight. The 2 rooms on either side of our hospital room were very very noisy!!! These people drove us mad, had to believe that they don’t think what they do can impact on others, but the result was Joshy stirred a little during the night every time either their babies cried, or the parents were talking IN THE CORRIDOR at 3.30am!!!!

Another morning cuddle with daddy

I sent Joshua to the nursery to sleep at around 1.30am as he never really woke up, but stirred every time the noise levels rose, so I woke up thinking he was ready to feed and he went back to sleep and all I did was listen to the noise next door!! lol

Opi and Omi with their new grandson

Today we had another good day. The “old” Joshua was back. He was absolutely adorable all day and so good we were pinching ourselves again.

Omi has a cuddle

He self settles, rarely cries out unless hungry or needs a nappy change and is really strong – he can move his head all the way to either side and can even lift it a little bit.

All the grand parents came to visit today and Taylor and Daniel of course have been everyday to see their little brother.

We are all looking forward to going home tomorrow and learning how to live together with Joshua in his home, with his loving family. 

My big brother Taylor

Joshy with his Daddy's frown!!!

Joshua Day 4

First cuddle with daddy in bed

Joshua was such a good baby on Wednesday and slept well overnight. As often happens just when we were thinking we got the perfect child, all day he was grizzly.

He started off ok, waking up in the morning and spending time with his daddy in bed.

We tried everything with him but he would only settle when we held him and cuddled him, where as the day before he was happy to settle himself in his bed.

First Bath

Even though we wondered what we were doing wrong, it was nice for us to do nothing all day but look after our little boy!!

His daddy gave him his first bath and he was a bit stressed about that at first, but he needed a wash after not being able to have a bath for the first 3 days of his life.

As evening came he eventually settled around 11pm ish and we all went to  bed, wondering what our last day in hospital would bring before we went home.

 

 

Alert after a good feed

Talking to Aunty Dianna in Canada on MSN!

Joshua Day 3

Joshua finally came out of the nursery just before midnight and spent his first night with us. It was wonderful to have him spend the night with us, even if daddy slept through the first wake up at 2am!!!

We had a good day today getting to know each other and he finally got to put his own clothes on and got wrapped in his own bunny rug.

His breastfeeding is going well and he is really placid and quite quiet. Not like his brothers at all!!!

Tonight he has his Hep B vaccine and also the PKU heal screening. Even that only upset him for a short time and a few minutes on the breast afterwards settled him right down.

He has been a bit vomitty today, but the Dr says that this is only from all the mucus in his lungs and he’s not too worried about it yet but will check on him again tomorrow.

Our first photo all together

Michelle and her 3 boys

 

This photo is my favourite

 

Joshua Day 2

Joshua in the isolette

His paediatrician spoke to me early to discuss when he can come of the drip etc…

I said to him “when can I break my baby out of your jail??”!! lol… he told me that my obstetrician had said to him on Monday that I was a “strong woman”…hahahaha you can imagine what was really said!!!

But he also said that Joshua could come out today sometime, after his drip is lowered gradually and as long as his glucose levels were good. He said to me “with your permission I would like to give him 3mls of formula every 3 hrs to keep his blood sugar levels up?” He asked very nicely and was a bit shocked when I said “no”!!! lol

After discussing with him (around and around)…he agreed that I could breastfeed him at least 3 times today before his sugar levels were tested, and only then would we give him formula if he needed it.

So today we have spent the day with me walking better and better and me feeding Joshua every 3 hours and then expressing after each feed so we can give him extra.

So when he was fed, John then gave him the extra milk from the end of the previous feed to top him up…instead of trying formula etc..

Then tonight at his 7.30pm feed, Midwife Val said she needed to do his glucose test. Joshua had to get a score of 2.5 or higher to not need the formula supplements. His score was 3.9!!! I was so happy that he didn’t have to have any formula to top him up.

Out of the Nursery at 11:50pm!!

The drip is being lowered enough now, so that from the 1.30am feed he will be allowed to come into our room and stay with us until we go home.

Can’t wait for Day 3 when he’s with us all the time

Joshua and Nanna

Welcome Joshua John

Joshua being born

At 11.27 am on Monday June 30, 2008 our beautiful boy Joshua was born by Caesarean section at Northpark Private Hospital in Bundoora, Melbourne Victoria.

Shortly after he was born some mucus from his lungs came up and got lodged in his throat and he needed air and had to have his throat and lungs cleared. It was decided then that he had to be transferred to the nursery for some oxygen and help with his breathing.

As my operation was finished, John went with Joshy to the nursery to settle him in.

He was placed in an “isolette” (in the old days it was called a humidy crib) and got set up with oxygen and a drip.

Our first family photo

He was so small looking in the big container but I was able to touch him through the arm holes.

While I was still in theatre John took all the children and our parents in to see Joshua, but only 2 at a time were allowed then, so of course they were all excited by the time I got to my room, for them to see me.

Later that night, after everyone had left John and I got to take Joshy out of the isolette and hold him for the first time and I was able to breastfeed him a little bit.

We went to sleep well after a long day with our little boy not in the same room as us but pretty close by being well looked after for us