A day in the park

It was nice and sunny today and Meeks and I were beginning to get a bit of cabin fever after being at home, so we decided to go to the park with our little man. It was a great idea!
Mitch slept in the pram while mummy and daddy had lunch (by the way he was strapped in while he was asleep and mummy and daddy were eating lunch all you safety conscious folk out there)


Then there was cuddles on the picnic rug first with mummy ...


... then with daddy.


Mitch has been such a good baby so far. He has been sleeping lots and feeding well. We have switched to having the breast all day and bottles of expressed milk and formula at night. This has been working well. Meeks and I are thankfully still getting enough sleep which is great. Please continue praying for us and our little boy we greatly appreciate it. Thanks also to Phil and Shaz, Jung, Catriona and Andrew and Cam and Briony who cooked us dinners last week and to Amanda who has cooked us dinner for tonight (and it will probably last to tomorrow as well) - they have been delicious and a huge help to us.

Little boy, big bed

Here is a picture of our little boy in his big cot - plenty of room to grow!


Last Thursday we went to a parents support group in Hornsby. It was really good and a chance to meet some other parents of 0-12 week old babies and to weigh Mitch. Meeks actually knew a couple of the other women through various work contacts. Dave was the only guy there which felt a bit weird at times. He had to be careful where he looked as everyone sat in a big circle and there were boobs being whipped out for feeding at various times! Most of the babies were 3+ weeks so people were surprised we were able to make it with Mitch only being 8 days old. He slept the whole time pretty much. He weighed 3.54kg with some clothes on so we think he has put on a bit of weight since we left the hospital on Monday which is a relief. We were worried about his feeding because he is still minus 3 weeks old when you think about it!

Coming Home

He had a feed just before coming home. All that drinking fair tuckers out a little guy!


And here is Mitch in his car seat on the way home.


We're thrilled to be home. Mitch had a big cry this morning at the hospital, but that was just a stuff up with feeding times. He has been perfect all afternoon and evening and hopefully will continue to be throughout his first night at home. Please pray that Meeks and I can get enough sleep and juggle feeding duties amongst ourselves so that we aren't too tired. Thanks to Charlotte who made our dinner tonight.

Our perfect little boy ... well almost!

Hello again everyone!

After a bath his hair is all spiky. Very cute!


We're still doing one feed on the breast, one on bottle and it's working really well. It means I get to feed him and mum gets a rest. Good times all round. Here's mum feeding him though just before he came home.


He might have drunk a little quickly though because, what went down, didn't quite stay there. This picture is one for his 21st!

Drunk on milk

Our little boy is so lovely.

Today he had a really good day. Meeks is alternating feeds - one the breast and one on the bottle, with the bottle feed having as much expressed breat milk as possible and topping up with formula if required.

Today he was either feeding or asleep or having a little bit of play time or tummy time. He hardly cried all day! If the next two weeks are like that it will be awesome ... somehow I doubt it, but it's nice to dream.

I got to feed him his afternoon bottle feed today. It was just the loveliest thing. Our little boy, lying in my arms drinking from the bottle looking up at me. After he feeds he tired and full of milk, he can't hold his head up, it's like he's drunk on milk. It is so cute!

Meeks will come home tomorrow afternoon. She was going to be coming home in the morning but they wanted to check her feeding just a bit longer. Mitch had a really good feed tonight sucking for almost an hour. Hard work for a little boy, he's only been around 4 and half days and he's already being asked to do hour long work outs!

Please continue to pray for feeding and the changes as we go home and don't have the wonderful midwives and nurses and Lactation Consultants and nursery to check him into at night.

Feeding news

Great news! Meeks' milk has "come in", as they say, so Mitch is feeding properly. No more need for contraptions with tubes yay! (It was called a "supply line" - I didn't remember that at midnight last night.

More photos

Mitch looking with his open eyes


Mitch's first test ... a hearing test which he passed with flying colours.


A couple of Mitch and his mum



Here he is lying on Dad's lap and checking out the world ... isn't he just the cutest!


Day three.
Mitch continues to amaze us, we love him so much. He is becoming a bit more attentive and opens his eyes and there has been a bit of looking at mummy and daddy. He had his first bath today which didn't go so well. Daddy was a bit stressed and he cried almost the whole time, except when he was floating on his tummy. Or perhaps he cried because Daddy was stressed or perhaps Daddy was stressed so he cried. I dunno, hopefully next time will be better.
He had a couple of good feeds today which is great. The Lactation Consultant (very helpful lady names Gabrielle) rigged up this device with a formula bottle aroudn meeks' neck and tiny tubes and sticky tape and all sorts of other things, kind of hard to explain. Hopefully Meeks' milk witll come through tomorrow and she wont need it too much longer. Speaking of Meeks she is doing much better again. She is moving around much better although she still has some nasty pain and needs medication every few hours. She will get better and better as the days go by.

Tomorrow we have a settling class which we will need in the days ahead. We haven't needed it too much yet, he's been pretty sleepy so far, but as his hunger grows, he will be more restless.

Thanks again for your prayers, keep praying for Mitch for feeding, and Meeks for feeding and pain and Dave as he drives back and forth.

Our son, Mitchell Lachlan!

Mitchell Lachlan just after he was born - having a good old scream at this point we knew his lungs were fully developed.


Meeks and Mitch just after Meeks had arrived back from recovery.


Our little boy, isn't he just the cutest! Look at those chubby cheeks!


Here's little Mitch with Nana


Meeks was feeling much better today, the effects of the morphine reaction had worn off by this morning and so she wasn't feeling nauseous any more and ate her first meal this morning. She has some pain from the site of the caesarian and has difficulty getting out of bed, but is getting better all the time. Mitch is still not feeding, but he is getting better. He takes about three or four sucks and then gives up. He sucks your finger like a champion though, so he just needs to realise that fingers don't have any milk and boobies do. He'll get there though!

A boy!

Mitchell Lachlan Clark was delivered by elective caesarian this morning at 8:36. He was 3.78kg or 8 pounds 5 ounces. He is a month early, but you'd never guess from his size. He's a beautiful little boy we are thrilled. He's nice and pink and has a nice amount of dark hair on his little head. He was 50.5 cm long.

Because he's one month premature he's having a few problems feeding, but we'll get over that. Meeks had a bad reaction to the morphine which was administered and she has spent the day feeling very groggy and nauseous and very tired. As a result she didn't really get her first proper cuddle until tonight. We're both hoping she feels better tomorrow.

No photos just yet unfortunately, but should be tomorrow hopefully as I get the technology together.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers,

Dave and Meeks

It's all happening tomorrow

Meeks is booked in for a caesarian tomorrow morning 19th April. God willing we will have a little baby by tomorrow afternoon. As always your prayers are appreciated. We're very excited, but nervous of course.

Home again, home again

Meeks' is home again after a couple of days in the hospital. Her blood pressure readings have stabilised so the doctor discharged her from hospital this morning. We are both relieved that she is home. She will still have to rest, but it is nicer to do it at home than in the hospital. We have another appointment at the obstetrician on Tuesday some time, but it looks like Meeks will be carrying the baby for another week or two which will be great for it.

Our thanks to everyone who has visited or rung and also those who have prayed for us.

Good news

Meeks had a number of blood tests yesterday which all came back with really good results. Her blood pressure has stabilised and now the doctor is talking about the possibility of her coming home. Obviously that is great news. We will know more tomorrow, but at this stage there is no pressing need to deliver the baby, so hopefully she will be able to come home in the next couple of days and have the baby delivered in a week or so.

Meeks in hospital

We went to see the obstetrician today and because Meeks' blood pressure was up a bit again and because she is having trouble controlling her blood sugars, he decided that she should be admitted to hospital. She is fine and the baby is fine too, but he wants to keep a close eye on her and the best place to do that is in hospital. So we left the doctor, went home, packed a bag, and drove back to hospital. She has a really nice, big single room with a sofa and Foxtel. If you'd like to visit (and you'd be welcome), visiting hours are 3pm til 8pm, just ring us before you come to check.

Meeks will remain in hospital until the baby is induced or they perform an elective caesarian which may be in the next couple of days or it may be up to a week and then the usual 5 days after the baby is born. The doctor wants to try and last a week because by then the baby's lungs will have fully developed and the sucking reflex will be ready. If it comes earlier it might have some difficulty breathing and may need to be tube fed for a while. The baby will be okay, but it will have a harder time if it comes early.

Obviously this is a pretty tough time for us. We have not been separated for more than one night since we got married almost six years ago. The idea of Meeks being in the hospital for almost two weeks is very hard. I'm not stressed because I know that God is in control and Meeks is okay and the baby is okay and this is the best thing for them, but it's still tough.

Please pray for us at this time. Pray that Meeks condition is stable and that the baby gets the extra time to develop. Pray for us as we miss each other. Pray for me as if drive back and forth that I am safe.

No size 0000 for us!

We had another appointment with the Obstetrician on Friday. The good news is that Meeks' condition has stabilised and that she and the baby are healthy. We got told the baby is already a very healthy 3kg (about 6 pounds 6 ounces) which puts it in the 97% percentile for size. If the baby went to full term the doctor estimates it would reach about 11 pounds! The head size is in the normal range, it's just a bit big around the belly and shoulders. The doctor said even if the baby was born now it would be fine, but he hopes to keep it in until the 37 weeks but will be happy with 36 weeks. So we will be seeing our little one in 2 to 3 weeks all things going well. That is a late April birthday. Meeks is going along well although she does have some discomfort from time to time, just associated with carrying the baby. The itching has pretty much gone away which is great.

A womb with a view

Here are some pictures of our little one from the 34 week ultrasound.

In a couple of places there is some distortion from various things getting in the way, like an arm or the umbilical cord, but it's still pretty cool. You can see the little eyes and the little mouth and nose and those chubby cheeks. He or she definitely has Meeks' nose if you compare that to Meeks baby pictures. The baby is having a little nap in these pictures which is a habit he or she has caught from mum and hopefully one that is repeated a lot :)

More news

We had another ultrasound this morning and all is good. The baby is a little large around the middle (aren't we all) but apart from that everything is good. We got to see a 4D picture of the baby's face. He or she has the cutest little nose. I'll try and scan in the picture and post it this week some time.

For Meeks, the itchiness is not so much of a problem now. Thanks to those who were praying for her - she has been sleeping much better aside from the frequent trips to the bathroom which are common for all woman in late pregnancy. She has been taking the medication for teh liver condition since Saturday and will have another blood test on Wednesday to see if it is having an effect. She is generally quite uncomfortable though, just due to lugging around the baby. She was going to have a massage today which will hopefully be nice.

We should know more on Friday when we see the obstetrician again. We may even come out with a date, depending on what the tests show.

We've had a bit more time to digest the news that we will be parents in 2 or 3 weeks instead of 6 or 7. It is very exciting!