25 December - Christmas Day

Mark was working 5am – 3pm today, and the plan was that I would join him for lunch at the Bureau, with other families. So he left at about 4.30am, I left at about 7am to go to the unit. They had said that today was a ‘cuddle day’ and he was due for a weigh. It soon became obvious that I wasn’t going to get to the Bureau. Max needed his tubes retaping, and then Father Christmas arrived so I had to take photos!
Max gave us a card with a picture of him all dressed up in Christmas clothing and with a stamped footprint. (The nurses overnight had had a lot of fun!) There was also a stocking full of baby care stock, a soft toy, and special Christmas linen in his incubator. They did make it very festive!
Following the retaping, we had rounds, and then a cuddle and a weigh. Weight now 915g (+235g in 2 weeks). However, he’s still retaining a great deal of fluid, so he’s probably only about 780-800g in real weight.
After cuddles he took a bit of time to settle, but not ages. He was put into a clean cot, with fresh ventilator tubes and linen. It was now about 2pm, and I hadn’t eaten since 6.30am, so I ran out and grabbed a muffin from the service station, getting back in time to be there when Mark arrived.
We left at about 4pm and went to Sofie’s (Mark’s sister), where we admired the girls’ Christmas booty, had a light Christmas dinner and went home at 5.30pm. At home, we opened some presents (mostly from each other or for Max) and then went over to our next-door neighbour’s (Joan) for another, huge and unexpected, dinner with her and her family. Really, a lovely evening. We were home by 10.15pm – a lovely day. Merry Christmas, Max.