5 July

Ok! OK! I get the hint!


I have had at least four people in the last two days ask when I'm going to update the blog - so here goes.

Max has been inundated with visitors lately, most especially Grandma from New Zealand for a week and then Baba & Dido from Melbourne for a few days. He has been very well behaved, and has become much easier to get a smile out of. However, it's not always consistent, and we haven't really had laughs (although the other night we got a few 'heh!' sounds accompanied by grins).


He sleeps well - but I may have misled people in my last post with my 'sleeping through the night' comment. He will often go for 5 hours without waking us up, but I still wake every hour or two - to either check he's still breathing (!) or to see if he's hungry. I'm still quite paranoid about the whole food situation. He's not a great eater - only taking 450 - 550ml of fortified food each day. I suppose there's no problem with that if he continues to grow appropriately and isn't dehydrated, but as we get him weighed weekly, and he's on (actually below) the lowest percentile for his corrected age, I'm always afraid he isn't growing well. But, he seems healthy enough, and is quite a placid wee soul, so I suppose all is well.

I bumped into a friend in a shop today, who had her son (term) while Max was in hospital, and I asked her what her son's weight was. She laughed and said 'I have no idea' - she just looks to see if he's growing. I suppose that's the difference between a term baby and a prem. We're always looking at every movement and statistic to check how he is developing, to anticipate any problems and to ensure we head off any issues as soon as possible.

We had a medical checkup earlier this week - Max now weighs 5320g and is relatively on track for a 3-4 month-old baby (which is his 'corrected age'). We need to keep encouraging smiling/laughing, his torso is a bit low in tone (- a bit 'loose', he doesn't hold it strongly when you pick him up), and he's a bit behind in lifting his head when sitting up and when he's on his tummy. We also have a physio appointment next week, and I'm sure we'll come out of that with a list of issues! We know he favours lying his head to his right (thus his head is quite flat on that side and his face is a bit out of alignment), and we are constantly turning his head, putting the 'interesting things' on his left etc etc. Very difficult. We were also warned that there are some very nasty viruses around at the moment, and to try to keep Max away from potential sources of infection - mostly crowded places and places with children. Oops.


He has a lot to say when he's in the mood - babbling to us or to his toys. He has also started a whingy type of cry - he's never been much of a screamer (but he can when he wants to) - which usually means he's bored, but can be the only sign we have that he is ready for food. He's a hard guy to read!

The photos - (red stripy outfit) Max became absolutely fascinated with his hands not long after he came home. he's now at the point of putting them in his mouth all the time, and can almost get the while fist in! His Tato calls that outfit his 'Where's Wally' gear - but I love it! (close up) - taken in an attempt to capture him smiling - he tends to go 'blank' whenever he spots any kind of camera. (yellow outfit lying down) - finally we get a pic of a smile - when he is lying on the change table looking at his favourite toy. One day I'll take a photo of the toy and explain why we call it 'Warney'. (surrounded by toys) - this is his gym, which he'll play under for hours. I actually took the centre item off the gym after this photo - it has a mirror on it, and Max kept going cross-eyed as he tried to focus!