18 March

Finally it looks like we're getting some more teeth! It has been a bit of a break between sessions, and so far, so good. Max also has his first cold - and is incredibly snotty, the poor wee thing. Strangely enough, we had some great nights, so maybe he was just extra-tired. Then came the massive, record-breaking heatwave here in Adelaide, and back came the bad nights. I think the heat did play a bit of a part, but the teeth were definately a factor for one or two nights, and the head cold for a few more. We will have to start working on this sleeping thing again now that the heat has passed (for a while?). We had another physio appointment - and this time he seems to have made some good progress. He was 'challenged' a bit with a new toy where he had to work out a bit of 'pressing buttons makes things happen' logic, and to our surprise, he actually managed to figure it out. He's crawling very well, managing the pulling-up onto furniture and getting back down pretty well, and is quite happy to push larger toys around the lounge - albeit a bit awkwardly as none of them are on wheels! Physio says that standing/walking could be a few months away yet - very hard to tell now. This past week was very busy - three 'first birthday' parties (Congratulations Kia, Jed & Mitchell!) over the weekend, and visits from Baba & Digo and Chocha Hush during the week. Max did very well overall, but, as always, much better when other people are around than when it's just him & me. I really want to get his room finished, and we have picked out a couple of bits of nice but basic furniture from Ikea, but my uni fees fell due, and so we put that project off for a while until the bank balance is a bit better. I'm hoping that I can sell the clothes and bits & pieces that have been donated for my 'Tiny Lives' Campaign this weekend at a local Easter car boot sale - some are larger bits of Max's (rocker, floor play mat, carry cot) and there are about six or seven tubs of clothes, so I really hope we can thin it right down and get some space back - and make some money at last! The latest Foundation newsletter shows one particular piece of equipment the NNU needs - a dedicated neonatal echo ultrasound probe. At the moment they have to use a probe built for a much larger child's body, and they can't press properly as it would hurt the baby. So, the readings aren't as accurate as they could be. A proper premmie probe costs around $17,850, and it's been on Flinders' wishlist for a while. I don't hold any hopes that we can raise that amount from a car boot sale, but maybe we can drop a little into the bucket. Max had several cardiac ultrasounds, and when his PDA was ligated, it was actually a lot larger than the surgeon was expecting. Maybe a more accurate screening would have enabled his doctors to have put him into surgery earlier, and helped his oxygenation at the same time.