7 weeks old already!!

Time is flying by so fast I can't believe that Noah is 7 weeks old today!

We have had a lot of cards and messages as you can see here.

I've spent some time this week making a small picture album and it's amazing to see the changes in Noah since his birth in Leuven. It feels like a lifetime ago and it's only 7 weeks!

Sitting up (above) and sleeping (below)

His bed which we try to decorate and make a bit more cheerfull. The hospital is a bit colorless.

So how is Noah doing? He's now weighing in at a healthy 4.05Kg's. The doctor didn't think that baby's with a canule could ever drink out of a bottle, because of the irritation it would cause to his throat. Once again Noah proves them wrong and now has at least 3 bottles a day and more if he's awake for them. In total he has 70 ml. of mummy's milk 7 times a day and he now sleeps through the night. It's great that he can drink from a bottle because the sucking motion helps develop all the muscles he will need in order to talk later on.





Both Thijs and I have been able to give Noah a bath and it's great fun for all of us. We both found it a little bit scary because of all the tubes, but if Noah can put up with it, so can we. He vigorously kicks his legs and waves his arms about, absolutely loving the sense of freedom.





He also likes the sensation of the warm water being poured over his belly, it's fantastic to be able to interact with him like this.

Offcourse he needs toweling off afterwards. (Notice the tigger)

The main thing you notice when he's in his bath is his belly. Although his tummy is still swollen, it's quite supple and not hard anymore, it doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort. The doctors are giving his little body some time to settle down, and hopefully over time we will see that his body will adapt and re-absorb this excess fluid. They say that because his body was under so much pressure, and some systems didn't get to do their normal function in the womb we should just let his body take the time it needs to find it's natural balance, as medical intervention should be the last resort. Both Thijs and I agree that this sounds like the best way, but of course Noah is being closely monitored to make sure that he is not in any discomfort or that his condition doesn't deteriorate.

Here Noah's assistant is showing how comfortable he can sleep with his belly.

Another improvement is with his turned in foot, it seems to be a lot more relaxed and you can see that it's a lot straighter than when he was born. He does tend to turn it in when he's sleeping or when you play with it. He now has a physiotherapist assigned to help him move and strengthen his foot so that it can straighten up.
The main concern and the most important is the lungs. It's difficult to say how they are developing. We probably won't know until nearer the 6 months time. He is able to breath for himself for an hour three times a day. This does tire him out but at least he can do it. We notice that he doesn't rely so heavily on the machine to breath for him as much as he used to, but this is more of a feeling that what we're told. The doctors tell us that time and this hour exercise off the machine will help with strengthening Noah's lungs. With all the miraculous things that have happened for Noah, we're both very optimistic that he will surprise us all with this last thing.

The great thing with him being in Sophia is that we get to interact a lot more with him. It's really great to be able to change his pampers and give him a bath or his bottle. I almost feel like a real mum, especially now that I've been Christened by Noah. I've been thrown up on, peed on and covered in pooh - so the full trinity! Last week we bought him a bouncy chair (wipstoeltje) and the nurses helped us put him in it. He LOVES it! He was fascinated by the hanging toys and couldn't take his eyes of the hanging mirror. He's able to turn his head now to look at things and his hands try to grab things too, he's not too co-ordinated but he's getting the hang of it. The nurse thinks he's getting ready to do his first real smile any day now - that will be something really special to see.

Another special occasion: First time on grandmothers/Oma's lap.

We're off to visit Noah now, so we'll post some lovely photo's later. Thijs: Done!

Now stop taking pictures of me and let me sleep!