Day 27 of Loving Luka like crazy...

In recounting so many of our experience of the past four weeks with my mom over dinner tonight, including the fear and angst that gripped us the night of the 21st of March as we hoped to postpone the delivery of the as-yet unnamed, unknown being in my belly, we slowly realize just what a roller coaster this has been.  We remember one of the paediatricians saying something about having to spend at least six weeks in the hospital if we delivered now until our baby is 'term' and the two of us thinking, how can we do that, I mean six weeks in a hotel in Darwin, what?  And here we are, four weeks later living in a house not much different than our own, having purchased a number of kitchen toys it lacked, baking, cooking and trying to be normal.

Enjoying a much-deserved nap after a marathon
breastfeeding session - Day 27, 18 April 2011

Of course, the single most amazing thing is the incredible progress, heart, spirit and determination that our little man Luka has shown throughout.  As of today, he is showing us a new side of his personality every single day, and sometimes it feels like every moment.  At a mere 34-weeks gestation, he now weighs in at 2,195g and is 46cm in length - that is up nearly 400g and 6cm since birth.  It seems as if he has grown cheeks literally overnight, and now even has eye lashes (though we joke that his missing eyebrows can still be find on his back, as he is still covered by a layer of fine Laguno) and perhaps most fun for us, he has much more energy with longer periods of wakeful playfulness and general cuteness.  He continues to be a most excellent breast-feeder-in-training, and is already flirting with all the cute nurses.

More napping...like his father
Luka believes this is not something
you could ever have too much of.

He is currently on 55ml 'cavage' (tube) feedings every four hours, though we do a bit of breastfeeding training before each one that he is awake and strong enough - and when he wants to, he knows exactly what he is doing.  He is also showing a bit of both of his parents' personalities, with the quite calm of his father, interspersed with the feisty determination of his mother (mostly when one of us does something stupid that annoys him).  In general he is a happy, content and lovable little baby who never cries (again, unless one of his incompetent parents does something truly idiotic like get his head stuck in a t-shirt, or accidentally lets his arms flail out too much).  Overall, he is showing tremendous patience and tolerance for our clumsiness.

As for us, we are truly enjoying the time with my mother here (and yes, apologies for the lack of blog posts, it is remarkable how little you can get done in the day when you are either trying to feed a baby or succeeding to feed a pump every 2-4 hours).

Mail!

From the mailbag: special thanks go to the Bratchers for a package containing treats from TJs, including Susan's favorite vitamins, as well as clothes (including his first rugby outfit, a onesie from Chris' old team, the Santa Monica Dolphins!); thanks to mom and dad for all the lovely clothes for Luka; thanks to auntie Marie for the clothes for Luka and Susan; thanks also to Estelle's friends from the Red Hat Society in Pretoria for the lovely hand-crocheted clothing; Susan's tannie Dollie; tannie Daleen; tannie Elize, and everyone else for the thoughtful gifts, clothing and thoughts.  

Enough preemie clothes for a
battalion of tiny prems.

Thanks to all the thoughtful gifts, Luka now owns one of each of the available 0000 and 00000 clothes on four continents.