Samuel's Page (part 3)

This page is to keep people updated on our new baby. We were devastated with the stillbirth of our last baby, Annabelle, and we are thrilled with the news of our expected new baby. We have 3 older children also. Greg was 20 in June, Tash is 13 and Nick is 12. Annabelle would have been 2 this April 2004.

Part 1: before he was born,  Part 2: Being Born and Hospital, Part 3: from Sept 17 to December 21st (3 months old)

Part 4: 3 to 14 months,  Part 5:  14 months onwards

24th September  2004. 10 days old

Samuel and I ended up back in hospital Friday lunchtime. We had gone home the previous Friday after the evening meal so we had a short week at home. I had started feeling unwell and thought I had retained placenta like after Tash and Annabelle were born. However the pain increased and my temperature went up and I felt so ill I called my OB. We had to go in and see him straight away and after a quick scan and physical check up I was admitted back to the maternity ward with a post delivery infection of the right fallopian tube which spread to the top of the uterus. I was on 2 different IV (intra venous) antibiotics as well as Flagyl tablets. Robert stayed in hospital with us the first two nights as I was too sick to look after Samuel. By Sunday afternoon I was a bit better so Robert was able to go home and get our other children off to school. I was allowed home after breakfast on Monday with orders to rest and do nothing other than look after Samuel and myself. The last lot of oral antibiotics finished a week later.

4th October 2004. 2 weeks 6 days old

Samuel is now up to just over 7 lbs in weight and is now 51.5cms long and his head is 35.5cms. At birth he was 6lb 4oz, 50cms and HC 33.5. Discharge weight was 5lb 9oz. His jaundice is considerably better although the whites of his eyes still have a yellow tinge and his face does too but the rest of him is now a normal colour. He has had his first 2 nights of being restless.. which is a nice way to put it lol. He would spend up to 4 hours not wanting to settle and crying, feeding wanting to be held upright. Quite wearying when all you really want to do is sleep.

These two pictures below are my favourites.. one is Annabelle and the other is Samuel, both being cuddled the same way. they say a picture speaks a thousand words, these ones speak words you can't count. It took us from July 2002 to January 2004 to conceive Samuel and he is well worth the wait.

Thursday October 7 2004 3 weeks 2 days. We took Samuel for his weekly weigh today at the Child Health Clinic. To my stunned amazement he has gained a pound in weight so he now weighs 8lb 6.5ozs. That would explain why he feels heavier lol. His sticky eye has all cleared up and his nappy rash has gone too. He still has restless awake periods between two feeds a day. Yesterday he made it two consecutive feeds so he was awake from 10am to early evening then for another 2 hours from 10pm to midnight, at least then he slept for 5 hours had a short feed then another 4 hours sleep so I could catch up a bit. It was rather sad today going through the washing and his clothes and having to put away all the 0000 suits and some of the 000 suits which are now to small. I still have him in disposable nappies newborn size so he can move his legs and curl them up. I found that putting a towelling cloth nappy on him made his knees too far apart and he couldn't move his legs. When he is a bit bigger I'll put him in cloth nappies.

Samuel is now growing like a weed lol. He is now one month old. He is able to hold his head up when he is held upright facing you. We took Samuel to his first wedding last Saturday (October 9). After the wedding was over we took him up to the cemetery and put fresh flowers down for Annabelle, my mum. Tash also put fresh flowers down for her 'Special nanny and poppy', my mother-in-law's parents and her sister.

Samuel has the hormone rash on his face and neck etc typical of babies his age. Samuel has grown into his hairline. It was down to his eyebrows when he was born but he would now be classed as having a receding hairline with bare patches typical of a thoughtful person lol. He has grown considerably in length. We had a family meal at my Dad's place with all the cousins/nephews/nieces etc and Samuel coped very well with all the extra cuddles. After 5 hours though he was well and truly ready for sleep and after we got home and he had his late night feed he slept for 5 hours then 4 hours.

October 9 2004. Samuels first visit to his sister Annabelle and Nanny de Vries

	This was mother's day 2004 and is to compare with the one below, same tree and same people lol. Autumn.
	Samuel with me and Tash on October 9th. Springtime, although the blossom can't be seen very clearly in this pic.
	Oct 9th 2004, Samuels first major outing. The wedding of my Dad's step-brother. You can just see my dad sitting next to me. From left to right Dad, Robert, me with Samuel, Stephanie (My niece who is 5 days younger than Tash ), Tash, Anthony (Standing next to me - my nephew). The wedding group.. Christopher, Katie, Abbi, Annie (brides grand-children), Joanne, the Bishop of the Mormon church in Hobart, Harmon (my step-uncle).

Tuesday 19th October Samuels age 5 weeks. Had a bad dose of mastitis. I was hoping it would ease off but as the day went by I figured I had better see a Dr. I was going to wait til Robert had finished installing an alarm at 6:30 meaning he would be home by around 7:30pm so we would go to the after hours medical centre. However by 5pm I was a wreck. In tears and pounding headache and temp going up quickly. It was up to 37.7 cel. Robert came home between jobs and when he saw how bad I was he phoned and cancelled his install for 6:30pm and phoned my local Dr's. They couldn't fit me in so he called my OB. The receptionist said to go in to the labour ward and the Dr would meet me up there. So I struggled into clothes and we made it to the hospital. One of the midwives from my previous visits was my carer and she led me to the breastfeeding clinic area and checked and yep I did have mastitis. (This I already knew ) She said one of the Drs from the practise would be in but my Dr was unavailable. Samuel woke for a feed so he had the good side while an ice pack was placed on the bad side. My Dr did appear and it was good to have him instead of another Dr as he already knew my past history with mastitis. He prescribed Flopen and asprin. The midwife then suggested we try a heat pack, massage and an electric pump to remove the lump. Well it sort of worked. Samuel then fed some more but from the bad side this time. We weighed him while we there and since Thursday he had gone up from 9lb 3 to 9lb 12 .. not bad for 5 days. The midwife noticed after feeding that I had a blister on the nipple and after consulting with a lactation nurse they concluded it was due to a blocked duct from the epithelial tissue growing over the duct and blocking it. Suggested and best treatment is one- burst the blister with a sterile needle and gently lift the piece of tissue off to clear the duct.. 2- when showering rub with a rough washcloth to prevent further growth over the ducts.

Sunday 24th October. Mastitis is cleared up.. I think. Still sore but at least Samuel is feeding routinely and clearing each side. I can't add any updated pics for now coz the camera is still in being repaired. Hopefully we will get it back this week.

6wks 2 days. October 28th 2004. Samuel's 2nd 6 week check today. Yesterday he had his medical check up with the paediatrician. Samuel has a small umbilical hernia which apparently should heal itself over. Tash had one which needed surgery around age 18 mths so hopefully Samuels will be ok. He also ha a small cyst in his mouth just behind the middle of his bottom gum. Nic had one which resolved itself the day before his surgery at 6 mths age. Once again Samuels is not so bad and should be ok without surgery. Other than that his jaundice is still there but of no concern to either the paediatrician or the child health nurse. He is growing well and now over 10.5 lbs.

7 weeks today November 2 2004. Samuel can now squeal with joy, coo and smile lots. He is so adorable and we all love him so much. We got out the photo albums of Tash and Nic as babies and he looks so much like Tash the photos are hard to tell who is who apart from the fact Tash had bright red hair.

mummy and Samuel at 6 wks
Mummy and samuel at Poppy's place on poppy's birthday October 8th.	Samuel and Steve. A family friend. 7 weeks and 1 day today.

Tash and Samuel.

Samuel and his cousin Ailsa.

Samuels head is the same shape as his Daddy's	7.5 wks old with Mummy
Mummy and Samuel asleep in bed with Alfie (cat ) and Patches (Tash's dog)	Samuel kicking his clown mobile to make it move
Daddy and Samuel. 7.5 wks	Samuel smiling. 7 weeks old. He smiles a lot but it is hard to get a moment on the camera.
Snack time while Mummy reads the mail	Samuel's hair is a light brown. 7.5 wks old

Friend of ours.. Mossman with Samuel.

Samuel in his car capsule ready for a trip out.

Could not resist adding these pics from Sunday November 7th .. Samuel is 7 wks 5 days old.

What's that down there???	Hey!! I'm airborne!!!!!
giggly bub	Happy baby
This is MY daddy	Getting ready for the great lift off

Nearly there ....

Hey look at me looking around !!! And only 7 wks old !!

8 weeks old and first night in his cot. We found that Samuel was waking more at night because he would throw his arms out and hit the side of the bassinette and wake up. Once he was asleep in the cot he slept 7 hours. Today (November 10 2004) Samuel went to his first funeral so he has now been to a wedding and a funeral. It is our 14th Wedding Anniversary today.

November 26. Age 10 weeks 3 days. Samuel is still sleeping through the night often for 9 hours at a time. he usually has 2 hourly feeds during the day though to make up for it. He loves playing with his mobiles and his musical toys. He has a dancing singing Elmo next to his change mat that he loves to watch while I change his nappy. If he is crying he soon stops so he can hear Elmo lol. I took a few pictures of him during the last week and can't decide which ones to include so I am putting all 8 of them here lol.

Loves his Elmo	Little Fatty
My Mowhawk look.	Trying to grab Elmo
Robert and Samuel after an evening walk.	So snug as a bug.
Still sound asleep with mummy.	Lita our neighbour with Samuel and Patches trying to get a cuddle too.

December 14 2004. Age 3 months old today. Samuel has quite a lovely giggle now and is quite ticklish. He can grab the toys on his mobile and get them to his mouth. Anything he grabs hold of goes straight to his mouth lol. He dribbles a lot too now. Samuels average nights sleep is 8 hrs with a few 10 hr sleeps. One night last week he slept nearly 11 hours and woke with a dry nappy. He was so happy and smiley when he did wake up. He never wakes grizzly. He has now been in the Jolly Jumper a few times and loves it. If you are holding him and he is semi reclining and then decides he wants to sit up he will strain himself forward until he sits upright. If he sees someone he wants to go to he will lean in that direction and hope you pass him on.

Some of his favourite toys are now the musical 40cm high Christmas tree on the corner of the dining table, his teddies from overseas, watching the animals (4 cats, 2 dogs and 1 duck). For a 3 month old he can now count as his firsts.. a wedding, a funeral, a birthday party, a Christmas party and a thunder storm (Sunday Dec 12th) and his first Christmas carols Service at Church.. (I cried from half way thru when Away in a Manger reminded me of Annabelle not being here but being one of "Bless all the dear children in thy tender care").

Samuel surrounded by some of his bears, 13 weeks 3 days.
Samuel trying to sit up on the couch.
My best friend Rose with Samuel when he was abut 6 wks old.

Friday December 17th. I can now add some more firsts. Samuel has attended his first school assembly as Nicholas had his grade 6 graduation leavers assembly yesterday. He is also off on his first long trip in a car tomorrow when we go up to Launceston to visit Rose. 220km from Hobart to Launceston.

check back for more updates.

Weight/growth chart (Metric measurements are the more accurate, imperial is closest figure by charts)

judy@webbed.com.au

© Mills Family 2005