Thursday 19 March 2015

The First Three Weeks




When our beautiful baby boy was handed to us three weeks ago, we had no idea what was in store for us.  He looked healthy and happy and as we counted his fingers and toes, wondered at how tiny he was and enjoyed those precious first moments, we had no idea it would be days before we could take him home and really start life as a family of five.

Our little Pretzel was born with a rare virus, which meant his first days were punctuated with tests and scans to try and find out more.  Thankfully many things which we find painful didn't seem to trouble the little guy who managed to frequently fall asleep during blood tests.  We were well looked after in the Special Care Baby Unit and once he had a diagnosis we could start all the relevant medicines.

After nearly three weeks, our baby was finally able to come home, and real life could start.  Things are not over and we were sent home with lots of medication and follow up appointments but our family is together, and on Monday night we all slept under the same roof.  We are so thankful to everyone who visited, messaged us, sent gifts, prayed for us and thought of us.  

Whilst there was plenty that wasn't positive about those first few weeks, the things I want to remember are those special moments, some completely ordinary, some more amazing because of the circumstances.



The first time I held my third born son.
The slow mornings when we were 'rooming in' and Pretzel and I snoozed together on the bed.
When he pulled out his NG tube for the 4th day in a row and it was agreed that he didn't really need it anymore.
When we were allowed to take him outside, even though it was only the little courtyard in the hospital, and show him the sky, the clouds and the birds.
When our trio of brothers first met.
When we got the all clear to breastfeed after 8 days of cup feeds - and when I finally felt we were back on track with feeding and he had put on weight.
Proudly showing off our beautiful son to everyone that came to visit.
When on day 10, we named our newest baby - Finn.
The sleepy night feeds.
When he fell asleep on my chest and I didn't put him down.
When his final cannula came out.
Bringing our baby home.

As I write this, I have a three week old baby curled up on my chest, I am sat on my sofa with the bloke and Dylan and Archie are sleeping upstairs.  Our family is together, at home and starting to adapt to life as a 5.  

These photos are from these first precious weeks, most are pretty grainy as we spent a lot of time in a windowless room and nearly all are from my phone, but these are the things I want to remember.

Two hours post birth
His first nappy

My family
Staring at Daddy
Early days in SCBU - I look exhausted!


Those dark eyes


Taking in fresh air for the first time
Picnic in the hospital grounds

All my babies at home (and learning how to get anything done with three!)
Back to normality and the nursery run
All three of my babies asleep


25 comments:

  1. Louise Holdstock19 March 2015 at 21:33

    So gorgeous and pleased to hear Finn is doing better. Such a lovely little family you have :-) xxx

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  2. Congratulations. He is adorable and you look amazing! So pleased you are all home and under one roof again x

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  3. He is absolutely beautiful, as are you. I LOVE the photo at the end, you look so happy. I am so sorry you had such a rough start but how wonderful that your post focuses on the positive. Beautiful x x x

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  4. Oh Bex, I am so glad you are now all at home together. The photos are gorgeous and he looks so tiny, tiny and perfect x

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  5. Ahhh Bex this is so beautifully written and I am so glad you are home all together. Hope that everything with pretzel is ok from here on out. Lovely photos. Your family is beautiful!

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  6. This is such a lovely post Bex and I'm so pleased you are all home together now and that you can find the positives in your extended hospital stay. Finn (I keep wanting to type Pretzel!) is a beautiful boy and I love the final photo of the four of you xxx

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  7. Bex your photos are beautiful!! So so glad to hear Finn is home and your family is complete xxx

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  8. Gorgeous photos, so glad he is ok now! Well done for keeping up with the cup feeding until you could feed yourself again.. we tried cup feeding with Sienna but I hated it! Xx

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  9. A lovely way to capture those special memories of the first few days xx

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  10. So glad you are all home together now and that Finn is doing so well! He's absolutely beautiful Bex. Much love and hope to see you all soon! xx

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  11. Unbelievable - great minds think alike again... Harry has that grey, white and mustard M&P blanket! Love it! Baby Pretzel is beautiful, well done you! Glad all is going well and he's on the mend now :-) x

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  12. You look absolutely gorgeous in all of these photos! I am so happy that you are all together now :-) Hope you are able to get some relaxing in and enjoy this precious time with your 3 little boys! :-)

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  13. Beautiful, beautiful pictures! Congratulations. What an amazing family of five. So happy that you're hope xx

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  14. Congratulations - Finn is gorgeous and so glad that you are now home and enjoying life as a family of five.

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  15. Lovely post - Congratulations once again & I'm so pleased you're all home together finally. Beautiful photos x

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  16. Such a beautiful post Bex, I'm so glad you are all home and he is such a beautiful baby! I could look at photos of him all day, congratuations on your family of five xxx

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  17. I am so happy the 5 of you are all home together now. People don't understand just how hard it is having a baby in SCBU but you have done amazingly Bex and Finn is absolutely gorgeous! Looks so much like Dylan and Archie already xxx

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  18. He's adorable. And you look amazing. Congratulations lovely x

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  19. Aww what beautiful photos, your whole family is gorgeous. Glad you're home now with the rest of your boys and fingers crossed for the future xx

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  20. You look lovely congratulations on your newest edition he's beautiful x

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  21. He's just delicious and I'm in awe of how good you look - what are you, superwoman?! I'm so glad that you're home with your boys now. x

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  22. Such beautiful photos Bex and I am so glad that Finn is well enough to have come home. I hope you are enjoying this precious time together and are ask getting some rest. I would love to meet him soon. x

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  23. Congratulations Bex, and I'm so glad Finnis on the mend- what a cutie! Some lovely photos of him and your other boys (and you look fab by the way!). I feel for you as my S was back in hospital at 2 weeks old for 10 days, also with a viral infection, which we never really found out the cause. It's horrible feeling so helpless when they're so tiny x

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  24. He is so gorgeous - so glad you guys are all home and little Finn is on the mend xxx He is such a tot! My boy is 13 weeks now and pretty much looks like he could eat your one… lol xxx

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  25. Lovely family, and so glad he's better. Love the nappies as well ;) always so fun to follow your family :)

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