Introducing...

[lethargic_man]

As those who follow me on Facebook already know, aviva_m and I were expecting our first child in late November. Well, that was the theory; in practice the little scamp couldn't wait to meet his parents from the outside, and was born seven weeks and one day early, 49cm in length and 1.88kg in weight (that's 4lb 2oz in old money, which he's never going to get his head around).

So may we proudly present individual 2913 on my family tree:

Whilst it's traditional not to announce a name before the circumcision, since in this case that's not going to be for up to eight weeks, we're letting people know his secular name now, which is...

...Raphael (plus a middle name that we'll decide upon at some point before the registry office in the hospital reopens on Monday morning). This will not be his Hebrew name; you'll have to wait to learn this.

I should point out, too, that given that he's called Raphael and his living ancestors include Michael and Gabriela, that we have no intention of having another one and calling him Uriel. :o)

Mother and baby are both healthy; father has developed a rotten cold. ;^b

Comments

[pseudomonas]

Mazal tov! And looking forward to hearing that little Rafi is home with you soon.

[angelofthenorth]

Congratulations! Mazel Tov

[ewt]

Mazel tov!

[green_knight]

Welcome to the world, Rafi!

[iddewes]

Mazel tov again and glad mother and baby are doing well. Hope you feel better soon too.

[doseybat]

Big congratulations!

[liv]

Welcome to the world, Raphael! I was so pleased to see this post when I was travelling and anxious about the news that he would be premature. And I hope you find a great deal of joy amongst the exhaustion of parenting a newborn.

[lethargic_man]

The doctors were worried his lungs wouldn't be mature enough when he was born, so they gave aviva_m medication to stop her from going into labour, and cortisone to accelerate the deposition of surfactant in the air sacs of his lungs, and when he was born he was able to breathe without an oxygen mask, just with a little caffeine to stimulate him into breathing.

At the start he was in a closed incubator, but he can now regulate his own temperature, so the incubator is now open and he is wearing clothing.

After a few days, his sucking reflex was developed enough for him to start drinking milk (plus supplement for premature babies) from a bottle, but he can't yet get through an entire bottle, so is also still being fed through a tube through the nose.

Today I discovered his grasping reflex had developed; that wasn't there at the start.

So all is well and good with him and his development.

And lastly, atm it's not exhausting; as aviva_m pointed out, it's more like being an uncle and aunt: We go visit the baby, do some cuddling (or at least she does; I can't, because of my cold), change a nappy or two, then give him back to the people who look after him around the clock. Because aviva_m is still in the hospital, I'm not even yet being woken up by her pumping milk in the middle of the night.

Though of course, all that will change when he comes home.

[khiemtran]

Wow! Congratulations!