Beth Much Better and Timothy Growing Fast

Beth and Tim have had a good week - Beth has recovered from the cold, only a few coughs and splutters left, and Tim didn't catch it at all, and is eating us out of house and home - well out of formula anyhow! - so he is growing well too!  Thanks to everyone that prayed concerning the cold situation, it was greatly appreciated.  Hopefully as we head into winter we won't get anything else - everying is dosing up on their vitamins!

We are all getting into a bit of a routine which is good, and things are starting to settle down.  We are now looking for the day when Tim skips a feed at night so we can get some unbroken sleep for a change!  Hopefully next week I will upload some new photos of Beth and Tim.

Beth getting over a cold or flu

Unfortunately Beth came down with a runny nose and a sneeze last week, and has been getting over it every since.  Couple of really annoying days where she was having more difficultly eating because of the blocked nose and whatever else blocking her sinuses and getting into her throat - she vomited twice as she was eating due to the nose being blocked, then food blocking he mouth/throat, so the only way for her to clear it was to vomit up - at least it also cleared out the yuck in the back of her throat as well.

But all that said, otherwise she has been going well.  We have seen the signs of some "stucky" seizures here and there, but that could simply be due to the cold/flu - she did have a few periods with a temperature.  And of course she had to pass it onto daddy who has been battling with it this last weekend.  But we are both feeling much better now!

Timothy is going and growing well - he has avoided the cold thus far, we are praying it stays that way.  Jo has also narrowly avoided the cold, she ha a couple of days with a sore throat, but we all started full on wit the garlic, vitamin C and Barley Life and she managed to avoid it.  So Jo has been mainly looking after the little man so he didn't catch anything and I have been looking after Beth as we were in it together anyhow!!!

Tim has put on heaps of weight and is still quite demanding for his bottle - so all is well thus far and we are still noticing little things he does that Bethy didn't.  We go back to see our pediatrician for both Tim and Beth next week.  We even had a night up in Sydney with Jo's mum and dad which was Tim's first long car trip and adventure - all good - he's like Beth and sleeps in the car which is GREAT!

Thanks to all the parents for their help the last few weeks, it has been greatly appreciated.  We have also been able to arrange some respite assistance for the next three weeks - 3 hours a day someone will come and help out and look after Beth.  We have also applied for some additional in home childcare assistance, but are not sure whether that will be granted - will have to wait and see.

Beth well, but lack of sleep!

All has been going as well as can be expected, even better in some ways.  Beth has had another run now of NO seizures since about a week before Timothy was born, which is just the Lord's goodness to us - one less thing to have to worry about and it makes it easier on mum looking after Beth for us while we were in the hospital.

Timothy is putting on weight - fast! - which means eating all the time - which means waking up every 3-4 hours during the night, which is leading to a lack of sleep for us all!  The good news is that although Timothy does cry when hungry, he's pretty calm otherwise - we prayed for a calm baby that would be able to get alng with Beth and not ause us too much trouble, hopefully he will continue to be like this.  When he does cry he does have a good set of lungs, but the good news is that Beth seems to be able to sleep through it, so far - the real test will come when they are sleeping in the same room together in a few months.

Beth has also gained a good amount of weight - upto 14.3Kg now.  We will have to start discussing lifts and things with DADHC as she is getting rather a heavy one to lift.  Thanks to the lack of seizures Beth has improved again somewhat and is back to her 'old' self rolling and this time talking a lot more.  We've even had some laughs lately which has been great.  She loves her new little brother, although I think she's stil coming to grips with this noisy little addition!

We have already noticed some differences between Tim and Beth in terms of the way he is gripping our finger and just other little things that we didn't really pick up on with Beth being our first.  It has caused us to revisit some of those thoughts "what would Beth have been like if..." which we had managed to keep away for a while.  It is going to be a whole different experience now with Tim for us to learn and get used to.  Hopefully we will get settled into a more stable routine soon and get some more sleep.

Thanks to all those that gave us gifts for Tim - the little man now has more clothes than he can handle!  At the rate he's growing he might not get to wear them all!  We appreciate your continued prayers.

We have been able to organise some respite to assist Jo over the coming period just while she fully recovers and settles in - looking after two is a challenge - some of our friends agree that going from one to two is a big step - even bigger than 2-3 or 3-4!  Though Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centres we have been able to access three weeks of assistance for 3 hours per day (mon-fri).  A volunteer from Interchange will come to assist in looking after Beth just to give Jo some time here and there.  We are also applying for some in home child care services, which may provide some additional assistance for a few more weeks, through http://www.nswchildcare.com.au/bwWebsite/.

Hope to get back to regular weekly updates from now!  Thanks for your patience!

Timothy Arrives!

I'm happy to report that Bethany now has a little brother, Timothy, and all has gone well!  Coming in at 8 pounds 10 ounces he is a big boy!  Mum and Bub are going good, and we thank the Lord for this new little life and all His goodness to us throughout this time.  We apprecaite everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Little Brother Nearly Here

This week has been better for Beth - less coughing and a decrease in seizures - one day we had only one seizure, which was great.  Looks like she is getting back to "normal".  Hopefully this means we can increase her ABR and looks at reducing back her meds a little bit to the pre-virus levels.  We have already reduced the mogodon a little.

But the real focus this week has been getting ready for he new little brother who should be arriving any day now!  Most things are now in place, so just some final shopping to stock up and a few other odds and ends and we are as ready as one can be for a new bub!  Stay tuned!  We continue to appreciate your prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy little one.  Praise the Lord!