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Day 3 & 4: Dad’s Turn and the Scary Part, followed by a little Sojourn.

Saturday, since I was at work all day Friday and Kate had to fend for herself, Saturday was my turn at learning how to put Sean in his new routine.

It actually wasn’t too hard and he does settle down nicely for his sleeps. even more surprising is the morning, we wake a little later than usual for the schedule at 10 to 7. I wander into the little guys room to wake him, expecting the usual little grumpy bum, but he opens his eyes and gives me the biggest smile.

My heart melts.

we go through the process and look at what the day will bring, 10 am and we are going in for a check up.

Here is the scary part, 2 days in, upped feeding with 100ml comp feeds to bring his weight up, 2 servings of solids each day. What happens?

200 grams…. down.

How? why? what have we done wrong?

Admittedly he has done two absolutely massive shits after his first day, but to loose that much weight.

New plan, 100ml comp feeds moves up to each feed rather then the ones after midday. The formula should help him build back up, most bottle fed babies do tend to bulk up more, Sean has been on pure breast for the last 3 months and only a 100ml top up before his last sleep. We will do what we must to get him in shape.

Now, don’t get me wrong, he’s a healthy little chap, but the little part seems to be the concern.

The rest of Saturday goes well, he eats his pumpkin, potato and zucchini like a champ, cereal and fruit goes down too. Sleep overnight is an eventless joy, not even a dummy.

Sunday… wake at 6:15 am feed, play, have breakfast, put him down for 8am…. and the struggle starts. Apparently the Fourth day at Tressillian is a day that most kids slide back. Sean lives up to it. Up around 9:30, get through an early rise and get him back on schedule with a 10am feed, solids included that he eats with gusto. 12pm down, not happy jan, lets us eat lunch but fights the sleep the whole way after 50mins down.

This continues for the rest of the day, we are both tired, a visit from the family of Kate’s sis, hubby and niece, put him down for 4, struggle town again. up at 6pm for feed, solids and we have to try and get him settled for a night out, otherwise no dinner for us.

8 pm rolls around, after a bath we get him settled and head out looking forward to a nice meal, our first sans Sean since his birth.

Dinner does not go as planned, we wanted to try a new Brazilian BBQ place in Beverly Hills, but they close at 9pm on a Sunday, so we decide to go to an old favourite, the D to D cafe. Sangria is ordered… Nice, Steaks are ordered…cooked to perfection and tasty as, dessert is orded… shouldn’t have.

After 4 days of hospital food, dinner is great, but we head back to be in the doors b 9:50 pm, nt much of a night out, but we are both so tired.

Evening report, 50mins then in goes the dummy, he was asleep when we got in and has just gotten up at 11 for his last feed.

Tomorrow I leave Tresillian, Kate is staying an extra day due to the weight concern. We shall see what his result is tomorrow. I’m back at work and on call so I can’t return to the hospital. let’s hope for good news.

Day 2 – Off to Work.

Today we wake at 6:30 am, I’m normally out of bed just before 7 am, but I had to get to work from a strange location and the new routine involves and early rise feed.

Kate jumps in the shower while I’m still here and I play with a grumpy little bugger, he did sleep through the night, which is not unusual for Sean.

I walk to Campsie train station to catch a ride into work, bit of a longer walk then I expected and Campsie is not an overly attractive area, but I get to the station in time for a 7:39 train and arrive into work at 8:10, not a bad trip, a 7:44 from home gets me in for 8:30.

So today is all about Kate following the plan with the help of the nurses, and an update at 10:30 tells me things are going well.
I struggle through the day at work wondering how Kate is coping but a few more calls assures me everything is working out.

I ditch the office early and get the train back to Campsie, cold, wet miserable Sydney weather is a great end to the week. Missing out on a night of fair well drinks is also a downer to the trip in, but Sean is my main priority.

I get back to Tresillian to find Kate relaxing on the bed and Sean asleep in his cot next to our room. All as it should be.

We get him up, have dinner, a bath and a bit of a play. Facetime with Brenma and Grumps down in Tassie for a bit of a surprise then off for a another sleep at 8:30.
I watch as Kate goes through the process, and it works after two visits for a pat and settle, our little man falls asleep…. for 45mins, we rinse and repeat but this time he gets the dummy.

The story continues

Day 1: Tresillian – A Family Care Centre, here we have come to find out why our little man cannot sleep, or will not as the case may be.

We have arrived here for check in at 9 am, parking isn’t the easiest but the whole area around the facility is free unmetered parking. The actual facility sits at the back of Canterbury Public Hospital and is an easy drive to get to from home. We have decided that I will stay for the entire duration apart from tomorrow when I will go to work for the day and return at night. Other wise it’s full days here trying to get Sean sorted.

First part of admission Sean is taken off by one of the nurses and weighed, measured and overall looked at, we go and do a little tour of the quite nice and fully stocked facility. our own private room with en-suite and separate sleep room for Sean, that isn’t used on the first night he is in a nursery where he will under go monitoring and settling by the staff. Night one is a night off for us.

Kate has an interview with admissions, going over family history, basic questions on expectations, daily routine and a bit of a psych evaluation, you know, post natal depression stuff.

We have determined that his sleep is an issue and a routine is sorted, but something that I have been thinking about for a while, and has been flagged by the paediatrician is that he is underweight, not a lot, but he should be a bit heavier then what he is, probably only about 500gm extra.

A change in eating habits is in order, breast feeding is still a go, add extra bottle feeds after midday and increase his solids, pear, apple, pumpkin has already been tested, rice cereal not his favourite, but mixed with some fruit he will eat it.

It’s not easy having to let him go off and be put down to sleep, especially as he fights it so much, and hearing him cry and not doing anything is difficult. Kate really struggles to let him go, but that’s why I’m here too, support for her and learning for myself.

First sleep, no dummy and he goes down pretty easily, we wonder who’s kid this is.

Second sleep, he’s back to his normal self and fighting the sleep waking up every 5 mins or so, glad we’re not insane and he is having issues for others.

Third sleep and tricks are back on again.

It’s now 6 O’clock and we have dinner in half an hour, Sean will be up soon for a feed.

Let’s see how the rest of the night goes.