Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Daniel update









Hi guys

I'm happy to report that Daniel is doing very well and he should be home with us any day now....
He now weighs a healthy 2.1kg (this may not sound like much but it is a huge improvement!) and he is breastfeeding very well.
Chantal and I are very proud of him and now anxiously awaits his home coming.
I can't wait for the last of the tubes to be removed so that I can take some proper pics of our little angel!!

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Friday, February 20, 2009

Daniel at 2 weeks

Our little boy is 2 weeks old today, and boy has his health improved, he amazes Chantal and I as well as the doctor and sisters in ICU. Chantal has attempted to breast feed this week, Tuesday proved to be successful, Daniel was suckling away and actually fell asleep in the process. He was a bit lazy to suckle on Wednesday and Thursday, the sisters explained that this is understandable as Daniel is still very young and still needs to adapt to the latching and suckling process. But I am very proud of our son, he is doing well for someone that young, kinda reminds me of myself. Daniel still receives the Vi Daylin multivitamin as well as a supplement (FM85) with his milk. He also receives a dose of caffeine each day. On Wednesday Chantal walked into ICU and saw that our angel was wearing clothes! They have switched off the incubator and Daniel was producing his own body heat. Amazing hey!!!! He weighted 1.80kg on Wednesday, by Thursday he picked up another 4 grams and weighed 1.84kg. Chantal has started changing his nappies and washing him off...not long before our angel's at home with us, I can hardly believe it!

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Monday, February 16, 2009

Daniel Day 9











Did a big photoshoot yesterday, was exciting and fun and we are more than happy with the results. Immediately after the shoot I went to hospital to see how my baby is doing. I'm very happy with his health and he is doing just fine. The drip has been removed from his naval and now he is only being fed mommy's milk.. he's big boy already!
He has now been given a daily multi vitamin, Vi Daylin.
I got to hold him for the first time last night and it felt so good!! Daniel was also ecstatic about that 'coz he was smiling at me all the time!! We have thus far made a very good connection.

I recieved a beautiful poem from Janine (sister-in-law) and would like to share it with you...
it brought tears to my eyes just writing it...!


My Daddy's Hand

Daddy, take my hand in yours and you will plainly see,
How very much I need you now to love and to care for me.
As my little hand grows, I will need you even more,
Everything I do in life, I have never done before.
Teach me to be kind and loving, sharing and forgiving,
Show me through your acts of life the pure joy of giving.
The years will pass by so quickly, and one day I wiil be grown,
I will pass what you have taught me on to children of my own.
Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart,
The Special love between a child and a daddy's heart...

Love Daniel



Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Daniel Day 8








Valentines Day

:-(
I didnt get to see my baby on this special day... had to shoot a wedding in Hermanus, was a stunning wedding but was longing to be with my baby... by the time I got home from the wedding he was in dreamland...
Chantal however, spent the day with him, bought him his first Valentines teddy and took a few pics of him, he's just so precious...

Daniel was doing very well and Chantal got to hold him for about an hour!! i was jealous but proud...

Happy Valentines Day my baby.

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Friday, February 13, 2009

Daniel Day 7





Hi Guys
So sorry that I am so late with Daniel's update today...it's extremely hectic on my side.. I'm preparing for a big wedding tomorrow in beautiful Hermanus (will be a long day...) and I was soooo busy preparing for our big production shoot on Sunday. Everything is going as scheduled and the outcome should be nothing less then expected...

A big thank you to everyone who reads my blog and for sending all the emails and txt messages, Chantal, Daniel and I appreciate your concerns in this time that we are going through...

Daniel had me worried for a while as his heartbeat raised to almost 200 beats p/min.... on average it should be 155 .. the doctors took blood samples to check for infections but found none...(relieved). The feeding pipe that was connected to his umbilical cord was removed and a new line has been placed onto his left arm. This was a bit painful for him and he cried quite a bit... then his heartbeat stopped for a while... and they had to help his breathing with some extra oxygen. He has recovered well since then. He was sleeping very peacefully when we left, but he did managed to give us a little cute smile before he dosed off again. His milk levels has increased to 14mils p/2hrs..
They also measured him now and from head to toe he is 45.6cm, that is very tiny. I will get his new weight from the nurse tomorrow.

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Daniel day 6


Daniel is smiling!!!!













Last night after work I spent some time with our baby and took a few more pics... the best one is where looks like he is smiling!!! The one where he is sleeping with my wedding ring in his hand is way to cute!! love that pic also...

The MRI scan was done and everything appears to be normal.. so happy about that.
His feed dosage has increased to 6.6 mils p/2hr and was set to increase to 9 mils p/2hr this morning. This shows that he is doing very well. As all newborn babies, Daniel has lost 100gram from his birth weight. He now weighs 1.59kg. This will change soon and he will increase his weight at a steady pace...






All these pictures of Daniel was taken in low light conditions and no flash was used.. to much flash cant be to good for his small sensitive eyes...
typical camera settings was:
manual mode
ISO 1600 - 3200
f/2.0 - f/2.8
shutter 1/60
file format: RAW

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135last

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Daniel Day 5





Teeny, tiny little toes

Small and round little nose

A precious gift from heaven above

My sweet baby that I love

We’ve longed to see you face to face

And we’ve prepared a special place

Just for you, our baby

I have always been fascinated with macro photography, see some of my stuff here... I have a lens for this, Canon 100mm f/2.8USM Macro which is now mounted on the new Canon 5DMkii (thanks to Klaus Tiedge)and I absolutely enjoy using it. Now I have a son with the tiniest hands and feet that I've ever seen and I'm in so much awe of it.. I want to capture all these small precious details and one day show him where he started in life to the the big boy he will be then...

keep watching this space for more of these images...

I'm happy to report that Mom and Daniel are doing fine. Chantal are having some pains but she is coping well... she was very emotional yesterday and I had to comfort her letting her know that I am there for both her and Daniel.. at all times.
The doctors has also increased Daniel's feed because he is doing very well. We have been told that after 10 days things will become a bit more hectic... he will get sick, infections and all sorts of stuff will happen... apparently this happens to all preemie babies... We will just pray that everything will work out for the best. Daniel is in very good care where he is now.

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Monday, February 9, 2009

Daniel Day 4





Today Chantal got to hold Daniel for the first time and the tears was rolling down her cheeks!!! She's a real softie... but it was such an incredibly beautiful experience..
He's breathing pipes has been removed and he is breathing on his own.. he forgets to breath sometimes (becoz he's still so small) but then the sensors that's attached to him will trigger the machine and help him to breath.

We also exchanged the breast pump we bought last week, the Medela mini electric... absolute rubbish I must say. We have no experience about these things whatsoever, but when Chantal used this pump for the first time last night, 02:15am to be exact, it woke up the entire household!!! The motor in this small thing is so loud that I immediately called the store this morning and demanded a refund. I was told because we opened the package they cannot do a refund... and I replied, "...why don't you add on your package.. caution: extremely loud motor inside". For the price we payed, I expected at least something better..., these pumps are supposed to be discreet, not sound like a tractor every time you use it!!! everyone else seemed to rave about how good this pump is... I guess I am not everyone else then... They replaced it at the end with a newer, quieter version, the Medela Swing Electric and we are now more then happy about our second choice and I will recommend it to any one looking for a descent quiet breast pump that works perfectly.
Because she can't breast feed Daniel yet, she will have to express milk for at least 4-6 weeks twice a day, so it was important for us to solve this issue pronto.

Daniel says hi to all his friends out there............
I posted a dedication to Chantal here...
Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Sunday, February 8, 2009

captured memory...


captured memory..., originally uploaded by francoisNZ.

Chantal at 6 months and 2 weeks...
we did this shoot at home and I played with different lighting setups to achieve this result... hope you guys like it.

Daniel Day 3











Hi All

Firstly, Daniel is doing fine, we are still waiting on doctor to do the brain scan though, so will update on that a bit later.
Chantal and I would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who prayed for us, all the emails, txt messages and phone calls. We really do appreciated all your well wishes, a big thank you to all the visitors at the hospital and for all the gifts, and Investec for sending the beautiful big bunch of flowers.
Daniel sends his love to all... :-)


Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

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