Daniel update

I heard an interesting story yesterday...



My sister-in-law, who is pregnant now was at the hospital on Monday. She met a stranger there who started talking to her about a small premature baby boy, how she cried when she first read his story and saw his first pics, how she and her family prayed for him... then she mentioned that his name is Daniel... Candice just smiled and told her that Daniel is a family member and that she knows all about the birth.. :-)
The lady was so shocked and happy to hear that and at the same time wanted to know how Daniel was doing... hence this new update...



Firstly, I want to thank everyone out there who has been reading my blog since Daniel's amazing entry into this world, thank you for all your well wishes, the phone calls, the emails, thank you for your support and prayers... we have had an overwhelming repsonse thus far and we are glad that there are people like you out there who cares. Thank you so much.



Daniel has really been a blessing to us, he is doing so well. He was 7 months old on Sunday (actual age is 5 months) and he weighs 8kg. He is a very friendly, healthy little boy and very energetic.. (besides a cold that just wont go away).. We had him at the pediatrician yesterday and he was super impressed with Daniel's progress.



I do spend quite a bit of time with Daniel.. recording him and taking pics.. when I'm not over working myself, yes, full time photography can become quite hectic at times.. but I do make time for my boy.. and I don't mind sitting up with him at night....
Daniel started to talk on Friday saying "Dadda"!!! both me and Chantal was very impressed with our boy.. see the video clip.. i'm definitely a proud dad :-)




Please do keep us in your prayers as we're looking fwd to Daniel achieving his next milestones... crawling, walking, singing, taking photos... oops, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.. :-))
have a pleasant day further..

Francois Willemburg
Photographer
francois@photofuzion.co.za
www.photofuzion.co.za
0736005135

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel Day 2

Here is a few more pics of our little boy, Daniel.
He is doing fine in ICU and the doctors are very happy with his progress.

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I can think more clearly and recap on the events that happened when Chantal suddenly went into labour.

I arrived early at hospital Friday morning, 06/02/09 at 07:02am to check if she was fine. She had some pains but asked me not rub as it was painful.
The doctor arrived at 08:15am and went through the records of what happened the previous night and found that she's doing well and that it wont be necessary to do the Caesar as yet... It was then decided that it would be safer to keep baby inside mommy for as long as possible so that his lungs can be further developed.

Just before doctor was about to leave, she asked Chantal again if she is ok and Chantal mentioned that she had some backpains and a feeling of heaviness..
At 08:23am, doctor decided to do a speculum test and I was asked to move out of the way... (I was not impressed.......)
I moved to the other side of the room with my laptop and continued writing on my blog and the curtains were closed.

Five seconds later, the assisting nurse opened the curtains and ran out of the room and Chantal was screaming.....I was dumbstruck...
The same test was performed the day before and there was no running and screaming involved!
I ran over to her side to hold her hand and I was shocked by what I saw..... Daniel's feet was already out!!! Can you imagine what went through my mind!!!!
The next thing I knew, I was holding Chantal down and keeping her legs open.. it was just the doctor and I in the room.. the other nurse alerted the ICU staff of the emergency... very clever of her I thought afterwards..

Chantal was in so much pain and I actually felt sorry for her as this was not what we had planned for all these months.
From day 1 a caesar was planned with an epidural for the pain.... now she finds herself having natural birth with no epidural and no one was prepared for it!!! unbelievable drama I tell you...!!

Chantal was struggling to push and baby's head was stuck.. for at least 2 minutes..... to me Daniel was completely lifeless and I thought that we had lost him already.... I felt extremely sad at the time but had to be strong for Chantal.. I begged her to push so that doctor could free his head (normally his head should come out first!!!).
I tried to keep Chantal down so that she could not see that he was not moving, because I knew she would panic.
Baby was finally out at 08:30am but there was no movement......................... then he opened his mouth and I was so relieved!! Doctor gave him a few pats on the bum but he didn't cry.. he's to strong to cry for something like that ;-))
The cord was cut (after 3 attempts) and baby was immediately rushed away with the Neonatal ICU team. Chantal didn't get a chance to see him and there was no chance to take any pics either... this happened so quickly that even the doctor didn't have time to change.. she delivered Daniel wearing her white pants and green top... My words just cant explain to you the adrenalin rush that we had in these few minutes....

After a while I had to drink some water and needed to get some fresh air... started to feel a bit faintish for a moment.. :-))
Chantal's first question was... "Is he alive??" and everyone said out loud "YES"! We were both relieved and happy that it was all over.
Her placenta was then removed and she had a few internal stitches. Later, Dr. R Dippenaar from ICU came over and said that Daniel has been stabilized and was doing well...

Mommy is producing enough milk to feed Daniel and he is sleeping at the moment....





Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Daniel's first pics

Hi all..
Just visited Daniel in ICU and returned with a few pics...
He is a healthy boy, weighing in at 1.69kg,he is currently on a machine that helps him with his breathing.. he had a bit of a rough start to life due to the extremely sudden and unprepared delivery, (see post below for details) but both mommy and baby is doing fine... baby is searching for his dummy already :-))

will keep you guys posted with new developments and new pics..






Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135