Daniel at 2months

Daniel has been growing very well and he is a healthy young man.. i mean baby boy.. (can't wait for when he's all grown up)

He is 2 months old now and his delivery day was today! (04-04-09).. this would have been very close to my birthday :-)
I don't think that Chantal would have been able to handle all the pain that she had until now!! We are so glad that things happened the way it did and we are very grateful for having our cute precious little angel with us. I love this boy so much and only want what would be best for him... I guess that's how all parents think but I have big expectations for our son and I will surely be there every step of the way to make sure that he achieve his goals... (or will that be my goals???) I guess not, but I will definitely guide our boy in the right direction. My biggest aim will probably be to make sure that he get exposed to the latest high-tech gadgets and technology from an early age... these are things that really interest me and I think it will be very advantageous in the future.. who knows where technology will lead us to in the next 15 years...??? ask Daniel a bit later on, i'm sure he will look up from his touch screen notebook and give an answer that will amaze you... :-))

I wonder if he will ever be as passionate about photography like I am??? I guess I will just have to influence him in his early years.. :-))
Can you imagine a 7 year old at a wedding being the second shooter, armed with the latest Canon camera, shooting away and charming the ladies at the same time...?? now this will be history in the making I tell you... there's always a first for everything.. :-))



Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
0736005135

Daniel's last day in NICU...

It's been a while since I last posted some pics of Daniel... have been very busy lately (work and Daniel)... going to bed at 04:30am and getting up for work at 07:30am ain't the easiest thing to do... :-(

Here is some pics of Daniel just before he was released from hospital, 4 weeks ago...
Since then he has gone for an eye test, with good results, he has been to his first paediatrician visit, everything there went ok and he has been picking up weight at a good pace. His last recorded weight was 2.84kg at 6 weeks.. he should be close to 3kg's now... he will go for his next weigh-in next week.

Everything has been running smoothly thus far.. both me and Chantal are very happy about this. Daniel is the sweetest baby boy ever!! of coz he has a few up and downs, but nothing to complain about. We love our boy to bits and enjoy seeing him grow day by day... he sure is going to be one fine handsome teenager... but for now we are just happy with him still being our little baby.

Francois Willemburg
Freelance photographer
francois4photos@gmail.com
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 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 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 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