Essington Louis - the little champ!

Where do I start with the journey surrounding the arrival of our little 4 week early champion?

On Tuesday 25th August I went for my last check up with my GP - there were a few issues and she sent me for some testing at the hospital here in Karratha. When they hooked me up to the machine it was identified that i was having contractions!!!!! I was only 35 weeks and 3 days at this point so i was given medication to stop the labour progressing. The tablets sort of worked. I still had the odd contraction but not at regular intervals. I stayed on the medication and flew to Perth on the 28th August as planned. 

Once I landed it was planned that I call my specialist. I then visited him that afternoon and he said to stay on the tablets for another 24 hours and then we would see what would happen. I stopped taking the tablets on saturday night. 

Sunday morning I did not feel very well and spent alot of time sleeping. Sunday afternoon we went to Hillarys Boat Harbour for a walk. By the time we got home I was not feeling well so called the hospital expecting them to say all is okay and to just take it easy.......... but oh no they said to come in and they would see what was happening! 

We arrived at Glengarry Private Hospital at around 5 pm. I was then monitored and yes I was having more contractions. At this point i am 36 weeks pregnant! The obstetrician arrives and it is confirmed I am in labour! As I had a booked c-section planned I sent everyone running to get organised and at 6.46pm our gorgeous son was born 4 weeks early. 

When Essington was born I was able to have a very quick hug - he had some breathing difficulties so had to be rushed to the special car nursery. 
 Essington in his incubator. He needed some help with his breathing. He also has a drip in his arm for fluids. 

Tucker meeting his little brother for the first time. This was not how we had really expected them to meet. Tucker coped very very well with seeing his brother this way. Tucker also came and saw me in my room. I am so proud of the way he handled seeing two very precious people. 
Approx 12 hours after he was born I was able to go by wheel chair to meet my little boy. I had cuddles and then Tucker had a cuddle too. He was so excited. It was all quite quick because he needed to go back in the incubator. 

Out of the incubator at approx 2 days old. he still has his drip in his arm. He was too weak to suck for milk so he was fed through the nasal gastric tube. He loved to hold the tube and I really thought at times that he was going to pull it out. 

We initially spent 6 nights in hospital and then we were allowed home to our house in Perth. Unfortunately we had many trips back to hospital - for many feeding issues and for photo therapy for Jaundice. 

Tomorrow the 26th September is Essington's due date and on Sunday he will be 4 weeks old. We are still having feeding issues that we hope will be sorted very soon. He is still quite small and only at 4 weeks just over his birth weight. We are getting lots of wear out of 0000 and 00000 clothes. Thank you all for your support during my challenging pregnancy and we hope our new challenges resolve themselves soon.