Homeward Bound!

Yes, that's right folks, at midday on Saturday December 20th, little John took his first big steps out into the wide world! We were told on Friday afternoon that they expected him to be discharged the next day (much to our surprise....to say the least!). We spent the night at the hospital in their "nesting room", which basically gave us a test-run on looking after little John, while an experienced professional is only 300 paces away. Both Mum and Son did great, although I think little John is the only person who got some sleep that night!

We have set up camp at Nana West's house for the Holidays, and Grandma and Grandad Partridge will be meeting their first grandson in a couple of days. I think it's pretty safe to say that we're going to have a good time this Christmas! :)

Now for the Doctor's orders:

We will need to be extra-careful with Little John, as his immune system is not as strong as that of a full-term baby, and we are now in prime Germ season! Visitors can expect to be greeted at the door with a rigorous antibacterial cleansing routine, as even the littlest germs can make him pretty sick right now. He can't be near other kids or animals for a little while either. I hope you all understand, and we appreciate your patience and cooperation while little John builds up his antibodies!

Finally, once again, we want to give you all a HUGE thank you for the kinds words and support you have given us through this experience. We are very lucky to have you all in our lives, and we can't wait for you to meet our little lad!! :)

Happy Holidays!

Adam, Vicki & Little John

Here's to BIG John!

That's right, today little John finally broke the 4lb threshold and knows weighs in at a whopping 4lbs and 0.2 ounces! Wooooooop! He is taking some decent-sized feedings now so we should hopefully see the little fella pork up over the next few weeks! All other vitals are looking great, so we just need him to keep on eating and we'll be good to go!

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

Yup, little John has been kicking it on the outside world for 7 whole days now! To celebrate we invited over a large fluffy bear for his entertainment. He loved it.

All is going well and John is now weighing in at a colossal 3lbs 14 ounces! His Dad also gained the same amount of weight after eating "road food" for the past two days. Adam took a trip back to Asheville to collect some clothes, presents and baby things so that we can set up camp here in Macon for Christmas. Hopefully, by then we should have a better idea of when little John will be ready to head home, but for the moment we'll keep on taking each day as it comes.

In other news, the nurses are letting us change nappies/diapers (yes, i am fluent in both British and American) which i never really thought would be a particularly enjoyable activity, but now i'm a Dad, I dig it!

More to follow soon!

Love Adam, Vicki & Little John

Old McDonald had a house...

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past two days, we've been playing with our son :)

Anyway, Little John is still doing great and is showing steady progress each day. His mum is now moving with relative ease and got to spend the morning cuddling with him "kangaroo style". Needless to say, little John loved it! The nurses continue to tell us how well he is doing so, knock on wood, he'll keep up the good work and he'll be back at home watching teletubbies with is Dad before too long!

I know we've been asked a few times about timelines, and it's still really hard to say exactly when he'll be ready to come home. It could potentially take a month or so, but many babies can be discharged around 36 weeks if they are able to feed well, maintain their own body temperature and gain some good weight! While we would love to have the little guy with us ASAP, we know that he's in great hands right now and we certainly don't want to rush things.

Now, why the strange title for this post? Well, Vicki was discharged from the hospital today (woo hoo!) and so we have moved into the Ronald McDonald House next door. This does not mean we have set up camp in fast food restaurant, but rather we are eligible to stay in a charity-funded facility that helps parents in our situation who need to be close to the hospital. This place is pretty amazing and Vicki FINALLY has somewhere to relax and recover without people knocking on the door with paperwork and sharp implements. The only downside is that we're not allowed to drink beer here... *sigh*

We'll get another picture up soon enough. That's all for now!

Thanks,

Adam, Vicki and Little John

The Graduate

That's right, last night little John graduated from Intensive Care to level II care! Basically, that's a really good thing, it means he is in great shape and doesn't need such a hige level of attention. In fact, our doctor has described his progress as incredible...what more do you expect from a Partridge/West combo?

Here's a picture of the little lad. The dummy/pacifier should help to put things in scale! He is a "wee one" but i'm sure it won't be long before he is big enough and strong enough to terrorize peartree manor....poor flexford! Vicki finally got to meet him today and she is feeling much much better. He has even started feeding on her milk so we're running a production line here to get it from vicki's hospital bed and over to the nursery. It'll be a while before he can feed directly, but this is still a huge step in the right direction.

That's all for now, we'll keep you posted!

Goodbye Wolfgang...and hello John!

Well, where do i start?! :)

I guess I'll just dive straight in and tell you that at 3.30am on December 4th Vicki gave birth to 3lbs 9oz John Benjamin Partridge. After a day of zero drama, little John decided at 11pm that he still REALLY wanted to get thing rolling asap. True to form, Vicki held strong as things went from plan A to Plan F in a matter of minutes. Honestly, I have no idea what my wife is made of, because she is the most unbelievably strong person I have ever known. As a result of her phenomenal resolve, we now have a beautiful baby boy who looks just like his mummy.

John is still 7 weeks and a few days early but he is doing EXTREMELY well (knock on wood). He is breathing without assistance and the doctors are really pleased with everything they are seeing. I have taken a few pictures of the new Partridge, but i have no way to get them onto my laptop right now! Bear with me and i'll get some up asap, in the meantime just imagine the most incredible baby you've ever seen...and you'll be close ( i might be a little biased though!)

As for Vicki, she definitely took a few knocks during the labor so she has been resting up today. It is now 4pm our time and she is already pretty much back to her old self (eg. telling adam that he's doing things incorrectly and/or in the wrong order). ;-)

We had planned to get some sleep today, but we are constantly being bombarded by knocks on the door from hospital staff armed with a variety of different forms and/or sharp implements. Not that we really mind, they are doing an exceptional job of taking care of Vicki and John and I have nothing but great things to say about the staff here.

We will keep you posted on developments and I'll get some pictures up here tomorrow at the latest!

Cheers,

Adam, Vicki and little John

Rock me Amadeus!

Everything is going much better today. Vicki's contractions have slowed up considerably both in regularity and severity, and everyone was finally able to get a good night's sleep. Wolfgang is still doing great and I think we've been able to convince the little lad to stay put for at least another couple of days. However, our doctor has said that the next time Vicki goes into Labor, they will not try to stop it and they will deliver the baby. We're feeling pretty good now that 48 hours has passed and the steroids have done their thing, however we still want Wolfgang to stay in there for as long as possible.

Again, we just want to thank you all for the kind words, messages, emails etc and I apologize if I don't respond to them all, but please know that we are reading them and really appreciate the support.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to our neighbours (aka the brucemont mafia) who have volunteered to finish off the nursery for us, while we stay down here in Georgia. We honestly cannot thank you enough, and this buys you a staggering amount of "Partridge favour credits" which can be redeemed anytime, so please don't hesitate to use them!

We will try to post every night to keep you all in the loop, but rest assured that everyone is well and good.

I hear a wolf at the door!

Hey Everyone,

Well, it looks like Wolfgang is already displaying the familiar characteristics of a Partridge, namely the innate ability to do things in the most awkward fashion known to man! We weren't expecting "the wolf" to come knocking for another 8 weeks, but he seems to have decided that he enjoyed his thanksgiving trip down to Georgia so much that he wants to be born here!

Vicki's water broke yesterday as we were preparing to make the trip back to Asheville, so we now find ourselves camped out in the L&D unit of the Medical Centre of Central Georgia. The doctors have been giving Vicki medicine to stop the labor and buy us some more time. Yesterday was tough for Vicki, as she was having regular and painful contractions throughout the night, however these have now subsided considerably and she has been able to finally get some rest today. You all know Vicki is a very resilient lass, and I am so proud of her for how she has been dealing with everything. My son and I are the luckiest men on the planet.

Wolfgang is currently 8 weeks early, so we obviously want to try and keep him in utero for as long as mother nature will allow us. We are in good hands here as they have a fantastic facility for dealing with "high-risk" births. Wolfgang received some steroids yesterday to help expidite the growth of his lungs, and he seems to be one happy camper (i'm listening to his heartbeat right now, he's doing great). Obviously, this was not quite the plan we had in mind, but both Vicki and Wolfgang are tough cookies so I know we'll pull through.

As for when we can expect him to be delivered, I honestly can't say for sure. It could be anytime between tomorrow and January 27th! We will keep you all posted as and when time allows. We both really appreciate all of the fantastic support that we have continued to receive from our friends and families from near and far. We love you all. Yes, this is a little emotionally charged, but what did you expect?! :)

More soon,

Adam, Vicki & Wolfgang