Getting bigger

Hi All,

Caden is still doing very well after his operation and the wound seems to be healing nicely. He's really becoming a very cute little person now. He's making new sounds and trying to suck on everything. That to me is the cutest, when he's hungry and he tries to latch on to anything. Yesterday I got my first hicky when I picked him up and he grabbed on to my neck. It had me in stitches. He's also becoming use to bath-time and is actually starting to enjoy it now. He'll scream blue murder while you undress him, but as soon as he's in the bath he's so calm and relaxed. From what I've heard he inherrited that from both his parents. His hair is also getting lighter and we can see a curl in them, especially the ones on the side of his head. Shame baby boy, you got your dad's nostrils and your mom's kroesie-kop, sorry! Feeds are also going much better, he even had a full 75mls for one feed today! We're so proud. He really is such a good baby, only crying when he gets changed and when he's hungry. He's also awake more often and for longer and usually uses the time to just look around and inspect his surroundings. He seems to be a very inquisitive person. I hope to be able to post some more pictures soon again. Oh, and we got our new car today, yay! We had to get a new one because baby and I won't fit into the bantam, so we got a second-hand Colt. I can't wait to drive it, but we'll have to get Caden off the gin first. The doctor said it should be in about 4 weeks. Can't wait!

Well, hope everyone has a fantastic long weekend. Get lots of rest!!!

Love
Elriza & Wes

Ane is born!

Ane Theron was born this morning at 08h31 weighing in at 3.37kg (we're so jealous!). Congratulations Anja and Arno. May she bring you endless joy and new experiences! Parenthood really changes your life in such an amazing way and we hope you enjoy every second of it! I can't wait for her and Caden to play together and who knows, maybe there's some romance later along the way!

Lots of Love
Elriza, Wes & little Caden

All good!

Hi All,

Caden is home and the hernia operation was a success. Yesterday we arrived at the hospital at 10h30 and was admitted and in the ward at around 11h30. At about 12h00 Caden started to get really hungry and proceeded to eat his jacket. It was very cute, until he really got hungry and started crying. We did our best to calm him but we knew only one thing would help, and that was the one thing he couldn't have - food! At 12h45 they dressed him in his little theatre robe (Yes, they have those for babies) and it was here that the tears started filling my eyes. Pretty soon I was all out crying and Wes was just trying to calm me and be strong for Caden at the same time. They said one of us could go in with baby until he was asleep and seeing as I was in such a state it was agreed that Wes would be the better option. While Wes was there he said little warrior was so hungry that he managed to rip his oxygen pipes off his face and suck it. They said it would only take about 10 min and then Wes could leave, so I went down to the coffee shop so long and ordered some food. This was all around 13h00. At 13h45 Wes was still not down, so you can imagine what was going through my mind! Seeing as the operation was only supposed to take 20 min, I feared the worst. This was probably the longest hour of my life and my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest! Eventually Wes came down and told me the anaesthetist was half an hour late and he couldn't phone me cause I had his phone! I have never felt so relieved in all my life!!! After that we went to see little baby in NICU, where all the nurses greeted us so warmly and Caden looked right at home. This morning ouma Rina came to fetch us from the hospital and now baby is sleeping in his bed, safe and sound. The wound doesn't look too bad and he doesn't seem to be in any pain.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and beautiful messages. We appreciate it so much and it really helped to keep us in a positive frame of mind!

Good luck Anja with your caeser tomorrow! I hope your little bundle brings you enormous amounts of joy and I can't wait for her and Caden to play together. Our prayers will be with you, Arno and little Ane'tjie. Enjoy your last night of sleep!!!

Lots of Love
Elriza & Wes

Happy 2 months!!!

Happy 2 months our beautiful warrior!

May you continue to grow strong and big so that dad can take you to go climb mountains soon! Thank you for being such an incredible little being and for making our lives 10 million times better! Words can't describe how much we love you and we know God will be keeping you in the palm of His hand in tomorrow's surgery, and for the rest of your life.

We love you plenty and plenty and plenty!

Mom & Dad

Hernia update

Hi All

We went to see dr. Mapunda today and we decided to have the surgery at Carstenhoff on Monday at 13h00. We really like the doctor and know that God will guide her to work effectively with our little prince. His feedings are also going well, we got him to drink 40mls now, but it takes about an hour and it makes night feedings veeerrrrryyy long (but we do it with pleasure).

Good news, Deqlans scans showed no signs of cancer. It was the bone remoulding itself that caused the swelling. Thank you so much for all the prayers.

We ask that you please say a special prayer for Caden on Monday so that he will be safe in the doctor's hands.

Have a good weekend
Elriza & Wes

Some more pics

Special prayers for Deqlan please!

Hi All,

This is from Deqlan's blog, please continue to pray for this family!

Hello Deqlans ArmyWe need to ask you to get your camo and green outfits out but most importantly very special prayers for DeqlanAs you know, i have been concerned about Deqlans eye - it actually looks pretty good at the moment, but still doesnt seem 100% . We happened to go to the paed today for his ears, that he is pulling on, and luckily all fine with that, must be a referred pain fromt teething . I mentioned my concern about Deqlans eye and she called our oncologist for me. They decided it would be best to do a ct scan - so we have scheduled it for 12 o clock tommorow at Unitas hospital.Please, please say a very special prayer for Deqlan tonight and tommorow that there is nothing of concern, and that its just the bone remodeling and that he shall continue to remain NED foreverThank you to you all and i look forward to giving you all great news tommorowGod Bless and loveMark , Samm & DeqlanALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVELORD, WE BELIEVE, LORD , WE RECIEVED, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, ONLY BELIEVE

Love
Elriza

Update - and prayers please

Hi All,

We went to see dr. van der Vyver today and he noticed that Caden has a hernia on his left lower abdomen (Just like his dad). Unfortunately they'll have to operate on him as soon as possible, but this will only be on Monday. The thought of them operating on this little boy sends chills down my spine, but he's so incredibly strong, so we'll just have to learn from him. Atleast dr. Vermaak wil be back from leave, so that put our minds to rest a little bit. Please pray that his hernia stays "safe" until then and doesn't rupture. We also decided to start bottle feeding baby because he wasn't getting enough milk breastfeeding. He's still only at 2.09kg, which isn't great. He'll still get breast milk, but now we can monitor how much he eats, and if necessary we can add some growth powder or what the sisters call "baby-steroids".

Oh well, we know everything is in God's hands, and I can't imagine that he has anything but great plans for this little miracle of ours, so we're keeping very positive. We can't do this without your support however, so please please continue to pray for this beautiful warrior.

I also just want to thank granny and grampy Paul for their HUGE donation and for Caden's savings account. We'll make sure Caden reaches his full potential with it!

Ouma Rina and Ohpaw Zak came to visit our little warrior today and Ohpaw Zak got to hold baba for the first time today, it brought tears to my eyes (both our eyes actually!). I can't wait for grampy, granny, uncle Brendz and the rest of our families can meet and hold him aswell. I think it still takes people's breath away how small he is. Small, but incredible!

Well, I'm off to go feed our warrior so that he can grow big and strong like his dad. This morning I laughed so much at Wes. I told him "Honey, we really are the feather-weights" and he replied "Yip, built for famine!"

Lots of Love
Elriza & Wes

More pics

Home sweet home!

Hi All,

Finally we're home!!! Yesterday was certainly one of the most emotional and happiest days of our lives! On Saturday I got the call to stay over at the hospital so that we can take our little warrior home on Sunday. It's been such a journey that the nurses became our friends and Carstenhoff NICU a second home, so the departure was quite emotional.

Our first night was eventfull but good with Wes and I taking turns to check on our baby boy. His whole "toolbox" is up in our room and luckily the oxygen cord is long enough to transport Caden without real difficulty. We also gave him his first bath (from us) and it was just tears and drama, but we got through it! Today he's been very peaceful, only waking up to eat and reserving the rest of his energy for gaining weight.

Dr. Vermaak is on leave so on Wednesday we have to go for a follow up appointment with dr. van der Vyver because Caden lost a little bit of weight just before he came home. So just to be on the safe side they're checking him out. He also received all his vaccines for polio and tb, and the eye doctor said that Caden's eyes look fine.

Thank you so much everyone for your support throughout this journey. It has been amazing to see how people can come together in times of need!

Enjoy the pictures, and we'll keep you updated!!!

Lots of love

Elriza & Wes

Not yet!

Hi All,

Yesterday Caden's oxygen levels dropped dangerously low, so low that he turned blue, which of course had me in histerics and Wes just trying his best to calm me down. That was the deciding factor that lead dr. Vermaak to the decision that Caden is coming home with oxygen.

At about 11h00 I tried to wake him up to feed him, but he was fast asleep and wouldn't wake up to eat. At about 13h30 the nurses fed him through the tube and 15 minutes after that the first desaturation occured. He dropped to 33, the nurses flushed him with oxygen and then he went back up to 96 again. About 5 minutes after that he dropped again to about 50 and they phoned the doctor. They put his tubes back into his nose and left him on 30% oxygen, which seems to be all he needs. Apparently he vomited at around 17h00, and this seems to be the cause for his desaturation. He was just too full. But dr. Vermaak thinks it's best to send him home with oxygen and personally I think we would also be relieved. After seeing your child blue like that a person tends to become a bit neurotic, so it's best that we at least know he's getting enough oxygen.

Now we wait for the oxygen to arrive at the hospital, then we'll stay a night and go home the next day! Yay! Otherwise all is fine and Caden is looking pretty and pink (luckily not pretty in pink!).

Have a great weekend!

Lots of love
Elriza & Wes

Update

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all the beautiful messages and comments, we really appreciate it.

Caden is doing very well. Weighing in at 2.06kg he is now sort of off the oxygen. They took off all his tubes so we could see his whole face (and he still looks like dad with a hint of me). They have a funnel-type of thing that lies next to him which they use to give him oxygen as soon as he desaturates, but he's doing well. He also discovered his voice and is crying now when he's hungry or unhappy with something. It's the cutest thing ever! The doctor said if Caden isn't off the oxygen he'll motivate so that we can take him home with oxygen no later than Monday or Tuesday. We'll just continue praying that he gets off the oxygen before that otherwise he'll have to be admitted again in a month's time. Please please please pray that our boy will be able to breathe on his own before Friday!

I also just want to say a very big THANK YOU to Melanie and Ludwig for buying us the breathing monitor. They phoned around everywhere to find out which is the best one and where we can get it and then they bought it as well. Words can't describe our gratitude! Thank you thank you thank you!

We also got some very good news today. They finally arrested the guy who stole Wesley's motortbike last year and conviscated his bike to give to us. They also found Wes's bike in some shop, in pieces! For those of you who don't know, the engineer from Honda stole the bike while it was in for a service, and the insurance refused to pay out, so we still had to pay it off. This is such a relief for us knowing that the scum-bag is finally caught and we can now take his bike to sell and pay off the debt.

All and all it's been a very good day with lots and lots of blessings coming our way. Now we just hope and pray that Caden will stay off his oxygen through the night. I'm at the hospital every day from 7h45 to 15h15 to feed him and he's drinking very well, but he likes to give the nurses the run around. It's feed on demand now and he usually likes to play at 14h00 instead of eating. It's very cute, he just lies there and looks around, but refuses to drink and so the nurses are at the edge of their seats waiting for him to start crying for food. It's very amusing!

Anyway, hope everybody had as great a day as we've had. Almost weekend!

Love
Elriza & Wes

Over 2 kg!!

Hi All,

Caden finally just reached the 2kg mark and is now weighing 2.02kg. He didn't pick up much weight because he used a lot of energy sucking. He's eating well and is on 3 feeds a day now. Tomorrow he's getting some of dad's blood again to help with his oxygen. It's what the doctor calls "a 20 000km service". Hopefully after the transfusion he'll be able to hold his oxygen better with all the new red blood cells to help. After that, we're on our way home!!!

We also finally finished the room and we're very happy with it. Hopefully Caden feels the same! Dad's compactum and toy box came up from Cape Town on Friday along with a whole lot of other goodies. Thanx so much granny and grampie Paul for sending it and for spending so much time fixing the compuctum up for us. We really appreciate it and can't wait for you to see it in his room!

Friday night was an absolute blast at the comedy jam. We enjoyed letting our hair down and relaxing with some very good comedy! Now we're just waiting on the edge of our seats for baby to come home.

It's much easier picking Caden up now that he's picked up some weight. It doesn't feel like we're going to break him which a a huge relief! Hopefully we can post some pictures soon!

Hope everybody has a quiet week! We're off to the hospital now.

Lots of Love
Elriza & Wes

Eating by myself!

Hi All,

Caden has been doing extremely well, weighing in at 1.98kg! On Wednesday he started breastfeeding and he latched well but didn't eat a lot as prem babies get tired very quickly. It's also the first time that he actually tasted milk! Yesterday though he ate very well and today he's going to drink twice! If that goes well they'll try 3 times tomorrow! He's working so hard and we are so incredibly proud of him. It's so cute, he drinks for a couple of seconds, then he's exhausted and falls asleep, so we try to wake him, then he gets a bit of a fright and starts sucking immediatly again, and so the cycle continues.

We saw dr. Vermaak this morning and he told the nurse to drop his oxygen a couple of times today so that he can get use to it. He also said we need to get him ready for home now, so yay! Maybe next week we'll be posting with a beautiful baby boy by our sides! Thank you so much again for all the prayers and positive thoughts. It is because of this that Caden is doing so incredibly well! Can't wait to post on Sunday and tell you that he is over 2 kg and hopefully off the oxygen!

Wes and I are going to the 94.7 Comedy Jam tonight to celebrate our anniversary and we're really looking forward to it! We know this will probably be one of the last times we can go out without looking for a baby-sitter, so we're gonna enjoy it and then come home to prepare for one of the happiest days of our lives!!!

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Love
Elriza & Wes

Even Fatter!

Hi All,

Our little miracle is not so little anymore! He is now weighing in at a full 1.905kg! I'll be able to start feeding him today or tomorrow! He's on 40 mls milk, and they've upgraded him to an aqua-pack for oxygen. He's on 23% O2 and half a litre flow, so his oxygen is also getting better! Oh, and they've moved him to an open crib so he's not in an incubator anymore. Things are happening so quickly!!! Praise our Father for our little warrior's incredible growth! Even the doctor says that Caden is growing remarkably fast, too fast for his oxygen! But sister Beauty said on Monday that we must talk to Caden and tell him to get off the oxygen, and it really seems to be working! Unfortunately this computer prevents me from posting photo's but I'll try to make another plan soon.

Thank you so much for all the anniversary wishes. We can't believe it's been two years already! (Wes would probably say two long, long years, hie-hie). We went out for dinner at our favourite restaurant, the Beef & Lobster, and on Friday we're going to the 94.7 Comedy Jam. Really looking forward to that.

Well. hope everybody has a great week. Wes and I will be working double-time to get baby's room ready!

Lots of Love
Elriza & Wes